The Fall

I fell this morning leaving the building. I lost my balance, tried to catch the wet railing but it wasn't enough and over I went. I hit my head on a concrete retaining wall, scraped my scalp, 3 fingers and cut the end of my middle finger on my right hand. As the day wore on I realized I bruised my right thigh where I landed.

My weakened arms and legs makes it very hard for me to get up when I fall, especially after the shock of the fall and especially when I hit my head. A timid little middle-aged Filipino woman had the misfortune of seeing me fall. She obviously didn't want to stop and more obviously didn't have a clue what to do. I knew instantly she wouldn't be any assistance to me. She meekly asked if I had fallen, then if I was hurt but she was afraid to really look at me. After she saw I was bleeding she became even more rattled. She fretted about setting down her bag on the wet ground--it was raining. I am sure she wouldn't have had a clue what to do even if she had. She watched me helplessly as I struggled to hoist myself up on the first wet step. As soon as made that minor achievement she ran away as fast as she could, not to get help but just to put as much distance between us as she could.

I was able to push myself up onto the second step and from there pull myself up to a standing position. At the time I didn't even notice my bleeding knuckles or scalp. My first impulse was to just continue on my way to work but my finger was bleeding too much. I went back inside, waited a small age for the elevator and eventually reached my bathroom. There I washed myself up a bit and bandaged my bleeding finger before setting off to work again.

I didn't want to dwell on the fall. For 5 years I have carefully kept a record of each fall and the average number of days between my last 10 falls. In the first half of 2004 I was averaging only 2.5 weeks between falls. I was able to improve my focus and learn to walk more cautiously so for the next 4 years my record improved until 2 months ago when I was approaching 15 weeks between falls. But I have fallen 3 times in less than 8 weeks, and so has my average which is now at 93 days. It is discouraging to losing ground but I suppose that is inevitable given that my condition is deteriorating.

My doctor has been advising me to buy a scooter for the past 3 years, but at present that isn't feasible. My condo strata council refuses to consider installing a wheelchair ramp. There used to be wheelchair access to the front door through a side courtyard, required by an agreement with the City of Vancouver when the office building was renovated into condos in 1994, but the strata has locked the courtyard recently in violation of that agreement. The City has sent 2 warning letters to strata about the violation, which were totally ignored, and has now decided there is nothing more they can do. There has just been a recent City election so once the new, more socialist Council is settled in I will try again through one of the Councilors to get action. If that fails I might need to take legal action against the City and the strata.

Not exactly fun stuff. Not cheap either.