Bye Bye Crocs

Bob has had a favorite pair of Crocs for years. For a very long time I've been telling him they were dangerous, that they could cause him to fall. He wasn't buying it. It was easier to get him to stop driving than to give up those beloved Crocs.

Last week a sister-in-law fell and broke her hip. She wasn't wearing Crocs, and was inside when she fell but that's the third bad fall in the family in as many years. I began again talking to him about how dangerous his Crocs were.

Perhaps because he's feeling more vulnerable. Perhaps because I also might have mentioned the necessity of a nursing home if he broke a hip, but wonder of wonders, those Crocs went to the dumpster.

While Susan was here she took him out and bought these Skechers that should be comfortable and make him much more steady on his feet.

What About Philly

I don't watch much TV but I was looking forward to watching the Democratic Convention in Philly this week. I was up bright eyed and bushy tailed Monday morning, and whipped around this place like Cinderella on steroids working cleaning magic everywhere I went. I had put out the word 'do not disturb' to friends and family.

I tuned in to MSNBC about 1:00 pm. First thing that happened was a bunch of political analysts all piled on one another, all talking on top of each other. I should have known that was coming as soon as I saw Chris Matthews in the group. I couldn't understand anything any of them said. To make matters worse the commercials were screaming loud. Enough of that.

It was on then to CNN where they seemed to be able to control their analysts better and the commercials seemed less deafening.  I took it all in until I went to bed after Bernie's speech. I have some observations.

1) They televise a lot more convention than I'm interested in seeing.

2) Political analysts annoy me, a lot.

3) Cable TV is out to cause division and chaos.

4) CNN, the Democratic party was never divided over Debbie Wasserman Shultz, distracted yes, but never divided. At least Democrats saw the problem and fired their chair. Republicans would be better
off if they did the same to Reince Priebus.

5) Get a grip CNN, the Convention is in Philly. It wouldn't be Philly without marches. Whoever heard of political conventions without protest marches?

6) Take a deep breath CNN the boos did not signify deep division.  The Bernies just had a few more boos they needed to get off their chests. No where near the number of Republicans who stayed home from the Republican Convention in protest.

Tonight I will put the TV on 'mute' until time for the main speakers. I really do not like cable news.
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A word of caution. A Texas friend (73) fell in her home at 11:00 a.m. Yesterday and wasn't found until 6:00 p.m. She has a broken hip, and a UTI. They're hoping she'll be stable enough for surgery tomorrow. In the meantime she's on morphine drip. She has throw rugs and doggy pee pads around her house. She's too confused to give good information but either of those could well be the cause.

As I've gotten older there are a few things I've given up, throw rugs and burning candles being two.

A New Development

My day started out well but soon began to go sideways. Ever have one of those days? Mid morning I took Bob to the DMV to get his handicap pass. It will need to be renewed in 2021 when he has to renew his drivers license. He told the woman that would not be a problem he thought he could make it. That would make him 89.

We stopped in town and had a nice lunch.

Flowers at lunch restaurant.

During lunch he mentioned he needed milk and peanut butter.  I have to confess we're probably making close to the same number of trips to the grocery store as before I began having groceries delivered, we just don't buy much. His love of grocery stores has not diminished.

He got a small grocery cart as we entered. A few feet into the store I turned to tell him I was going to the gardening section and saw he was in trouble. He very softly said "I have to sit down." I grabbed him under his arm pits and told him to lean on the cart and head for the front door. I knew there was a bench there.

Had that been yesterday he would have been in a heap on the floor in Costco because I did not walk with him there.  I lived through a broken hip with my mother and I don't plan to live through one with Bob if I can help it.

I got him home and set about to collect myself and decide what to do next. First I ran a report of his blood pressure readings for the last month and printed it. That in hand I drove to the cardiologist office and left it with my number for him to call me before the day is over.

Back home I got mad. I texted daughter and told her I did not intend to take her father to another grocery store unless he would agree to use a walker with a seat. Hoping to play the peacemaker she thought the Mac Sports Folding Cane Chair - Walking Stick with Stool might be more acceptable to him to use so I ordered it.

Let me be clear I am not a happy camper, and this battle is not over.  This means I can no longer trust him to go anywhere without me by his side. If he has no where to sit he's going to wind up on the ground or the floor. I think he could manage to turn and sit down on a walker seat, but I'm not at all sure he'd be able to unfold this cane chair seat and get himself seated if I were not with him.

I will try to remain calm here until I hear from the doctor but if I'm not satisfied I may turn into a wicked witch and lay down some unpopular rules.

We All Fall Down

"Ronni Bennett at the Time Goes By blog reports that one-third of people 65 and older fall every year. Many do not survive their broken bones.

Now comes a study telling us we elders are far from alone:

"'...in this four-month study, more than half of the college students fell during daily activities,' said Shirley Rietdyk, a profess of health and kinesiology, who only looked at young adults in this study.

The fall rate may be lower for older adults because they are more cautious due to the higher risk of serious, even fatal, injuries from falls.  These findings also highlight that walking on two legs is a challenging task that is mechanically unstable, even for young, healthy adults.'"

Maybe we would be better off now if mankind had stayed on all fours. You can read more here."

Falling In Mud

I learn something new almost daily.  This week I learned if you are going to fall, do it in mud.  I have a large pot off my patio that I wanted to move.  I even made a plan for achieving this goal.

I have this pair of pink Crocs I keep for the purpose of walking in mud (I live in Oregon folks).  I unlocked the patio storage and slipped on my mud walkers.

While there I removed our handy-dandy fold up dolly and called Bob to the patio for instructions.  He was to stay on the patio in charge of the dolly.  I, in my mud walkers, would get the pot and bring it to Bob and the dolly.  Got that?

Good to go then, I squished out to where the pot was located and lifted it.  My brain, my body, and the pot turned to go back to the patio.  My feet did not make the turn, my mud walkers were suction stuck in the mud.  Not good.  Not in the plan.

I began falling and after doing that for a while I landed flat on my back in the mud, as flat as is possible to be.  I could have made mud angels rather than snow angels.  Fortunately the pot landed to my side but on its side.

Bob, watching this from the patio, panicked and came to me wearing his good shoes.  Not good.  Not in the plan.  By this time I am laughing because I knew I was not hurt, and I knew getting up was going to be a problem.  I asked Bob to stand by me and I used him like a tree to support myself getting up.

I had to walk in my sock feet back to the patio and remove my socks before I could go in the house.  It was watery mud.  The back of my clothes were soaked through and through.  I stripped, changed clothes,  and headed for the washer.  Bob managed to set the pot up right and rolled it back to its original place, got my shoes unstuck, and headed for the patio.  He assumed the role of shoe washer.

Sometimes plans just do not work out.  We will give that plan another try about July or August.