https://www.reddit.com/user/penguin_ssbbw/comments/14opzye/last_night_i_had_a_fall/>It was scary and painful and involved a lot of help in getting me up, but I’m fine. Sore, but fine. I can definitely laugh about it now, and thought some of you might enjoy hearing about it.As you know, my mother is dying. My sister is in town for a few weeks and is staying at my Mum’s house to help sort it out. My daughter went with her for a couple of nights, and I could enjoy some rare alone time. Except things did not go as planned.
We had been to see Mum earlier, and I’d barely eaten by the 5pm. I was already feeling sore from going out to the hospital, and I guess a little wobbly from having not eating. I ordered dinner from McDonald’s and it got here quickly. After I shut the front door I turned around and took a step towards the couch, where I promptly tripped on my shoes.
I didn’t know they were there, and I didn’t have a reason to look down. I lost my balance and fell onto the L portion of my couch then slid off. I had the bag of food in my left hand, my phone in my right, and couldn’t catch myself in time.
I dropped the bag and my delicious coffee frappe spilt all over the food, the couch, and floor. I landed against the couch then fell to the floor between it and the tv - I’m so glad I didn’t fall into the tv! This meant I didn’t land directly on my knees, which I’m sure would’ve put me in hospital. But my knees are riddled with osteoarthritis and I can’t kneel without pain anymore, and I never voluntarily go on the floor.
There I am, in shock and pain, home alone, and locked in. I tried getting up for about ten minutes. Getting upright on my knees leaning against the couch, getting a pillow under my left knee, then my other knee up…but I couldn’t get further. My belly was in the way when I tried to pull myself up, so I reefed that up onto the couch and tried to move forward by pushing against the wall behind me so I was lying on it, but I lack the upper body strength for that, and I was afraid of knocking over the picture I had leaning against the wall - the last thing I needed was broken glass!
During all this I was crying, from pain and fear, and knew I couldn’t do it by myself. So I rang my sister…no answer. Tried again, no answer. And again. Tried my daughter, no answer. I thought they might’ve been sorting stuff out and didn’t have their phones nearby. One last hope - the landline. Bingo! I told her what had happened, and through my sobs I said “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” (How could I not use that line??) I hoped my daughter had her key with her, so they could come in and help…but nope.
They came over as quickly as they could, but it was still a 20 minute drive. I had my keys in reach, but no way to get them to her. By now I’d been stuck there about 40 minutes, so she had no choice but to call for emergency services. She wasn’t sure if I’d need an ambulance or not, but the operator said they’d send one. It did take about 15 minutes for help to get here, and I was going through cycles of being calm, panicking, and sobbing from the pain.
Help eventually arrived in the form of a fire truck and police car - four firies and two cops. The firies went around trying to figure out the best way in, and eventually broke through the lock. They got inside and were able to start assessing the best way to get me up. They couldn’t just lift me straight up, and by now my knees were at a 9/10 on the pain scale and my feet had fallen asleep. My sister grabbed some sheets and they wrapped them under my arms and legs to help them pull me up, but it hurt too much.
I should mention that all I was wearing was a skirt as a dress, no underwear. So when they stopped trying to pull me up, my skirt slid up revealing my bare ass. My sister thoughtfully covered me back up.
They decided it would be best to get me to lie down, and carefully rolled me to the right, enter there was space. Moving like that was incredibly painful, but the relief I felt once I was sitting was amazing. They propped some couch cushions against someone’s legs so I could sit comfortably, and that felt so damn good. I’d been stuck kneeling for well over an hour by then, so it was sweet, utter relief.
They readjusted the sheets, one under my arms and one under my hips - they apologised for having to manoeuvre me around to get under them, but I told them to be as familiar as they needed to be. I had two firies in front of me and two behind. The ones in front had me brace a foot against each of them as they grabbed the sheet ends and I grabbed their wrists. The ones behind got ready to lift and push.
It hurt a lot to do that, but it worked! I was moving! I was STANDING! I leant against the wall and felt so good, then I carefully moved to the couch with them ready to catch me. They made sure I was okay and stable, that I could move my legs and wasn’t injured. I was just incredibly sore.
They fixed the damaged lock on the door while they were assessing me, and then left, showered with much praise and thanks. About five minutes after they left the ambulance arrived to check me out, and they took all my stats (pulse, oxygen, blood pressure, sugars, etc, which were all normal - I’m sure my blood pressure was much higher earlier!), assessed my knees and movement, had me get up and walk around, and deemed me good to go.
Once I was feeling better and more relaxed, I was able to start laughing about it - because it was a ridiculous situation and I was fine.
(Interlude: When I was in high school, I’d gone to the library with my sister, and had a heavy backpack full of books on. My foot slipped off the path and I sprained that ankle, falling to the ground. With the bag of heavy books weighing me down, and the agony in my ankle, I couldn’t get up. I asked my sister to help me, but she took one look at my panicked face as I rocked back and dirty trying to get up and started laughing so hard she nearly wet herself. When she was able to talk (after I got myself up), she said that I looked like a wounded turtle, trapped on its back. Anytime I’ve fallen over around my sister, and I’ve had that same look on my face, she loses it all over again.)
My sister teasing me about being a wounded turtle yet again, and also said she now gets to remind me of that time she took my daughter for a sleepover, but came back to find me half naked with four men and two women all grabbing at me. She’s not saying it was an orgy... but she’s also not saying that it wasn't.
I was very stiff and sore last night, but I felt so much better today than I thought I would. I’m taking OTC pain meds and moving about, but there’s still a lot of tenderness and a bit of swelling at my knees. I thought I would have bruises from it all, but if there are any they’re pretty light. My muscles running up my sides and my arms, and under my boobs are sore, though, which I wasn’t expecting.
It could’ve gone a lot worse, but I came through it pretty good. Falling over while alone inside like that is something I’ve been a bit paranoid of, but I survived. Since dinner was absolutely ruined, I had to order it again once my stomach settled down from the pain and anxiety. I was VERY careful moving about with that one!
