Walking while falling

My Matisse inspired cut-out entitled “Cracks”

In May, my husband Bob and I were just starting a Sunday afternoon walk to Lincoln Park Zoo.  I didn’t see the jarring uneven crack on the sidewalk (see photo below). The toe of my shoe caught smack on the crack,  I tripped hard and took a dive onto the sidewalk.  The good news was that I didn’t hit my head.  The bad news was that I fell on my side and fractured my femur.

“She did not fly. She fell. She thought, Hello, gravity, and tried to spread her arms so that it would catch her.“

Amy Zhang

The pain was so awful I couldn’t stand up.  Someone walking by called 911. As I lay sprawled on the sidewalk waiting for the ambulance, I asked out loud, “what did I do?”  “What did I do wrong?”  I was stunned.

Finally, I saw the firetruck and ambulance arrive. A crew of about 6 EMT’s peered down at me still laying flat on the sidewalk. They wanted to know if I hit my head. No, but I let them know that If I moved even slightly, the pain was intense. It didn’t take long for the firemen to work out a plan to insert a stretcher under me and then lift me onto the ambulance bed.  It was painful, but they were quick.

The ambulance took me to Swedish Hospital. Bob met me there, and after a few hours and some X-rays, we learned that I would be transferred by ambulance to Skokie Hospital for surgery. I dreaded being moved again. But the late night ambulance crew took good care of me and made me laugh.

I was just walking to the zoo with Bob, and now I was in a hospital bed waiting for surgery. What happened?

The next morning, the nurses were prepping me for surgery. Someone lifted my leg and I screamed. After a long pause, I heard someone state the obvious in a low voice, “She’s not out yet.” They put an oxygen mask over my face which caused me to panic, because I felt like I couldn’t breathe.  The nurse said the monitors indicated that I was breathing.  That’s the last thing I remember before losing consciousness.

I am very thankful for the excellent care I received from my surgeon and the entire orthopedic team at Skokie Hospital (except for the guy who lifted my leg).

When I saw the surgeon after five weeks, the new x-rays indicated that there was “no fracture, dislocation or hardware failure of my left hip hemiarthroplasty.” The surgery was a success. I am still recovering and still wondering why I fractured my hip. There is no answer to that question, except for the fact that I was walking.  I fell because I was walking.  If you don’t walk, you don’t fall. I am going to keep walking.

Take it or leave it suggestion #28: Take long walks and watch out for cracks.

Another Matisse inspired cut-out entitled, “Falling.”