Broken Bones

 

X-ray of my mum´s subcapital humerus fracture (Nov. 2017; edited with Snapseed)

 

Two weeks ago my mum had an accident – in order to get some winter boots down from the attic, she fell from a ladder and broke her shoulder joint (subcapital humerus fracture).

Instead of phoning for an ambulance, she phoned me – you can imagine my – well-hidden – anger. Not because I didn´t want to bring her to the hospital, but because I know that if you arrive there on your own, belief is that you´re not as unwell as you claim to be and in some cases, like in this one, it would have been far better to arrived in an ambulance.

So I brought her to the emergency room of a nearby hospital where we had to wait for about 6 hours because the guy at the reception totally miscalculated what she had. Which is no surprise, really, because he didn´t even care to properly look at her or her shoulder and obviously didn´t believe either of us.

When I went to the loo, she finally broke down in front of a nurse from all that pain she successfully had tried to conceal from me. That nurse instantly knew what my mum had, put her in a Gilchrist and managed to alert a doctor who until then had always hurried away after taking only a glance at my mum.

Finally she was x-rayed and now everybody could see what my mum and I already had guessed. And after six hours of immense pain she finally got some painkillers. By that time it was already late into the evening and they decided to keep her in the hospital where she would receive surgery two days later.

Somehow I managed to stay strong all the time during that first awful day in the hospital and only when I got home, my tears finally flowed freely from my eyes.

At this point I need to add that my mum and I are very close and always have been. To see her like this – suddenly very small like a little bird, not knowing how to position herself because of that pain and the uncertainty of what was in store for her – was simply  unbearable.

 

X-ray after the surgery (Nov. 2017; edited with Snapseed)

 

She stayed in hospital for a week, and now I´m trying to take care of her. Today the stitches will hopefully be removed and then physio therapy can start.

Now you know, why I have been so absent in these last weeks, not blogging myself and not reading all of your lovely blogs which I have missed very much. I promise to give my best to catch up, but know it will take while.

Understandably I haven´t done anything creative during this time, so I simply took some photos of my mum´s x-rays and added a splash of color to them. 😉

Hope you are all well and enjoy a wonderful (Thanksgiving) weekend!

Take care and please – if you need to step on a ladder, make sure someone else is there too, or if that isn´t possible, at least keep your phone with you!