I Fell Down, and I Couldn't Get Up!

Yesterday I fell down in the parking lot at the Grocery Store. I fell on my left shoulder, and I layed there victim of crystal clear ice...

I had a case of major hurt, finally someone came and helped me back to my feet...

I finally decided to go to the St. John Hospital Emergency Room, and for the next week I will be wearing a sling, and taking a pain killer pill every six hours...

When you are a young person, you can just get back up and brush yourself off...

When you are about to have your 65th birthday, any mishap becomes a serious mattter...

~Parnelli

I hope and pray that the sling solves your problem and the pain goes away. I am 65 now and will be 66 in March. I have an appointment tomorrow at 11am to have a bone spur ground down in my right shoulder and hopefully, everything else is in good shape. If you catch a bone spur soon enough it will not damage the rotator cuff and that is what I am hoping for because if it is just a bone spur, the therapy is around 4-6 weeks before I can start fly fishing again. Rotator cuff repair can take months of therapy. I just started having some pain in my shoulder upon lifting my arm overhead or reaching out in front. The surgeon stated that from looking at the MRI, it did not look like I had any damage to the rotator cuff and all he would have to do is grind off the bone spur, clean up the area and all that may only take about 30 minutes unless he found other damage to repair. Needless to say, I am a little concerned because I may be 65, but, I have never been in the hospital for anything and have never even had an IV.

Hope that things go well for you. Take care.
Rick

Steven

I know what you mean, I am 67 and I found out the hard way that I can't do the thing I could do at 50. I jumped out the back of my pick up truck and found myself on my back side. The landing made my teeth raddle and my body hurt for two days. We need to keep all of us old people in our prayers.

WayneC

The worst falls I've ever had are out fishing, and the most embarassing one was when I tried to cross an irrigation ditch - it was lined with bentonite, I found out later, to keep down the leaks. I stepped into it and absolutely could not get out. Luckily my husband was able to bodily drag me out - I would have been there still.

My uncle from Mississippi, who is now deceased, told me once that once you pass the age of 60, that your body continues to age but your mind does not and you spend the rest of your life with your mind telling your body it can still do things that it cannot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WarrenP

My uncle from Mississippi, who is now deceased, told me once that once you pass the age of 60, that your body continues to age but your mind does not and you spend the rest of your life with your mind telling your body it can still do things that it cannot.

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. I heard that,everyday a new pain , I once heard ,when you wake up in the morning without pain your are dead . At 72 I understand the pain.

I hope you are healing well Parn. I know that the older we get the longer it takes to get over the hurts. Our muscles get weaker and our bones get more brittle. I've started walking full time with a cane and I've found it helps my miserable balance quite a bit. If that is an option for you, don't be ashamed to use it. Get well soon old friend.

Hope you're well soon, Parnelli.

Bob
;)

Good luck, Steve. I've broken both my shoulders. The left years ago on a motorcycle. The right just a few years ago (I'll be 62 next month) falling on ice. Orthopedist immobilized right arm for a month and I was able to avoid surgery. On the first visit to the orthopedist he asked what had happened to my left shoulder noting the scar from my neck to half way down my upper arm, "Hmm, we don't fix those that way any more!"

Use the sling and take it easy on the arm. It could make a big difference. Good luck, again.

Stephen and Warren, I hope you both do well.

Those icy parking lots can be treacherous . We had an unusual freeze up here in Oregon...streets cleared of snow but the parking lots had sheets of ice. This 80 year old grabbed a nearby shopping cart and used it like a walker....worked like a charm. I noticed the young ones didn't seem to need one:(:cry:.

Steve,

It's been a treacherous year for ice. Sorry to hear about your slip and fall. This getting old thing isn't for wimp.

Warren - Best to you too on your spur.

It's tough to get use to a "new normal" everyday. Ya'll be careful out there!

Hope all is well.The problem with getting older is you pay for all those falls you took as a youngster.

I fell in October, landing on my shoulder on grass. Thought nothing of it until a day later when I had the worst pain I've ever endured. Now diagnosed as rotator cuff tear. Decided not to go through the surgery and rehab at my age. Just got the cortisone shot and am doing PT, with pain gone for now and increasing mobility in the shoulder. It is true that old age is not for sissies!

Always mindful that our bodies are getting older. At 70 going on 71 soon and living with a wife 7 years my senior I understand that growing old is not for the faint of heart. Praying for Steve and Warren. However, despite the fact we are all getting older that does not mean the end of our lives. Keep moving, be careful and give thanks for each day that God grants.

Steven, take care of yourself. I slipped stepping down into my living room back in September. I found stretching exercise helped to regain my range of motion. Talk to your doctor about stretching exercises you can do.

Warren, I hope the bone spur doesn't lay you up. I know how much fly fishing is your gift to others.

What Neil said, times 2.

Gravity is a reliable but treacherous friend. Although I am sorry to hear about your injury, I am glad it is not worse than it is. At the age of 30 I did a half somersault onto a brick floor in a packing house, out like a light, a dozen stitches but no damage to the brain that has been verified. A former work colleague’s husband is in a wheelchair for life from a similar fall. Falls are a leading cause of injury and death. It all depends on how and what you hit.

There are 9 or 10 factors that determine the safety of a walkway, age, distractions and substance on the walkway are some of them.

First, I want to thank everyone who kept me in their thoughts and prayers. The first surgery I have ever had in my life is now over! Since I am right handed and the shoulder surgery was on my right shoulder, I can only type this with my left hand and that makes typing a very hunt and peck and slow poject! The surgery went very well. The surgeon I had was a wonerful man and he likes to fly fish! : ) All the stories others had told me about the pain I would feel with insertion of the IV and the shoulder Nerve Blocker did not happen. I did not feel either one. The nurse told me that they inject Lanacane(sp) first for both of these so their patients would be as close as possible to pain free. The surgeon brought my wife into the room before I was to go into the surgery and had her hold one of my hands and he held the other one and he prayed that God would grant me a smooth surgery, fast recovery and to guide his hands to do the best to do his best surgery! How's that for a good surgeon?! After surgery, he told me that he was so thankful that I had my shoulder pain checked out as soon as I did, because he did not expect to have to do anything except grind down a bone spur and clean up the area. Once he inserted the camera and started to look the area over real good, he found a very small tear on my rotator cuff tendon caused by the bone spur which would have gotton worst and would have developed to a ripped rotator cuff tendon which, once repaired, would have prolonged my recovery time to months before I would be able to take him fly fishing! He said the small tear was so small that he was able to repair it with one small sitch, grind down the bone spur and clean up the area. He said if I would follow his instructions and do the therapy, I should be well on my way to recovery in 4-6 weeks. He told me to keep my arm in a sling for at least 4 weeks. I start therapy this Monday and scheduled for 3 times per week and am scheduled to see the surgeon for a post-op check up on Feb. 10th. I am home and on pain pills when I feel I need them and doing very well.

Folks, make sure, if you have shoulder pain upon lifting your arm or reaching out, go to a doctor and have a MRI done to see if you have a bone spur or a small tear in your rotator cuff tendon because therapy and cortizone shots will not make the ncessary repairs. The shot will only deaden the area so you will not feel any pain and during that time you will only cause more damage which will need extensive repairs.

Thank you, my FAOL family. I will be lurking and not posting much, but, I will be back!

Glad everything went well. Hope you have a speedy recovery.

Bob
:D

Steve, I hope you are doing better.
Warren, I hope you are doing well too. Jim

Jim: Grandpa said: "You have to be alive to complain!"

Hope everyone heals up in time to go fishing.

I had to go back to the hospital emergency room, a half hour before my 65th Birthday. I was experiecing shortness of breath. They keep me there for five hours, and finally released me went they determined that my problem of breathing was corrected...

The ten exercises that my docter told me to do twice a day are starting to work...but I am starting to believe that these exercise will be going on for a couple of months...

Six of the ten members are still in the four swaps... I had to let the other Four Members go, but they can rejoin these swaps, when I post the 2015 Beginner's Swap; October 1st. I will not accept anyone after October 31st. There wil be 5 swap for the 2015 Beginner's Swaps.

~Parnelli~

~Parnelli~

I am doing very well and my therapist stated that I am healing up very fast. I started off with 50 pain pills in the bottle and I have taken 5 of them and those were in the first three days following surgery and I have not needed them since. I have been back for my post-op check up and all is well and they removed the stiches. My arm is still kept in the sling so that I do not attempt to use my shoulder. They showed me the slides of my shoulder and the repairs made. When the surgeon told me I had a small tear in my rotator cuff tendon and he was able to repair it with one stitch, I was thinking he meant one stitch in tissue, but, the tear was a small area where the tendon was torn lose from the bone and he drilled a hole in the bone, installed an anchor so he could put one stitch in the torn tendon and run the stitching material through the installed anchor and pull the torn tendon back down to the bone where it could re-attach its self to the bone. Amazing! He also ground down the bone spur. The therapist stated that her goal is to get my lateral arm movement to 180 degrees and I am already at 140 degrees. Once I reach 180 degrees, the therapist will start me on strength exercises so that I will gain all my arm and shoulder movements back. She is now rotating my shoulder in a circular pattern. She will not allow me to try anything she is doing for fear I may do damage and we have to start all over. I can see improvement everyday. I am scheduled to see the surgeon on March 17th. and I feel the sling will not be needed after that and, hopefully, I will be permitted to start fly fishing again. I told my therapist that if I stood up at my fly tying desk my arm would be down and I felt I could do some tying and I asked her for permission to do that. She told me that if tying a fly was more important to me than risking any damage to my shoulder than go ahead and do it. So, I am not willing to take that gamble and will not do any tying until I am told I can. As it is, I should be back to tying and fly fishing sometime after March 17th. which is only another 4 weeks.

Parnelli - I hope and pray that you mend and heal quickly.

Warren:

I am glad that your healing is rapidly improving your situation. I am in week 4 of my recovery, and today was the first time I did not have to take the pills my doctor gave me, and I did not wake up in the middle of the night experiecing pain in my shoulder. I have had difficulty doing some of the ten exercise that I am suppost to do, when I feel the pain I stop, and rest stop, and continue with the next exercise when the pain in the shoulder ceases. I now have regain some of my movement of my shoulder and clavical. There are still times when I experience some discomfort, but these periods do not last that long. Only thing that still bothers me the most is having a dry mouth from the pills...

I see my doctor again on March 7th, at 7:30 AM.

Wish you my best, on your recovery.... ~Parnelli~

Parnelli,

OUCH! Well, you'll feel okay, or somewhere thereabout, when those pain killers kick in. Heal quickly.

Allan

Having a young brain and a 71 year old body is the pits. I have a fishing friend who's 20 years my junior, and he doesn't quite understand why I'm reluctant to accompany him down the steep 30 foot bank, to wade in swift water that is filled with slippery rocks. The problem is that I don't quite understand it myself, and that's why I come home with achy knees, dirty water filled waders, and a resolve never to do that again. Until next time ;)

I see my doctor again on March 7th! Currently I have most of my movement in my arm back, with some tendons and muscles in my neck and left arm still recovering...

Good news is I only have to pay a $25 co-pay for office visits, and Medicare (Parts A & B); along with my Blue Cross & Blue Shied, covering the remaining portion of the bills.

Steve, the BEST to you! Good luck! I found that in recovering from hip replacement being positive and doing the #%$^#$$^$&^#$@@$# PT religiously did the trick. My thoughts are with you.
Mike

Friday, March 7th: I saw my doctor today at 7:30 AM, for a follow-up from the seeing my doctor on February 7th at 7:30 AM. I am almost fully recovered now, with some small aches, but I do have full motion in my left arm now....

98 percent recovered and the last 2 percent will spread out over the next couple of months...

~Parnelli~

Great, Parnelli!

Bob
:D

Great to here.You heal fast

Parnelli

Great news and I am glad you got to the majestic number of 98% recovered. Fishing is just down the road.

WaynC

Most of us take our share of spills, I know I have, mostly recently tripping over he bathtub and falling into it. But, the older we get the more likely they are to be serious. During our recently frozen weather situation here in the Atlanta area, one of the two fatalities was the results of a fall. I'm glad Steven has recovered so well and encourage everyone to be a little more careful.