Well, that's exactly the point - we don't know. At her age (83), we didn't need or want an autopsy (which isn't required legally). Because she lived by herself in Arizona, it was a day before my sister and I could get there, and by then her body had been removed and, per her wishes, cremated.

There was nothing dispositive on her death certificate - I believe the cause of death was listed as "natural causes." We tried to get more information from the staff at her assisted living place, but they basically said, "you don't really need to know that." I think they were just trying to be nice, or perhaps avoid liability. Ultimately, at least I made my peace with it by realizing that she lived life on her own terms, and that's how she died.

The effect of her possible suffering on her own to us (her sons) and grandkids has been one of the most persuasive concepts to encourage her to use something....

quote:

Originally posted by Mikhailoh:
Good point. Do both.

As far as rolling over onto the button I suspect that is exceptionally rare and you can find a unit that prevents that.

Not as exceptionally rare as you may think (speaking as someone to whom it's happened twice three times, especially a nuisance as you really can't (or at least oughtn't) take it off at night. After all, that's when one is most apt to fall (getting up for the bathroom when woozy).

It's really shocking to me that nursing home residents fall ALL the time, worsened by the rules against either strapping them into a wheelchair or even putting railings on the bed ("too restrictive".)

My mother (100 in April) in memory care has broken her hip, and wrist - second time - both in the last few months. Several really bad head injuries in the past, and pretty much constant lesser falls.

I don't even know how long she was left injured, given their outrageous staffing problem (unless she makes a loud noise when landing). Seems she'd be safer wearing a pendant!

For this they charge well over $100K/year and it would be a lot more if she were moved to a real nursing home. At one time we were private paying for a companion to sit with her but we just couldn't swing it for long (something like $35/hr.) I just don't get it - i thought that's what these skilled nursing places were for! (Blind, deaf and Alzheimer's afflicted, she has taken to alternating aggression with pitiful attempts to escape to "go home" (by which she means her childhood home and parents).

Finally getting the idea to lower her bed and surrounding it with padding helps - some.

BTW I haven't heard of these "buttons" requiring pushing (hence consciousness). The ones my son's researched all go off when a (supposed) fall is detected and you only have seconds to cancel the emergency call if it was a false alarm. (Accompanied by a loud siren, when you've accidentally triggered it in your sleep, it's an unpleasant shock - what's more you can't even cancel it by calling the police line once the "rescue" as been set in motion. (Hence, yes, hammering on door!)

And yet one memorable evening when shopping late, my shopping cart somehow tipped over and on top of me (I usually love them, for stability walking). In a distant bakery corner, no staff noticed and (of course) the alarm failed to respond.

That was the old Phillips.

And the new model is so sensitive it has a hair-trigger mechanism as earlier described - the last straw for me. As I said, it even went off from jarring as slight as setting my purse down in the gym, where I'd put it to work out on weight machines - ones I knew were apt to bump it.

I fall owing to "foot drop" (neurological) in one leg plus a surgical mistake - still undiagnosed - from my major spinal reconstruction. He somehow left me tilted, with a gait sbnormality and improper lordosis. (At least, he mostly got rid of the spinal deformity which had gradually gotten to Quasimodo level, severe kyphoscoliosis.*) Thus far, I've not been really injured, knock wood, thanks to a strong skull and good bone density (I've often landed - hard - on a hip). Also, I got the idea of weight lifting on gym machines when it finally dawned on me I had only been strengthening my lower body on the stair stepper and treadmill. Now I can always get up because of my upper body strength (highly recommend!)

Lest anyone think we were falsely economizing on my or my mom's care, my devoted SIL, checks around a dozen facilities whenever Mom has to be moved not counting (now regretted) rather luxurious Assisted Living accommodations for years. As for my surgeon (now accursed), he was head of spinal surgery at the Hospital for Special Surgery - supposedly the best orthopedic hospital in the country. I think he was famed mostly for research.

Would love - well, sort of - to have revision surgery so I could walk outdoors again (and even safely have another smallish dog?). Found a tippy top surgeon, dual-certified in both orthopedic and neurosurgery (spinal specialty) but I'm just too skittish about another (painful/dangerous) ordeal. Recovery of ~a year. IF I recover, to face facts. Expense too, for all the traveling, hotels, etc. (Insurance covers the medical part). Sons' time off from work too!

And to think I believed until my forties I was blessed with exceptional flexibility! (Was super fit, including gymnastics - even invited to join a "golden" triathlon team.) Little did I know I was actually born with Ehler Danlos syndrome, hypermobility type. Hence all the wobbliness, leading to the back's "collapsing" (surgeons' term) - also other joint surgery owing to loose connective tissue. (Too bad I was born before checking for scoliosis in school was routine!)

*One spinal specialist told me when only in my early fifties, that ALL my disks were ruptured! (Do not want to discuss Karma!)

Amanda, do you walk with a cane? Walker? Hiking poles? Something to give you an extra point of contact with the ground.

Yes, walking sticks if walking more than a 100 yards or so, but really don't dare in winter weather.

That said I'm able to clear my snow up to ~ 3"; leaning on the shovel is enough. (I wear light cleats on boots, if I feel I'm in danger of slipping. I live on a slight hill.)

I was advised by a member of a spinal surgery forum (NOT Facebook) to use them after surgery instead of a walker (have two) because the walker made me hunch over, healing at an angle. They made a big difference (I notice that although I mentioned this to my surgeon, he completely blew it off even though it could have really helped other patients.) That group was highly educated about complex spinal surgery (the leader was a head nurse at a SF hospital in their top spinal surgery dept. She'd also undergone the same surgery as the rest of us had either gone through or were debating about.)

Mostly, though I don't walk recreationally - just to and from offices, supermarkets, at most a short city block. (Love shopping carts as all we 'spinies' do!). What's really hard (and saddens me) is I can't walk in nature, especially paths - the kind, slightly cleared in parks and woods. The rocks do me in, unless I'm with someone I can lean on.

I was warned by surgeons there was 100% (!) chance of complications, though most were not drastic. OTOH shortly before I had my operation, I was one of four forum women (somehow it's mostly women who develop such problems) waiting for their surgery. What was blood-curdling was all three (those ahead of me) had ghastly outcomes: one died, one ended paralyzed from the waist down and the third (the worst IMO) was in a permanent vegetative state! She'd come out of the surgery fine, was writing to us, and for some reason slipped into a permanent coma.

This percentage of such outcomes is very rare, thank heaven, though they can happen at any time after the surgery (for example, infections years later). Mostly people decide (reluctantly) to have the surgery, because of intolerable pain. The consensus of the forum, though, is that even with the best surgeons and facilities, "it's a crap shoot". (Young women - teens and twenties fare the best, at least, nowadays.) However, we ALL inevitably end up with radical stiffness from fusions, the worst naturally, those who have had longer fusions like me - T4 to the pelvis. Putting on pants, shoes and socks, and other self-care mostly requires doodads, and we all have "grabbies" to pick things up. (I put up bars in advisable places, and extra bannisters.) I'm OK on stairs (careful descending, religious with bannisters) but can ascend rapidly even despite my knee replacement.)

It could be much worse, though driving is harder (neck mobility issue - had neurosurgery there before the back op) and I can't sit or stand comfortably (I use lots of pillows!) Even lying down isn't great.

At this point, thanks to my exercises, I can pick things up (good quads and other muscle groups, somewhat increased flexibility!) Now working on the upper body, so I'm safer. Besides weight machines, I have to rely on stair steppers and treadmills for aerobic health (super important for my heart as I'm otherwise fairly sedentary). I confess, though, that I always say a little prayer before stepping on either because I've had a fair number of falls and slips on them. Am working on finding better shoes, hopefully making me safer. The foot drop is the main villain there.

I have a number of neurological problems caused solely because of having had to delay the operation even after it had become vital (ever hear of cauda equina syndrome?). Eight years delay. That was because of not having anyone close to me to be available both for the surgery and months afterwards (most of that was "in case", which I turned out not to need.) Still bitter at my SIL who had said she'd help and rescinded it, so I basically had to wait until one son "grew up enough" to be able and willing to stay with me. That was after his graduation. He stayed for nine months then, while preparing for his first big job. During the preceding eight years, many pinched nerves became irreparably damaged causing permanent deficits - also greatly worsening the deformity. (I think six years ago, after I had the surgery, I posted before and after Xrays - shockers. Both sons were there for the eight hour surgery (one was ashen after being brought to see me in the recovery room. I gather I looked pretty gargoylish!)

Since then - I cope, living alone. One son has said he'll be there if I have a revision though not as long. (Note that son there after the surgery was able to use all that free time to work intensively to prepare for his applications - algorithms, expensive practice interviews, and of course, an excellent excuse for the resume gap between graduation and applications. Got a fabulous job!)

And after all, I'm not one of the unlucky three comrades who had such bad outcomes. (Note, some - even women my age - do brilliantly. Pain-free and back to ice-skating, tennis and other favorite activities. Two similar patients - same age, almost identical symptoms and operated on by the same excellent surgeon - had radically different outcomes. One was perfect while the other ended up quite disabled, in and out of surgery and constant treatments.

Luck of the draw. I think I most miss biking and dancing. And the itches I am unable to scratch (skin is numb) drive me nuts!

Sorry for getting carried away, as I so often do.

Sometimes I get into my "Ancient Mariner" mode.

quote:

It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

Amanda, so sorry for all you have been through with this. I have been experiencing some neuropathy and stenosis and other spinal related issues, though not to the degree you have suffered by a long ways. I also have a connective tissue disorder (hypermobility, though not ED) and have gone through decades of spontaneous ligament ruptures that then had to be repaired, when they were repairable.

I am currently working with a sports medicine doctor who is excellent and who has strongly advised me to NOT have spinal surgery--because of many of the issues you cite, but also he believes it really doesn't work. IF someone is a good candidate he offers caudal injections of platelet-rich plasma to the spine. You might want to look into it, but make sure you are going to an ethical and experienced practitioner, and not a quack.

I would love to know if any of these devices that detect falls work when you do not have cell service or internet. I carry a personal locator beacon when I ride in the mountains; it operates off of a satellite signal, but it is useless if I am unconscious. I don't trail ride in the winter because if I fell off and was unconscious I could die of hypothermia. However, if there was a device that would alert my husband if I fell....

Thanks for your empathy, pique. I know you have many of the same orthopedic/neurological problems and still somehow manage to lead an almost unbelievably adventurous, active life - but not without effort, I realize!

Re your discussion of what if any technology could protect you from serious injury in the wilderness (informing those who love you).

Only partly joking - carrier pigeon?