MomMom's Fall

As you all know (or may not know) last Saturday, Prince Charming's mom,  fell from their 12 foot back deck. Prince Charming's dad was installing railings and needed some help with a measurement and MomMom leaned on a railing she thought was nailed down but was not and preceeded to do a swan dive over the edge. PopPop was able to grab her leg and bring her around into a tuck but not hold her. She landed in a grassy/gravel area and missed two large boulders by inches. She was rushed to the hospital by ambulance Saturday afternoon.

She ended up with three broken ribs on the right side and one on the left She broke both of the bones in the right arm, one bone in two places (but it did not need to be set). She has several small fractures on the spine, mostly on the small tail of each spine bone (compression fractures) but one is on the "meaty' part of one of the spine bones which is a concern for the doctors because that could push on the spinal cord. She also has a bruised lung which leaked a small air pocket outside the lung which is pushing on the broken ribs.

Now.. as bad as all that sounds, she is actually doing very well and it could have been alot worse. She is alert but on lots of pain meds. She is wearing a cast on her right arm and a back brace for the one fracture of concern to make sure it heals right.

MomMom has begun rehab and physical therapy. She is getting up regularly, usually to go to the bathroom or sit in a chair. She has yet to do any extensive walking. The getting up is hard but once up she is ok. One of the things the doctors are working on is her breathing. Due to the broken ribs and back it is painful for her to take deep breaths so she gasps for air. Today she has developed a "rattle" in her lungs and she is trying not to cough as that is extremely painful for her too. Pain-wise she is off the morphine and on a less additive type of drug so her naseua/anxiety is less. Mornings are harder for her and then as the muscles move and stretch the pain lessens in the afternoons. Right now is seems as if Friday is the day for her to come home, but that is not a definite. And it will then be many months of rehab and physical therapy once she comes home.