Fall

 

Linden trees along a street in my neighbourhood.

How quickly things can change from "normal" (cf. previous post) to - not quite normal!

There is a reason why I chose the title "Fall" for this post - and is has little to do with all the leaves falling to the ground.

Yesterday afternoon (as so often on a Friday) I went to dispose of some "recyclables" in the bins at the end of the linden-lined street above. Having finished that job, I decided to extend my walk a bit further. As the photo shows, it was a sunny day. 

Between the street I was on and a pedestrian crossing over another road, there is a small grassy patch. One second I was happily walking across that grassy patch (only a few steps), while keeping my eyes on the traffic situation on the bigger road... 

... and the next second, I found myself sprawled on the ground, with no idea how that had happened, or which parts of me might or might not still be in working order...

I must have slipped on a patch still muddy from the rain the day before. But there is still a complete blank in my brain as to exactly how I fell, or in what position I landed. (Checking my clothes later, there was not a trace of dirt on my white (!) jacket, neither front nor back - while my trousers were dirty both back and front!)

It felt like I lay there quite a while trying to work out which parts of me I might be able to move at all; and if there might be a position from which it would feel safe to try and get up to standing position...

Two very young girls (around 9-10?) on the sidewalk along the major road were the first to notice my predicament, and ask if I was all right - looking rather scared. It did not look to me like they'd be able to actually help me get back up on my feet, though... Luckily, a more grown-up Angel also appeared - a young woman who had seen me from her car, and stopped to come to my rescue. She was quite small and thin as well, but she seemed to know what she was doing, and after a few attempts did manage to get me up to standing positon. Although I felt generally bruised - and feared for my left knee in particular, as that has a tendency to play up for less! - to my amazement, nothing seemed to be broken or even "seriously" sprained. Once upright, I felt that I could stand on my legs, and also take a few steps without too much pain. 

The Angel decided it was probably best that she drove me home though (and I did not protest!) As I wasn't far from home that only took a few minutes. The car she was driving had the logo of the council housing company that I rent from. It turned out that she works for them as inspector, and was on her way to such a job nearby. I forgot to ask her name, but I'll be forever grateful. She let me off at my entrance - as there's a lift (elevator), no need to worry about my ability to manage the stairs. 

Taking off my trousers to assess the damage, I was shocked at the size of my left knee, which was also obviously going to turn into an enormous bruise... Instinct told me to make a priority of getting some ice on that, and also a compression bandage. Luckily I did have a variety of bandages already. There was also a small scrape wound on the knee, but very superficial, so nothing to worry about. I had some ice cubes in the freezer and made a first provisorical compress with those. Later on, it struck me that it made more sense to use one of those plastic cooling thingys that you put in cooler bags (not sure of the English word for them), as those don't make everything wet when they thaw... 

 The other place where I felt a bit sore and had a bruise arising was on the outer side of my left foot, below the ankle. It's still a mystery to me how I came to be bruised in those two places - left knee + right ankle - but nowhere else. I also have some pain in my left shoulcer/arm, but no visible bruises there, so I think that's probably from my attempts to get up rather than from the fall as such. (In my right shoulder/arm+ neck I have chronic problems since many years, but that seems not to have got much worse by this incident.) 

I've been taking a series of photos of the development of my bruises, but I think I'll spare you those (for now, anyway), and just give you this neatly bandaged version from Friday afternoon... (My summer jeans with very wide legs came in handy to wear at home - I can just roll up the trouser leg when I need to check on the knee...) 

Apart from the colour of my bruises I don't think anything has been getting "worse". I've been resting with my knee and foot "high" quite a bit, and I've not been out; but I can get around in the flat, and I can sit down and get up again, and do what I need to do at home (like getting food, and washing the dishes). I suppose I'd better take a take a taxi to my doctor's appointment (for other things!!) on Monday morning... But that's not the end of the world...

P.S. There is an emergency clinic at my primary health care centre on weekday evenings (including Friday), and daytime on Saturday and Sunday. So had I felt things getting worse and needed advice, I could have contacted them. But it has not felt necessary.

...

A similar fall happened to me once before. My blog tells me it was as long ago as in the spring of 2017. (8+ years ago!) That time, I stumbled on a kerb of cobble stones separating a walk path from a bicycle path (a very unusual arrangement). But I recall the same feeling of suddeny finding myself on the ground, with no idea what happened, or how much damage... That time, I got a rather deep cut on my elbow. But then, too, "Angels" appeared to help (and that time, gave me a lift to my health care centre to have the cut professionally looked after). 

Re-reading my post from back then, I note that I then also listed a number of "things" not damaged in my fall. It was the same now: Glasses and sunglasses undamaged, phone safe in my handbag, trousers not torn (in spite of scratch wound underneath).

"Sometimes, the greatest angels 
are not found in the heavens, 
but walking beside us on this earth."  
~ Shannon L. Alder