Monday, December 22, 2008

MIL's hip

So, last Tuesday, we get a phone call from Darrel's sister. My MIL has babysat for her children since the first niece was born, five years ago. She watches them three days a week while SIL and BIL work. BIL's mother watches them the other two days, or BIL works nights and watches them days- I lose track of what goes on sometimes. So, anyway, MIL went to the supermarket near SIL's house, on her way there, and she fell and broke her hip. It was hard to get information out of SIL- when she called Darrel, she was somewhat hysterical, and we kept getting different info- it wa sher leg, she was just bruised, no, it was her hip.

It turns out, it is the top of her left femur that broke, which is actually part of the hip mechanism. She had surgery that night, and three pins were put in the bone. She did fine with the surgery, and was transferred from the hospital to the rehab center on Friday.

The main issue right now is, she doesn't seem to comprehend, or believe, just how critical an injury she has. She's acting like she should have the same recovery time as a second-grader who broke his arm, but that's just not going to happen. She's a 67-year-old woman with serious osteoporosis who doesn't reliably take her medication and has so many physical woes, she makes me loook like a robust specimen of human. I mean, it'll probably be a good six months before she can even takle stairs, or squat on the ground. She'll never be able to sleep on an Aerobed, or a couch, like she often does at SIL's- neither are supportive enough for her now. And, according to my mother, who worked in geriatrics for nearly forty years and thusly has seen quite a lot of this kind of injury, 30% of all geriatric patients with hip fractures die within a year!

My concern, of course, is that MIL doesn't want to cause any problems for anyone, and will therefore rush her recovery and screw something up royally. We've told her not to worry about SIL or anything- MIL's job right now is to focus on herself and get better properly, not rush things. I don't think she's hearing it, though.

2 comments:

Her Artichoke Heart said...

Oh no! :( I hope she'll give herself time to recover well. And I hope your SIL is emphasizing that to her as clearly as you and Darrel are.

Deb said...

She'll be running marathons by Valentine's Day. :P

Ok, but seriously, hope she's feeling better soon. And statistics don't do anything but worry people so forget that and focus on her case alone. She might amaze you. :)