19 November 2019

L'inévitable accident

Un accident est si vite arrivé ! Mine happened a week ago, and there's some ironic element in the whole thing. We spent a month in early summer having a new bathroom (toilet and sink) put in up in the loft space that we had finished as a family room, TV room, and bedroom in 2010. Part of the reason was that we wanted no longer to have to go downstairs in the dark, in the middle of the night, to get to the other bathroom in the house.

Well, last Monday or Tuesday, I can't remember which, the cat and dog woke me up, as they did again this morning, at about five o'clock. Tasha jumps up on the bed and nudges me with her nose. Bertie just starts walking around the room and meowing. Both animals are hungry, and the dog needs to go outside. It is of course dark at that hour. And the stairs are just as steep and treacheous as they are at midnight or two a.m.

On that fatal morning, I had overslept, which is rare for me. The animals had calmed back down, I guess, when their first attempt to wake me up failed. At nearly 5:30, I awoke with a start. Wow, I said to myself, I'd better hurry and take Tasha outside. I jumped out of bed, stumbled around upstairs  in the dark getting dressed, and headed down the dark stairs. I was still half asleep.

I negotiated the top 10 steps of the narrow, steep stairway just fine. But on about the fifth step from the bottom, I must have taken too big a step. I was in my sock feet and the stairs are slippery — I've been climbing down them in the dark for nearly 10 years, but never mind. That morning, when my foot slipped, there was nothing I could do to stop it. I think the foot slid off the step more or less vertically, and my poor toes were pointing straight down when they hit the step below.

I lost my balance, even though I was holding onto the stair rail. All my considerable weight was focused on that vertical foot. And I fell. Luckily, I was holding on, so I didn't fall as far or as hard as I could have. Walt heard me cry out and moan, and shouted from up above to ask if I was all right. I think I am, I told him, but I won't know for a few more minutes. I'm not bleeding, and I don't think anything is broken...

Well, the fact is I had jammed the big toe on my right foot really hard. It was sprained, and in just a few minutes, it had turned blue and was really swollen. And painful. I was able to limp around, but very tentatively and carefully. Walking the dog was out of the question that morning and for the next two days. (Poor me, I couldn't go out and enjoy walks in the rain with Natasha. Walt had to go in my place.)

I'm still limping, but the swelling has gone down and the toe is almost back to its original color. By Thursday, I started walking with the dog again. I tried several different pairs of shoes until I found one that supported my foot and kept my toe from aching too much. The walks were short and I was not moving very fast, but the dog didn't seem to mind. At this point, the pain is nearly gone, unless I'm walking uphill — that angle causes my foot to bend and puts pressure on the sore toe.

I didn't go to the doctor because I felt sure that the toe was not broken and the sprain was not too severe, though very painful. Still, I'm being careful not to re-injure it. To prevent such accidents in the future (always the optimist), we ordered some light- and motion-sensitive nightlights that we've stuck on the wall at two strategic points in the stairwell so that the steps won't be pitch-dark early in the morning. The nightlights are great — they're battery-powered and come on only if it is both really dark and something (me, the dog, the cat) moves within range of their motion sensor.

Sometimes I feel like we're in the process of bringing the house up to retirement home standards. That's surely a positive step to take now.

19 comments:

  1. Tall tales of terror! That's what my husband would have called this! Accidents do indeed happen so quickly and you can't move back in time. So sorry this happened to you but I think your nightlights sound like a great idea. We have handrails on the stairs and in the shower. Things do change as one gets older. I'll be 75 in January. I try to be more careful now. (When I remember.)

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    1. I went through a period 10 or so years ago when I fell half a dozen times. I suffered sprained ankles twice. I've tried to learn to be more careful too.

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    2. I'm glad to hear you're all right. There's not much they can do for a broken toe so your call not to consult to find out was probably right.
      The lights sound like a good idea. We should probably think of doing that, too.

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    3. Here are the lampes de nuit that we ordered. So far, we're pretty pleased with them.

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  2. I'm sorry to hear what happened to you. Bête comme un accident! Even though you think your big toe was only sprained, I'd suggest you'd go to a doctor to have it checked - better be safe than sorry! Wish you a fast recovery.

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  3. Glad you're ok and it wasn't worse. Nightlight yes, it's a good thing. Glad it was a fateful morning and not a fatal one! Nice autumnal pictures today btw!

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    1. It could have been much worse. One thing we didn't do when we had the attic space finished was to have electrical outlets installed in the stairwell. These battery-powered nightlights are pretty cool. They give just enough light and according to Amazon customer reviews, the batteries (AAAs) last a long time because the lights don't stay on for more than a few minutes a day.

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  4. Very glad you are heading for the OK now....
    my "thenmother-in-law" broke her little toe getting up from cleaning under their lounge gas fire!
    You only have to get it rong by a tiny amount.

    And I share your suffering... five weeks ago, hurrying {idiot} back to the car with a load of shopping... I tripped over a raised bit of concrete on the "rez-de-chausee" and sprawled on the pavement... trapping my hand and shopping under me... I crushed my left hand and bruised one rib at least!
    However, I was saved by the pain! My fist landed on top of the pain de campagne I had purchased which acted as a very good shock absorber... the courgettes weren't so lucky... courgette soup was had for supper.
    I could make a fist immediately after and so nothing was broken... and then it swole... it swole good! I was very grateful that it was the left hand. Managed to get home before it got too bad, but
    but it took four days before I could safely hold the wheel for long enough to get to the village and back! Even now there are twinges at the side of my left hand!!
    And the pain...
    well, it was typical French pain... it rose from the squish and was totally edible!

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    1. So you were pretty lucky too. What an adventure. Did people come to help you get up? When CHM has fallen and I was with him (at the château de Luynes and at the cathedral in Reims, people came rushing to help him get up, even though he was actually able to get up without their help.

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    2. No, no one was around where I fell... I was on the way back to the Maison du Santé in Ligueil, where Pauline was having her physio... but a woman stuck her head out of her window and asked if I was OK... very nice... as were people when Pauline fell badly in town... people rushed to her aid. Much better than in the UK... fall there, even in a village, and you'll get no help!

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    3. Le Pré, you made me think of an episode of tv's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" where one of the character's fall from a balcony was cushioned by day old sponge cakes that were thrown out.

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  5. Oh, my goodness! Good to hear about the lights--what a great idea. "Safety first!" is what my silly hubby always teases me with, but... yeah, it's true :)

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    1. They say wisdom comes with age, but I say that's an exaggeration. I feel like I know less and less stuff than I used to need to know. But yes, safety first. It's all part of acting your age.

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  6. Ageing and falling don't mix. The lights on the stairs are a great idea.

    What can be equally dangerous is trying to navigate around a pet in the darkness. Our current cat, Kramer, insists on getting between my feet and me and wherever I'm going when I first get out of bed in the (near) total darkness. He wants me to give him his morning treats, so going down the stairs can be a treacherous undertaking.

    I sympathize with your pain and hipe that you didn't break your big toe. Not sure what a doctor could do about it but an Xray wouldn't be a bad idea.

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    1. Our cat Bertie, now that he spends a lot more time in the house, is often underfoot like that. I'm careful not to let him trip me as I go down the stairs. The dog usually waits for me to get to the bottom of the stairs and turn on a light or two before she comes down.

      I don't think my toe is broken, because it's much better now than it was last week. I'll have to call my doctor so he can refer me to the radiologist at the Hôpital de Saint-Aignan — the radiologist has only recently started having office hours down here. He or she comes from Blois once or twice a week, I think, as do other specialists. It's a nice service that keeps us from having to drive the two-hour round trip to Blois so often.

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  7. Just now reading this post. Wow, you are so lucky not to have broken something bigger like a leg or ankle! I hate falling but I fall anyway. Last year I was reading my mail and walking in my driveway- boom! After that one I had to sleep in a recliner for a while. I have to pay attention when I walk and not rush either. So it goes at our age. The stairwell lights were a brilliant idea! Glad you are healing.

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    1. E., I don't think I knew about yor fall on the driveway. Thanks for telling me. The more I tell friends about these accidents, the more I realize it's not just happening to me. Glad you survived it and learned from it. I do and will continue to try to do the same. Aren't we lucky to have lived to this ripe old age? May you and I have a lot of good years ahead of us. I'm looking forward to seeing you again next year.

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