I'M A PRETTY AGILE OLD FELLOW

       Today was our Christmas bird count. I've done the same area close to 50 times. I know the area well as I go through it summer and winter. The bike trail goes through the area. 

      Today was not a good day . I found ten species but only about 50 birds.

      Now the area is a small valley that has a stream running through it. Like most valleys it's variable terrain.  Some of the terrain is very rough.

     I had been following a game trail that I wanted to leave and go back to the top again. I had to find my own trail which is something I've done all my life. I chose a route to go up and of course some of it's steep. I put my foot on something that was covered with snow but not solid. I started moving backwards and then lost control. So when I was finished I'd done a backward roll and my feet were much higher than my head. So I was proud of myself that I completed a backward roll! Do I hear the applause?

    When I stopped my feet were much higher than my head so I had to roll over and get my feet lower than my head before I got up. 

     A couple of things: I'm happy no one was watching to see this embarrassing situation. And second I thought about the possibility of serious injury. The micro Manager wouldn't miss me for a long time and when she would notice that I hadn't returned, had no idea where I had gone, So reminder to self. Tell people where I'm going.

     Anyway, how many of you can do a backward roll and live to tell about it?

WE ALL FALL DOWN

  Ring around the rosie 

A pocket full of posie

Husha husha 

We all fall down

    I played this little ditty with my own kids and many others. The boys loved it and were very creative in making a fall, rolling around on the floor and having great fun. 

     Well, I fell yesterday and I wasn't playing ring around the rosie. And it wasn't fun.

     My fall was inelegant and totally uncontrolled. I did a real face plant. I more or less fell like a tree . I did not bend. My face  hit the floor first (face plant) . My glasses went flying and I grazed my check. Other than that I'm fine.

     Yes the micro manager found my glasses . I forgot I was wearing glasses. The Micro Manager didn't show up for a while. She thought I'd dropped my weights. When she came by I was sitting on the tub with a cold face cloth on my eye and cheek. Then she wondered what happened.

    Now before you get going, my place is pretty safe as far as preventing senior falls is concerned. I realize falls are very hazardous to seniors. That's why I quit cycling, skating and cross country skiing last year. I always said even if I fell on the floor I would hurt myself let alone flying off my bike.

   Why are seniors so vulnerable? I always say that my head is on the ground before my brain knows that I'm falling. Add to that a whole lot of other senior disabilities.

    So I was fortunate and had no injury. I think I sort of got light headed for a few seconds , tripped over my feet and fell. 

    Now in looking up the ring around the rosie rhyme I learned something. The nursery rhyme refers to the great plague. Apparently there was a very prominent ring around the eyes when people had the disease. Fall down refers to people as they die. 

I TAKE ANOTHER SWAN DIVE (FALL)

      In a few seconds of awkwardness I took a clumsy fall . Again there was no harm done and I know I'm going to get the same lecture about safety. And I'm not asking for any sympathy. But I'm going to tell my story anyway.

    Falls for the elderly are in slow motion. We know we're going down and we know where. Our butt hits the ground before our head knows we're falling. Our reaction time is too slow to halt or control the fall.

    So what was I doing? I was cleaning my car. I had my stepladder so that I could clean the top. I put the stepladder aside when I was finished with it. (You'll need to know this later. )

    I was cleaning the exterior below the doors and backing up. Somehow I tripped while going backward. Not a problem. You just fall on your butt which at this point is close to the ground. 

    Okay the ladder was 2 ft away from the car. Some how, I got my feet tangled up in the ladder. My fall was rapidly picking up speed and the ladder was in the way. I knocked the ladder down and was tangled up in the ladder. I checked myself to see if I'd done any damage. Maybe, I should ice this bruise for few minutes.

    I came outside a few minutes later to finish the job. I noticed that the step ladder was in awful shape. Some of it looked like spaghetti . I picked the stepladder up but it would not stay standing. So my step ladder was injured. I carefully bent back some pieces of step ladder and I'm back in business again. 

INELEGANT

       Well, I really didn't know there was such a word as inelegant, but I was the perfect example last night.   I was awfully inelegant.

       I was out at a meeting and came home shortly after nine.  Of course, at that time it was very dark.  I have a security light on the front of my house so parking  was fine. I walked to the back and found that the kitchen light that's usually on was off. It was pitch black. First of all you know that old guys like me don't see too well...especially in the dark. Secondly our balance isn't the greatest anymore.

       I got up the walk and the three steps to the back door and then my problem started. I was in the top step and balance became an issue .I didn't have much room to maneuver. So the way to get my balance was to step backward. That meant I was gong down stairs backwards. I'm not too good at going down stairs backwards at the best of times. 



     I made it down the three steps but when I hit the sidewalk my speed had picked up. Now I don't walk backwards very well so I tripped going backwards. I lurched against the brick wall of the house and sort of bounced. I hit the sidewalk on my butt and did a bit of a roll. fortunately I didn't hit my head. It was all in slow motion. I wonder why I couldn't have recovered at some point. My cap went flying. My meeting papers went on their own little flight. My pen disappeared. I did hang onto my keys. I had to unlock the door.

     I remember saying one very bad word and then I did what I always do when I fall...get up quickly before anybody sees me.

     Needless to say , the whole thing was very awkward and yes inelegant...totally lacking in grace. 

    I got in the house and turned on the lights and went back out to retrieve my belongings.

    I ripped my jacket sleeve and have a bruise on my left big butt. Other than being a little stiff I survived.

    It really makes one think seriously about falls when you're a senior.

Fall Aftermath

      In the last 20 years I've taken four bad falls. I've fallen more than  four times but many were not serious and I don't remember them.

     It suddenly came to me a few days ago that there is more going on in a fall than just an injury.

      I've fallen and broken my wrist twice. In 1992 , while I was bird counting, I slipped on a steep icy slope. I reached back to break my fall and my hand hit on the shale of the path. The ulna broke into four pieces and the radius in three pieces. I'm not going to go on about how much it hurt.

     In 2001 I fell while skating and broke the same wrist. The lady skating just ahead of me fell and hit her head on the ice. Her head hit at my feet. I tried to turn quickly and help her and I fell backwards and broke my wrist.

    As a result of these two falls I became very cautious when it came to walking on ice. I lost my confidence. I had to work hard to be able to walk in a normal fashion on winter ice.

    I did a forward roll on my bike in 2008. I suffered some road rash and a huge bruise. I had no trouble getting back on my bike but I look back and think how fortunate I was that I wasn't seriously injured. Yes , I was wearing a helmut and there are a few scrapes on my helmut. Yes, there was some damage to my bike but I was able to ride home.

    A year ago I fell down the stairs. I was most fortunate and didn't suffer any injury other than a few bruises , pulls and embarrassment . I still haven't got my confidence back when it comes walking downstairs. I am working on it.

    So it dawned on me that there is more to a fall than just the injury whether slight or serious. Our confidence is shattered. We don't hear about that very often. The injury that takes the longest to heal is the emotional on.

     Why is it so important to get back to normal? We do much better and it's safer if we move with confidence and strength.

This is where I pivoted awkwardly and fell

When You Fly, Don't Forget the Airplane

      Yesterday I took a flight and I didn't have an airplane. I didn't even have a parachute like DJan. 

      So my last post was flying when the airplane iced up. Conveniently yesterday, I took a another flight! I fell down the stairs!

     I survived the fall and the biggest wound was my pride. I was very fortunate and other than stretching a few things I had no injury.

    I was taking groceries downstairs so that they could be put away. I picked up a plastic pail that had a unattached lid  and a little box on top of the lid. This was a delicate balancing act. So with a bag of groceries in my right hand and the pail in my left hand I had to pivot on a step and then go down the stairs. Sounds simple, but I didn't make it. My feet were slower than a lot of other things.

    I fell from about 2/3 s up the stairs and went to the bottom and landed on the bread and some tin cans. The bread was a mess and the cans were badly bent out of shape. My micro manager was not too happy. She came to the top of the stairs to find out what all the noise was. Then she got in a huff about the mess I made. Somehow there were a lot of bread crumbs spread on the floor and she didn't like that!.

    So that's not a bad trick for a 74 year old. If you want my advice a 74 year old shouldn't even risk falling on the floor.

    So of course, here's for a safe 2014.

Did You Ever Fall into Your Compost Bin?

    Well, I unfortunately fell into my compost bin a few days ago.
    
    Now before you can say, "What an idiot!" I can explain. Before you say, "Well, he'd make good compost!"  I have a reason. So I've covered all the bases for the "smart mouths."


    I was preparing a fence for painting the other day. The compost bin is close to the fence so there was not much room to maneuver. I was backing up and some rotten wood under my foot squashed and the next thing I knew I was falling backwards and very lucky for me I landed squarely in the compost. Now at first I thought , "Good , nobody saw me!" Then I thought , "How am I going to get out of this place?"  My feet were hanging over the side of the bin. I was in the bin. How was I going to get my feet under me? Well, I did get out in a few seconds.


    Now for the explaining. In a previous post I told how that I had been diagnosed with seizures. These are not the seizures with uncontrollable shaking. For seniors some of the being confused and not responding correctly  is due to seizures. There is a part of your brain where the activity is more rapid than normal. Now these seizures aren't a problem for me but the neurologist insisted I go on medication and I'm not going to argue with her. She says whether I have a driver's license or not. The biggest problem is the medication. They give the same medication for seizures as they do for schizophrenics and bipolar disorder. It doesn't make you feel very good. I have problems with balance on the stuff and that's why a fall. It also slows down your reaction time . So by the time you get your feet in gear to prevent falling into the compost bin, you're in the bin!


     However, I will take the medication if it prevents me from becoming confused or worse. I also know that I can't just stop taking it. There is a protocol for going off the medication.


    So there's my explanation. There's my reason. I also smelled like compost for the rest of the day. So my advice? Try really hard to stay out of the compost bin.

Sometimes I Fall Like a Sack of...

       A few months ago I posted about falling in the snow while I was cross country skiing. I hoped the neighbors didn't see me as it was rather embarrassing getting myself out of the deep snow. One of my blog readers had a good comment as she said, "You just had to tell about it." Since that time two people told me that they saw me struggling awkwardly to get myself out of the snow. They were ready to come out and help me.

      At my age falling is a serious issue. As I just told you it can be hard getting back up. But mostly the risk of serious injury is quite high. Also falling can be caused easily because of poorer vision and less sense of balance. However, I do not let these issues deter me from being active. In other posts I have told of my participation in skating, cycling, running, gardening etc.

      It's cycling season now and you guessed it I fell off my bike!!! One of those slow awkward embarrassing falls. And again I hope nobody saw me but it's alright to write about it. I started on my ride and suddenly the pedal stuck and I couldn't move my right foot. I looked down and saw that my shoe lace had caught in the large sprocket and that the shoe lace had wound around the crank. So there was my foot tightly held against the pedal. I couldn't pedal anymore and so soon the bike was going to stop and I would have to think fast as to how to get myself out of the situation. I couldn't tip to the left as my right foot was caught and I would be hung up with nowhere to go. I couldn't tip to the right as my right foot was caught and I wouldn't be able to put my foot on the ground to balance the bike and remain upright. So I more or less did a semi controlled fall to my right. It worked. I then got my shoe lace unwound and got up with no harm done. One more surprise. The chain had come off the back sprocket and jambed so when I tried to pedal the cranks wouldn't turn.

      So I felt like I was a sack of something falling on the curb with a quiet plop! Hopefully that's the last fall I have this year.