Another Public Holiday - Another Fall!

Last Friday Margaret was given her shower by another Blue Care RN who commented how independent Margaret was.  Margaret loved her because she thinks that Helen and I worry too much about her. The RN also saw a couple of incidents which highlighted Margaret's confused state.  When the RN arrived Helen was having a shower and Margaret told her to hurry up as she was going to have her shower.  I thought she was worried about our water pressure dropping when both showers are in use which can cause the shower to suddenly run cold or hot.  Helen said that she had finished but Margaret told her to get out as she needed the shower.  I pointed out that she had her own shower and she told me that she didn't know that.

The weekend has been pretty good with Margaret sitting up and chatting with Helen on out back patio and looking a Helen's photos on her computer,   Margaret has been very tired and going to bed quite early but in general she has been quite happy.  Sunday was Anzac Day and Monday was a public holiday.  At about 4.45am Margaret got up to go to the toilet and fell.  She didn't hit anything hard but landed on the carpet on her knees and left arm.  Helen was with her in a few seconds with me close behind.  When we rolled her over we saw that she had two big skin tears on her arm and and her knee was developing a large bruise.  The tears were too much for me to dress so we called an ambulance.  The paramedics applied a temporary dressing and took her to Noosa Emergency Dept for the second time in four weeks.

Margaret's injuries were dressed immediately and after a brief period for her to get herself back to normal she was given a check over by the Doctor.  Fortunately she had no other side effects and was sent home at 8.00am.  her arm is very sore as she has lost some skin so the nurse could not drag it back over the wound.  She rested for the rest of the day but got up and had dinner with us in the evening. She has had a good nights rest but i think that Helen has stayed awake to look out for Margaret going to the toilet.

The following photo was taken as Margaret was being comforted by Helen while we waited twenty minutes for the ambulance.

  The nurse manged to roll back the skin over 90% of the larger area but about half of the smaller area's skin had been torn off.  The modern dressings used will stay on until the weekend.

The Blue Care RN is coming to check on Margaret today and also shower her so we will have an expert to check that things are OK.