The last fall in life: Grandma and the dilemma of one million elderly people in their later years

In January 2021, my grandmother’s painful later life came to an end at the age of 82.

What crushed her step by step was the repeated fractures.

From wrist fractures to calf fractures, to femoral neck fractures. With each fracture, grandma's range of movement was reduced, from the village alley to the several-meter-wide room, and finally, she was confined to the small space of the bed.

The pain in her body, the torment of not being able to take care of herself, the loneliness of being alone...all ate away at her heart bit by bit.

Eventually, the long-term bed rest after a femoral neck fracture caused a lung infection, which relieved my grandmother.

In my memory, my grandmother has always been a person who can’t sit still. She loves cleanliness and tidying up.

"I have been using this bed sheet for 20 years," "That towel blanket was bought the year you were born" ... Each item has been starched and washed until it turns white, without a single stain, and is neatly stacked in the closet, comparable to the "tofu blocks" in the army.

But this well-organized lifestyle was disrupted by a fall.

In 2012, when my grandmother was going to the toilet, she lost her footing and the inertia of her body caused her to fall forward, resulting in a comminuted fracture of her left wrist.

Even though I went to the hospital for examination and fixation, my left hand could no longer wash clothes or lift heavy objects after recovery. I could only do some daily chores, such as folding clothes and cooking.

Grandpa knew that grandma loved cleanliness, so he immediately bought a large household appliance, a washing machine. Although it freed her hands, she would often complain that the washing machine was not as clean as washing by hand.

The changes that this fracture brought to my grandmother's life were still within her acceptable range.

It was not until 2015 and 2016 that my grandmother suffered a broken leg and my grandfather passed away. She was "forced" to leave her rural hometown where she had lived for many years and began a "boarding" life in the homes of her two sons, alternating between them.

The dramatic change in life made the old lady, who was once energetic, suddenly old. Because of her disability and the fact that she had to leave her hometown, she also lost the desire to contact the outside world. Apart from staying at her two sons' homes, she never left her home.

Many times, she would sit by the window, staring blankly at the neighbors who occasionally passed by, and would sit there for half a day.

Sometimes, looking at her lonely back, I feel like she is waiting for death.

During the holidays, we took our children back to see her. Only when she saw her naughty great-grandchildren would her numb face light up with a hint of life. Grandma occasionally said: I calculated that you would come back this week, and I waited for you by the window early.

Her children’s holiday visits became her only hope during her lonely days.

In May 2020, my grandmother got out of bed to take medicine. After standing up, she felt dizzy and fell again, resulting in a fracture of the femoral neck on her right hip.

From then on, she lost her freedom in the room and was completely imprisoned in bed.

The family considered having my grandmother undergo hip replacement surgery. This surgery is now mature and can be completed in one hour by a skilled doctor, but the doctor considered the risk of surgery too high considering my grandmother's age and other medical conditions such as high blood pressure and heart disease, and recommended that she go home and stay in bed for conservative treatment.

Because of this fracture, the old lady who used to have mild mysophobia and was strong-willed, could no longer urinate or defecate on her own and could only rely on being fed to eat. Such an old age was nothing short of a disaster for her.

The last fracture in life

According to statistics, about 40 million people over 60 years old in my country fall accidentally every year, and 1 million of them suffer hip fractures. Among them, the mortality rate of femoral neck fracture is as high as 50% within one year, and it is called "the last fracture in life."

The older you are, the higher your risk of falling and resulting injury or death.

The pressure is also doubled for the entire family.

My father and uncle are the financial pillars of the family and they cannot give up their work just to take care of the elderly.

Therefore, their daily routine has to change: get up early, feed, change diapers, go out to work; rush home at noon to feed, change diapers, go out again; go home after get off work to wash, change diapers, feed. And so on.

My father sometimes said with a wry smile that he felt like a candle, burning at both ends, with his long-bedridden mother on one side and his children who needed work and support on the other.

Because of being bedridden for a long time, grandma's health condition became worse and worse: muscle atrophy, rapid weight loss, constipation, urinary tract infection; finally, pneumonia caused breathing difficulties, high fever, and systemic infection...

In January 2021, grandma was finally freed.

After persisting for 8 months, my father and uncle were finally freed.

This is my grandma’s story.

This is actually just a microcosm.

In reality, there are many such stories, and the "dislocated" life caused by the "last fracture" continues...

Preventing the elderly from falling has never been a small problem.

If you accidentally fall, it may really be the “last time in your life”.

Care for the elderly and be wary of the “last fracture”!