She Scared Us!

Beth fell down the stairs last night.

Her apartment is in our day light basement and she had come up to get dinner. She was taking her plate back downstairs when I heard a loud grunt. Then I heard her fall, the plate flying against the wall, her thumping down the stairs... oh my gosh my heart is beating faster even now, just remembering that sound!!

By the time I got to the stairs, she was sort of sitting on the landing and both feet were up on the bottom stair, she was holding her head and sobbing.

Chuck and I flew down the stairs asking if she was okay and she just cried. She did managed to say, "I hurt my head!" The whole time I'm whispering, "Jesus! Jesus!" I was SO scared! I asked her if she hurt anywhere and she shook her head no. I slowly moved her legs down off the bottom stair so her whole body was on the landing. She was shaking and crying like I've never seen before!

I checked her arms and legs and she seemed okay so I had her stand up and we took her into her room and had her sit in her chair. Still holding her head, still crying, I wrapped my arms around her and began to pray.

She cried and cried.

I asked her to move her feet, her hands, her neck. Everything worked fine and she said nothing hurt, except the one spot on her head where she hit the wall. After she began to calm down I asked her if she had fallen part way down the stairs, or all the way... she said she couldn't remember. I asked her if she fell down on her front or if she did a summersault but she couldn't remember.

Chuck cleaned up her dinner (thank goodness the plate was Corell and didn't break!) and I went up to get her more pancakes. When I came back down, she was still crying and upset. I could tell this really scared her. She usually bounces right back from stuff like this and can often be heard yelling, "I'm okay!!" if she bumps her arm or hits her leg on something. Last night she cried for a long time.

I sent my sister a text (she's a nurse) and asked her if there was anything I should watch for as far as a head injury. Her pupils were normal, so she suggested I wake her once or twice during the night and if she didn't wake up easily, then we should take her to the ER. I did that, but she always woke up normally. In fact, one time she got angry at me, rolled over and pulled the covers up over her head!

Thursdays she usually takes a shower while I'm at work but today I told her she needed to wait until I got home. She took it while I was home for lunch and did fine. There isn't even a bump on her head tonight. That was so scary! I don't think I'll ever forget the sound of her falling.

Tonight when she came up to get dinner, she held the handrail on the way back down.