Old
Man Fall
On
Monday December
23rd I
was doing my regular garbage route. At around 5:30 am I turned onto
Williams avenue from Alder lane. When I came around the corner
I noticed a shape that looked like a person laying motionless on the
sidewalk. I stopped the truck in front of the house to get the
garbage in the back yard. It was dark and had been raining all
morning and was brisk, maybe around 40 degrees outside. When I
walked up to what seemed like a person there was no movement and I
heard no sounds other then my idling truck.
When I walked up to the body piled up on the ground there was no movement and no sound except for my truck and the patter of rain drops. I knelt down and looked over what turned out to be a little old man. I put my ear down right next to his head and I could tell he was trying to yell for help but his voice had gone horse. No sound was coming out just gasps of air. I asked if he was ok. This was a pretty dumb question but what else are you supposed to ask someone who is clearly hurt? He managed to get out a weak "help me up." He said "I fell help me up" I tried to look him over but it was dark and I couldn't see anything. I asked if he wanted me to call for help. He just said in a weak cracked voice "help me up." I thought about it for a second and didn't know what I should do. I knew if he was really hurt I could make it worse by helping him. He was soaking wet and he had a newspaper gripped in his right hand that was saturated with water and just a ball of pulp. I figured he must have been laying there for at least ten or fifteen minutes for it to have gotten that soaked in the rain. I rolled him onto his hands and knees and then got underneath his left arm with my head and tried to lift up, but he was just dead weight and much shorter than me. I didn't have a lot of power to stand up with my head under his arms lower then my waist. I got closer to him and put his left arm around my waist and then grabbed under his right arm pit and lifted him up onto his feet. He wouldn't help hold onto me with his right hand because he was still holding the paper. I asked him to drop the paper and hold onto me but he said "no I came out do get my paper and I need it." I told him I would get it for him after I got him into the house if he just set it down. He hesitated but I was already pulling it out of his hand and he eventually let it go. We walked a few steps and he said "I can walk myself let go." I started to let go out of reflex when he asked but as soon as I started to loosen my grip he began to fall like a sack of potatoes. I got a firm hold on him again and dragged him to the steps. We walked up a step and then I could see the door had a screen on it and it needed to be opened out. I managed to hold on to him and pull the screen open with my left hand half way and then switch hands quickly holding him and open it the rest of the way with my right hand. I tried to lean him against me and hold the screen in my right hand and open the door in with my left but it just wasn't working to do all three things at once. I managed to push the door in while he balanced for a second on his own. Then I was able to see his face and hands in the porch light. He had blood running down his face and all over his hands. It looked like his glasses had crushed into the bridge of his nose and opened up an inch long cut. His hands looked like they had several scrapes and a cut that were bleeding from his knuckles and palms. I didn't see any other options but to get him in the house. Luckily when we got into the house there was a couch just inside the door, so I set him down on it. He started to call out for his wife and after a few seconds she came into the living room from a hallway. She was in a long heavy full covering cotton night gown, but when she rounded the corner she stopped and gasped because a stranger was in the house and had seen her. She went back the way she came and then returned with an even thicker, larger, longer robe. I'm sure her modesty was instinctual but not necessary. When she came back in the room she gave me a look like what the heck did you do? We all just looked at each other. Fortunately the old man sputtered out "he helped me" "he helped me." She then changed her look and came closer to us and started to check if he was ok. I said he had fallen down out on the sidewalk but I didn't know how long he had been laying there. She said "he has Alzheimer and gets confused, he was just going out to get the paper." I remembered the paper and went back to fetch it for him even though I thought it would be futile to try and read it.
When I walked up to the body piled up on the ground there was no movement and no sound except for my truck and the patter of rain drops. I knelt down and looked over what turned out to be a little old man. I put my ear down right next to his head and I could tell he was trying to yell for help but his voice had gone horse. No sound was coming out just gasps of air. I asked if he was ok. This was a pretty dumb question but what else are you supposed to ask someone who is clearly hurt? He managed to get out a weak "help me up." He said "I fell help me up" I tried to look him over but it was dark and I couldn't see anything. I asked if he wanted me to call for help. He just said in a weak cracked voice "help me up." I thought about it for a second and didn't know what I should do. I knew if he was really hurt I could make it worse by helping him. He was soaking wet and he had a newspaper gripped in his right hand that was saturated with water and just a ball of pulp. I figured he must have been laying there for at least ten or fifteen minutes for it to have gotten that soaked in the rain. I rolled him onto his hands and knees and then got underneath his left arm with my head and tried to lift up, but he was just dead weight and much shorter than me. I didn't have a lot of power to stand up with my head under his arms lower then my waist. I got closer to him and put his left arm around my waist and then grabbed under his right arm pit and lifted him up onto his feet. He wouldn't help hold onto me with his right hand because he was still holding the paper. I asked him to drop the paper and hold onto me but he said "no I came out do get my paper and I need it." I told him I would get it for him after I got him into the house if he just set it down. He hesitated but I was already pulling it out of his hand and he eventually let it go. We walked a few steps and he said "I can walk myself let go." I started to let go out of reflex when he asked but as soon as I started to loosen my grip he began to fall like a sack of potatoes. I got a firm hold on him again and dragged him to the steps. We walked up a step and then I could see the door had a screen on it and it needed to be opened out. I managed to hold on to him and pull the screen open with my left hand half way and then switch hands quickly holding him and open it the rest of the way with my right hand. I tried to lean him against me and hold the screen in my right hand and open the door in with my left but it just wasn't working to do all three things at once. I managed to push the door in while he balanced for a second on his own. Then I was able to see his face and hands in the porch light. He had blood running down his face and all over his hands. It looked like his glasses had crushed into the bridge of his nose and opened up an inch long cut. His hands looked like they had several scrapes and a cut that were bleeding from his knuckles and palms. I didn't see any other options but to get him in the house. Luckily when we got into the house there was a couch just inside the door, so I set him down on it. He started to call out for his wife and after a few seconds she came into the living room from a hallway. She was in a long heavy full covering cotton night gown, but when she rounded the corner she stopped and gasped because a stranger was in the house and had seen her. She went back the way she came and then returned with an even thicker, larger, longer robe. I'm sure her modesty was instinctual but not necessary. When she came back in the room she gave me a look like what the heck did you do? We all just looked at each other. Fortunately the old man sputtered out "he helped me" "he helped me." She then changed her look and came closer to us and started to check if he was ok. I said he had fallen down out on the sidewalk but I didn't know how long he had been laying there. She said "he has Alzheimer and gets confused, he was just going out to get the paper." I remembered the paper and went back to fetch it for him even though I thought it would be futile to try and read it.
After
talking about it and thinking back I'm quite sure that the lady
thought I had run over her husband with my truck or something like
that. Her look was not at all what I expected when she first
saw her bloody husband. I feel lucky that he must have been ok
but I was very caught off guard and really had no idea how to handle
myself or what the right thing or best thing to do was for the old
man. I knew he needed help and I wanted to help him, that is
really all I knew. The thing that stuck out the most to me was
how much the old man wanted and believed he just needed a little bit
of help and then he was going to be fine. I don't think that he
realized that he could have been laying there for an hour or two
before anyone saw him. Being in fatal danger is something that
we can find ourselves in at any time or place. I also noticed
his instinctual need to just get up. It is a primal need that
when we fall we want to get back up as soon as possible to avoid
getting eaten or trampled or left behind by the pack. It must
have been a very helpless feeling to be laying there in the wet,
cold, and dark. It amazed me that he still cared so much about
getting his paper, but I can understand that goal or mission
orientation. To do whatever it takes to complete the mission.
Maybe he used to be in the military.
I thought that I was mentally prepared for an occasion like this. I have been helping take care of my grandmother in-law over the last couple of weeks and fully expected that when I looked in on her I would find her hurt, fallen, or worse when I showed up to fill her wood box. I had rehearsed what I would do. Check her to see if she was breathing and coherent. Call my wife. Call an ambulance. Soother her. This all seemed like things that I could do. After I got back in my garbage truck and continued on my route I was shaking physically and mentally. My mind went forward in time and pictured who would be there to help me when I fall? How would I act? Would I be grateful or just want to get up and keep moving? It made me think about how much time I have left before I can't get up. It wasn't until a few years ago that I even felt like I got weaker as the days went by. When your young and growing and up to your mid thirties everything feels possible. You have boundless energy and your body is always able to recover and feel stronger then it was the day before. And your always pushing hard to get farther faster. It is like ridding a bike up a hill. When your young you push hard and peddle fast to get to the top of the hill of life. When you reach your middle ages you hit that top of the mountain and ride level for a bit. Your mind and body are moving at the same speed and you peddle the amount you need to move the speed you want. It's smooth. Then you start to get older and it's like riding the bike down a hill. You can peddle but that just leads to moving too fast for your legs to keep up with and you have to use the brakes. Time and experiences start to fly by faster then you want them to and most people don't even realize that they aren't in control anymore, gravity is. You can only slow the bike down and hope to take in as much as you can. Eventually you will get to the bottom of the hill and have no hope of riding the bike back up. Your legs just wont pull you up the hill without help. Most people resent that they need help and start to get bitter and angry. They do crazy things to prove that they don't need help. They say things like I have the body of a teenager and I can do anything a 20 year old can do. These little lies sound good but aren't true and only make you look foolish and deluded. Getting old gracefully seems to be something very hard to do. I don't expect that I will do well at it but I know I want to try. As I thought of all this on my garbage route after helping the old man up my eyes filled with tears. I wept at the thought of myself and everyone I know coming to a place where they could no longer get up. I just hope when you or I need help up it can be something the helper and helped can learn from and share in a positive way. And overall I'm just glad that I was there to help and hope that I can help others as much as I can everyday.
I thought that I was mentally prepared for an occasion like this. I have been helping take care of my grandmother in-law over the last couple of weeks and fully expected that when I looked in on her I would find her hurt, fallen, or worse when I showed up to fill her wood box. I had rehearsed what I would do. Check her to see if she was breathing and coherent. Call my wife. Call an ambulance. Soother her. This all seemed like things that I could do. After I got back in my garbage truck and continued on my route I was shaking physically and mentally. My mind went forward in time and pictured who would be there to help me when I fall? How would I act? Would I be grateful or just want to get up and keep moving? It made me think about how much time I have left before I can't get up. It wasn't until a few years ago that I even felt like I got weaker as the days went by. When your young and growing and up to your mid thirties everything feels possible. You have boundless energy and your body is always able to recover and feel stronger then it was the day before. And your always pushing hard to get farther faster. It is like ridding a bike up a hill. When your young you push hard and peddle fast to get to the top of the hill of life. When you reach your middle ages you hit that top of the mountain and ride level for a bit. Your mind and body are moving at the same speed and you peddle the amount you need to move the speed you want. It's smooth. Then you start to get older and it's like riding the bike down a hill. You can peddle but that just leads to moving too fast for your legs to keep up with and you have to use the brakes. Time and experiences start to fly by faster then you want them to and most people don't even realize that they aren't in control anymore, gravity is. You can only slow the bike down and hope to take in as much as you can. Eventually you will get to the bottom of the hill and have no hope of riding the bike back up. Your legs just wont pull you up the hill without help. Most people resent that they need help and start to get bitter and angry. They do crazy things to prove that they don't need help. They say things like I have the body of a teenager and I can do anything a 20 year old can do. These little lies sound good but aren't true and only make you look foolish and deluded. Getting old gracefully seems to be something very hard to do. I don't expect that I will do well at it but I know I want to try. As I thought of all this on my garbage route after helping the old man up my eyes filled with tears. I wept at the thought of myself and everyone I know coming to a place where they could no longer get up. I just hope when you or I need help up it can be something the helper and helped can learn from and share in a positive way. And overall I'm just glad that I was there to help and hope that I can help others as much as I can everyday.
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