A bad fall can make you feel vulnerable
A recent television commercial bugged me. Selling disability insurance, it showed a guy falling unexpectedly — off a roof, from a ladder, over a laundry basket — but the underlying music and mood was jokey, turning life-threatening episodes into pratfalls.
A friend who had recently dealt with her elderly mother falling saw the same commercial and thought: “That’s pretty insensitive.”
Falls are a serious business. According to Statistics Canada, more than four million Canadians are injured each year and falls are the leading cause of injury. Seniors, adolescents and working age adults have all sustained injuries requiring hospitalization from falls. No matter our age, we’re just a second away from the most close to home disaster there is.
Of course, none of the above specifics occurred to me some weeks ago as I lay prone on a friend’s living room floor, having spectacularly fallen and hit my head hard. I hadn’t been drinking, I just lost my balance and went down.
Don’t judge me, but when I regained my breath, still lying on the floor, this is what I said: “Please tell me I’m not going to be Natasha Richardson on the bunny slope.”
My friend was rather shocked, but got it — after such a seemingly harmless episode, how bad was my head injury? Could I die from it like the lovely late actor did in 2009 while innocently learning to ski with her kids in Mont Tremblant? I even wondered whether I’d hit my head twice, including on a side table. It sure hurt.
Miraculously, I was at first fine. After applications of ice, and yes, a glass of wine, I finished the evening, laughed, talked, enjoyed myself and went home.
Days later, I began experiencing bruising, headaches, fatigue and an alarming sensation that felt like someone moving furniture inside my head. “Mild concussion,” said the after-hours doctor, and “no, you don’t qualify for a CT scan.” He told me “to stay off screens.” Ha. I make my living on screens, writing and reading.
My own doctor told me to lie in a darkened room all weekend. My brain had been abruptly moved from one position to another, and quite possibly, I also had whiplash. “Try massages” she added, saying sympathetically, it could take a while to heal.
I’ll say. Luckily my home office self-employed routine is writing interspersed with lying down and thinking, so not much has changed, although apparently I am not supposed to think as fiercely as I normally do.
We hear about high-profile falls, such as tennis pro Eugenie Bouchard, who slipped and fell in a dressing room during the U.S Open in September, and has been dizzy ever since. She has now launched a lawsuit against the American Tennis Association.
Hillary Clinton fell back in 2012, sustained a concussion and subsequently a blood clot in her brain, and took months to fully recover. During the latest Benghazi hearings, she sure seemed right as rain to me. I take heart from that, although no matter how beautifully I recover, I will not end up President of the United States.
With boomers aging and the much vaunted greying of the populace, get ready for a nation of trippers, stumblers and fallers — one more thing for Justin Trudeau (who once let a TV crew film his own comedic pratfalls) to deal with.
It’s no longer just their elderly parents; many of my close friends are falling. One shattered her wrist last summer tripping while backing up to take a picture at the cottage. She healed, but was amazed at how vulnerable it made her feel. Another fell on vacation and lacerated her face.
I am amazed, watching tulipnecked office goers on downtown streets completely absorbed by their phones, that more of them don’t fall off curbs and simply lie in the streets, still furiously texting.
Rushing is a major risk factor for falls, as is inappropriate footwear. My daughter, hurrying to work wearing chic boots, once plunged down a Paris subway escalator, luckily caught by the crowd before she landed. Another risk factor, paradoxically, is fear of falling. So of course is winter — and ice.
In a Public Health Agency of Canada report on the “growing health concern” of the elderly falling, the advice could be for all generations. Be mindful — be aware of your actions at all times. Get plenty of aerobic exercise — the stronger you are, the less likely you will fall or sustain serious damage. For the working populace, “overexertion” is the greatest cause of injuries. Welcome to everyone’s life.
During my recovery period, I defied my doctors to watch broadcasts of the Blue Jays’ latest series. Win or lose, I couldn’t get enough of the players’ grace and agility, their ability to pivot instantly to throw or catch.
But what I especially loved was their sliding into bases. Yes, yes, I know they were millionaire gladiators paid handsomely to muddy their uniforms for us, but I still marvelled at how they slid so beautifully without breaking their outstretched arms.
It made me happy, not envious. It made me rueful — I have only slid into disaster, not to resounding cheers in a crowded stadium.
And it made me want to try harder to avoid another fall. One mindful step at a time. Judith Timson writes weekly about cultural, social and political issues. You can reach her at judith.timson@sympatico.ca and follow her on Twitter @judithtimson.