My mother in law, Marjorie, fell last Wednesday evening. We arrived home after our drive from the club and I gave her my arm for support as I always do. We entered the house through the garage door as we always do. She took hold of the coat closet door knob after entering and after closing the door to the garage as she always does. Larry was in the bedroom getting ready to leave for choir practice. I was talking to Larry and left Mom hanging onto the coat closet door knob as I always do. Normally she goes from there to the banister where she can touch both the door knob and the banister at the same time. That night she left the door knob and headed directly for the sofa, which is only four feet from the door knob. I am guessing though, because I was two or three steps ahead of her when I heard some noise and turned to see her falling toward the sofa. Marjorie has always insisted since her leg amputation in 2008 that she can walk ‘just fine’ without a walker. We have all tried to get her to use a walker, but she absolutely refuses. We talked her into practicing at the club a few times when she was around other people who used walkers, but it never ‘stuck’. After practicing, she would assert: “I don’t need a walker”. I am grateful that she has gone this long without hurting herself from a fall. I am hopeful she will heal and use a walker from now on.

Life has been a blur since her fall. Visiting her in the hospital has taken a chunk out of my week, and her other son and his wife from Indianapolis came down for a visit and I spent more hours with them. I wanted to attend a couple of workshops today…one at Immanuel and one at the senior center, but neither of those were possible because I had to catch up on work. I wish I could camp out with Marjorie but I just can’t. I wish I could afford to pay someone to be with her in the hospital 24/7 but I can’t do that either. Thank you, friends and family, for calling Marjorie at Baptist Health.

Have you heard that Christian Care Communities’ adult day center on Maryland Avenue is closing at the end of this month? I am looking forward to serving as many of their participants as would like to come to Aging With Grace. We have already met many of them and love them already.

Here is a helpful tip that I have learned from our emergency this past week: You can call 991 and get trained professionals to come to your house right away to assess the situation. They can take vitals and ask questions and make a judgement call. They said we would be alright taking Marjorie to the hospital in our car. We could not have gotten her into our car without their help, however. Once we are at the hospital, the hospital staff helped her out of the car. I am not sure if Medicare pays for a ride in an ambulance to the hospital, but I do know it is quite pricey if you have to pay out of pocket. We gave Marjorie the choice and she decided to ride with us in the car.