MY APOLOGIES

MY APOLOGIES

By

Fay E.A. Reid

My sincere apologies for not writing in more than two weeks. I’ve been a bit under the weather for awhile. I had a nasty fall in my bathroom in the late evening on November 19. Usually no big deal, being old and decrepit I fall a lot, call for help and two or three strong medics help me get my fat ass off the floor into a chair. After 2 to 5 minutes I can stand on my own and with my cane or walker can get myself wherever I need to be. They offer to take me to a hospital, which I decline, check my vitals again and assure they can come back if needed and I’m on my own. I always know what caused the fall.

This time I have no idea why I fell. Remember getting out of the shower and drying myself. Next thing I remember is awakening on the floor, my little plastic stand where ii keep all my supplies being in the shower stall soap, shampoo, rinse, etc being scattered all over the bathroom and Calliope, the cat nudging me and meowing ‘get off the floor mom” At least I brought my pajamas into the bathroom and got them on. So at least I wasn’t naked as a jaybird a very unpleasant sight for para medics.

However, my ability to dress conned me into believing if I tried hard enough I could pull myself up.

Dumb ass. Of course I couldn’t. You need functional knees, legs, feet, and lumbar (and weigh no more than 135 pounds - while I’ve lost a lot of weight recently I’m still at least 175)

So I scooted on my bottom into the living room and my phone. At my age, weight and energy level - this took a good half hour, so I fell asleep on the floor for a good ten minutes. Woke up called Alpha One for help. Thank goodness I never lock my apartment door. Within a half hour the two medics arrived one at a time. The first guy took my blood pressure, oxygen intake, heart rate. He seemed most upset that I couldn’t remember the actual fall. He insisted I was having a seizure. He kept taking my blood pressure - that was falling. I told him I had low blood pressure all my life and was glad it wasn’t spiking.

Boring story short, I spent 12 hours in the emergency room - no idea what was going on, with a physician who refused to answer my questions. When I left after 1 PM he told me he hadn’t a clue what was wrong. Liar!. He wrote in his notes that I was experiencing rapid, irregular drops in blood pressure, which he called ‘cardiac events’ He should have told me that, I understand and I sure as hell would not have panicked. I don’t give two hoots in hell about bedside manners, just tell me in medical terms what you can see from the tests - oh they took blood tests 4 to 6 times an hour. If they had told me that during my 12 hour stay I’d have been much more cooperative. At least I didn’t yell at the top of my lungs and demand attention. And I did tell the doctor and nurses I have an MA in physiology.

Anyway I’ll get back to writing (and reading my Substack again. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Cheers, Fay