Falling Over Again, 25th February
It’s something we, I mean those who have balance issues, are always frightened of; falling over and then a visit to hospital to repair the injury.
Well I did it again. How did I do it this time? You must have seen the famous Only Fools and Horses episode where Delboy leans against a bar that is not there. I did something similar. Not as funny, equally stupid but much more painful.
My shoulder
The crime scene
I was at home and I wanted to see what was going in the hall but not walk out of the room. So I leaned out into the hall whilst holding on to the door fame and peered into the hall. The only problem was I just carried on leaning hitting the radiator with my shoulder and getting tangled up with the Topro rollator. I don’t remember the fall but I was a heap on the floor. My left shoulder hurt but it didn’t feel serious.
I was in distress
While I was on the floor the dogs we were looking after wanted to wash my face. They did not understand ‘Go away’ or ‘Leave me alone’. All single syllable words and none of them exist in the canine dictionary but they understood that I was now in distress. Dogs are very empathetic.
Dislocated my shoulder
Using only my right hand and right arm I eventually managed to lever myself onto a seat. Only then did I realise that the pain in my left shoulder was more serious than I originally thought. I could not use or move my left arm at all. It didn’t really hurt but I knew my shoulder needed to be looked at by an expert. It felt as if I might have dislocated my shoulder. Memories of a previous dislocated shoulder should came flooding back.
Hospital
Barby had gone out but she was due back shortly so no point in ringing for an ambulance, anyway I did not see myself as an emergency. When she got back she cast an expert eye over me and the fallen rollator and said ‘what’have you done this time?’ This was followed with a heavy and meaningful sigh. I just said ‘Get me to a hospital; I am sure I have dislocated my shoulder’. The nearest place is Hemel Hempstead Urgent Care.
Suddenly top of the list
Barby got me into the car and drove me there; by this stage I could not feel anything with my left hand. I managed not to yelp when ever there was a stabbing pain in the shoulder. Waiting time at the hospital was an hour, so The Wife bought me a Mars Bar, the sugar fix helped. My distress was clearly visible to everyone else in the waiting area. Ten minutes later I had jumped to the top of the list.
Thank you NHS
A nurse wheeled me into a cubicle; a doctor did a quick assessment swiftly followed by laughing gas then an injection of morphine, oh the relief, no more pain. Now for the assessment. An X-ray, put the arm bone back into the shoulder joint, another X-ray, my left arm in a sling and I was told to go home. They had made an appointment for me to go to the fracture clinic in a weeks’ time.
It was impressively quick and efficient, thank you NHS.
[…] an operation to stabilise my shoulder, afterwards my arm will be in a sling for six weeks. It is the shoulder problems that have rammed home the importance of not falling […]
[…] Those of you in the know will be familiar with the accidents and injuries that I have done to my left shoulder. It has taken the brunt of a couple of falls as well as the odd stumble. The first dislocation happened in January 2013 and then another visit to hospital in February this year when I dislocated it again. […]