Must be an epidemic here

13 years ago

In October my next door neighbor fell off a bottom step of a ladder and landed on her lawn and broke her hip.

A couple of weeks later, I turned my ankle and broke a bone in my foot. Had to have surgery to get a plate put in my foot.

Today a friend fell off a ladder while she was stripping wall paper in her kitchen. Broke 2 bones in her left foot and one in her right wrist. She lives alone and had planned to go out of state next week to help her sister who is having surgery.

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Comments (13)

glenda_al
13 years ago
At luncheon, today, some of us were talking about falling. We have to be more careful as we age.

I am ever cautious when getting out of the bathtub. That's a fear I have of falling in the tub. Done that once and what an ordeal it was to get out.
kittiemom
13 years ago
Linda, I hope your recovery is going well. I'm afraid that my 81 yr old dad is going to fall. He has a mobility problem with his foot (it drags) & is in the beginning stages of Alzheimer's. He's very stubborn & insists that he gets around fine. We've all tried to talk to him, to no avail. I fear that it will take him breaking something to get him to listen.
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having an epidemic here
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Looks like too much water and maybe even a bug (discussed at the end). I went through this on my plants last year. I'm in Florida and sent messages around to all sorts of Botanical Gardens and Cooperative Extention offices. The Consensus was too much water/humidity. Some called it corking, some said it was NOT corking but something else and suggested changing potting mix and reducing water. Your M. elongata looks rotten from the soil up on each arm. If they're mushy, Cut them off above the rotted area before it kills the whole arm. Then let the dry out for a week or two to callus. If your Trichocereus is also mushy, do the same... If you don't have any antifungal powder, I've heard cinnamon poweder works pretty good. Put some on each cut end to stop any further rotting. I don't know where you are in the country, but I'm guessing it's not the desert and therefore more humid than these plants are accustomed too. Leaving them outdoors to get rained on everytime it rains is not a good idea unless you have a VERY good draining soil mix. But if you're using "some commercial potting soil" and not even Cactus soil, then it's most likely holding to much moisture. I had to swich my mix to just about NO commercial soil mixes at all. I also didn't water almost all winter. Maybe 3 or 4 times and then not as much as a regular summer watering. And it's warm here. Bringing your plants indoors, they probably didn't dry out fast enough during the winter. Cactus Hate wet feet. Now that it's summer, and finally raining in the desert a bit, (monsoons), I've been watering my plants about once a week for some, and some only every other week... Depending on the way the plant looks. That Brown Growth has stopped on my plants and has not progressed. It will never disappear but shouldn't get worse. As for the Bugs.... two of my cereus that were affected, kept getting worse, no matter what I did. I was convinced it was bugs but didn't see any. So I figured it was spidermites. I didn't see any webs, but sprayed for them. No change. I didn't know what to do but watch as my plants died. No matter what I did they got thinner and thinner and turned more and more yellow. Eventually the base of one got so thin it had to be dead. I got out a pair of clippers and sure enough it was dead. BUT, As I cut it, I saw this white flakey stuff fly off. At first I thought it was just the dried skin of the plant. I looked closer, not that it was in my hand, at the top part that was still alive. I turned it around in my hands and really examimed it closely. The Flakes weren't dried dead skin. It was Scale insects! They were Hiding under the spines at the base of each areole!!! When I sprayed, either they didn't always get sprayed and just kept multiplying OR, they were Immune to the Spider mite spray. I went to Home Depot and got some Malathion. I knew it would kill them! I mixed some up and sprayed the surviving plant and the top section of the first plant. Both are doing better and turning green again! I have searched all my plants and looked UNDER the areoles and found some on several of my other plants! Just because you can't see the bugs, doesn't mean they aren't there! Look closely and good luck
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moonie_57 (8 NC)
13 years ago
I do worry about falling because of my job. Actually, I have fallen more than once... all the way down... but I worry about falling where I am not able to get back up. LOL

Mostly I worry about my mom falling again. She fell in the grocery store parking lot 3 years ago and has had knee problems since. Initially she went to the Dr. and had some fluid drawn off but now she won't go back and is in constant pain. There's no talking to her, though.

linda - I hope your foot is better now.
User
13 years ago
I worry about falling too since I have osteopenia. I have never had a broken bone, but I'm very small boned so it seems like I could snap a wrist or ankle. I walk very fast at the gym and on the treadmill but around the house, very slowly. I have six pets anyone of which could be under my feet. I also have two very steep staircases, front and back. People must have had smaller feet back in 1830 cause the treads are smaller than today's .
wanda_va
13 years ago
Linda, I'm sorry about your foot, and hope it is OK now. Sadly, your epidemic spread here. Two weeks ago, I stepped on a log that was covered by leaves, and turned my ankle. My ankle is sore, but my foot really hurts. I have an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow to find out if there are any broken bones. (The "waiting for the pain to go away" plan hasn't worked.)
dedtired
13 years ago
Wanda, one time I twisted my ankle badly. It hurt so much I saw stars, but I figured it was a bad sprain. I waited two weeks for the pain to go away. When it didn't, I finally went to the doctor only to find out I'd been hobbling around on a broken ankle.
terilyn
13 years ago
Linda, add me to the list, have several broken bones in my foot. I need smaller dogs jumping on my feet!
marygailv
13 years ago
I worry about falling, too, as I find my balance becoming poorer. There have been times when the wall or a door has saved me. I can't have the room dark as I have no sense of balance then.

Glenda, do you have a rail on your tub? I have a screw on one that is very handy. I shower as it was a few years back I was sitting in the tub one day and all of a sudden couldn't get myself up until I got on my knees.
User
13 years ago
I have electric candles burning in every window of my house which greatly helps in the night time when I don't need to turn on lights to see. Maybe some of you might think of night lights or candles. I used to walk around my yard at night to check the ponds, but stopped doing it because I thought I could trip and fall in the pond or fall and break a leg and no one would know till morning. That happened to one of my friends walking her dog at 1AM in her yard. Her huge Mastiff knocked her over and she had a severe head injury lying in her yard till morning.
dollydolots
13 years ago
I fell in the tub and bruised my hip very badly.
I really frightened my DH so he ordered and installed one of those walk in tub. They are really great but very expensive.
My Dr. said that after age 60 you should not climb any ladder and be careful when climbing and going down stairs.
linda_in_iowa
Original Author
13 years ago
I would really like to get my laundry moved from my basement to my main floor.
Thanks to everyone who expressed concern for my foot. It is healing well. I just hate wearing a walking boot because it makes my opposite hip hurt so much.
chisue
13 years ago
Gosh, this thread sounds like testimonials for those alarms you wear around your neck to summon help! Not a bad idea, but I wonder how much it costs to have one.

My jet-tub has handles inside, just below the rim of the tub. I use them to help hoist myself up; my leg muscles are not strong. I also reach in and grab the farther handle when entering the tub.
janie_ga
13 years ago
Linda, I had one of those boots when I was in middle school and again in college(three sprained ankle in my life). I had to wear a 1 inch heel on the other foot so I was not lopsided. The most recent sprain (2009), I did not get a boot but had to use crutches for two weeks. Six months later, I was down with a herniated disc at L3-L4 (higher than "normal" herniations). I am convinced it was from the lopsidedness of being on crutches for two weeks. You be careful!

Must be an epidemic here

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Must be an epidemic here

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