General Chat

What a sad way to end her life after being so active and alert until reaching 88 years.
Coroner'sreport:

'The circumstances surrounding her tragic death were she had suffered an unwitnessed fall at her home address on October 4.

'She fell, perhaps down some stairs, sustaining a significant head injury.

'There were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her fall. She passed away later, on October 5, with family present.'




<3

Very sad. Laura Ashley suffered a similar fate at age 60 in 1985.
I know how lucky I am to have survived such a fall particularly as I had a facial injury.

Stairs are dangerous places.

Death is the ultimate leveller.

Unfortunately it's a hazard of living alone. It's why I worry about my sister who is 88 and has always lived on her own.

She has always said that she knows that one day she may have an accident and that someone may find her some time later.

She is in a rehab unit at the moment after being in hospital and I really hope they don't discharge her without some sort of support in place. She has always refused any help but I think this time she may not have too much choice.

Kath. x

It’s a good reason to carry your mobile or other phone with you when you are in the house. I pop mine in my pocket whenever I go upstairs.

I know you may knock yourself out or suffer an injury that you can’t get up from the floor but if you have your phone with you it means you can ring 999 or a nearby family member or neighbour.

We have a metal spiral staircase and it is lovely to look at all wrought iron, but it is a potential death trap. And yep, I fell down the lot. Mind you I was daft to try and walk/run down it in mule slippers.

I went from top to bottom, how I did not break my neck I do not know.

I had a bruise from my shoulder, all the way down to my knees.

I am more careful now, and walk down like a toddler, one step at a time :-0

In the middle of the night Joy? I don't have such a pocket in my pj's.
Mobile was on my bedside table, I fell the full length of the stairs.
:-D

I wouldn't advise dialling 999 unless you want a lot of damage to your house too.
A better plan is a trusted neighbour to keep a key to your house - or a key safe if possible. I don't have either so survival kicked in - I've got a good pair of lungs and vocal chords :-D

Blimey Maddie! At least I had a softer landing :-0
Ditch the donkey slippers :-D

I have my phone charger on my bedside table.

Unless you need two hands on the banister, you won’t need a pocket, Island.

I carry my phone in one hand and use the other to hold on to the banister. I often wake early and even if it’s 4 am I still carry my phone with me. It is something I have always done without even thinking about it..

My daughter lives within walking distance so she is the one I would ring if I needed anyone. But when she is away I would not contact my son as he lived an hour away so it would be 999 and beggar the damage.

Years ago, when my then neighbour popped out to her front garden and the door slammed shut (and locked behind her) she was lucky because my older brother, a policeman, showed how easy it was to get into her house. He was in in a jiffy!

All in the past now Joy but I wasn't actually making my way down the stairs - I would have put a light on if I was.

Silly me for not picking up my phone when I went to investigate why there was such brightness outside at 4.30am. I still won't pick up my phone at that hour as I don't usually get up in the night but in any case I now have those motion activated lights so I can see where I'm going if needs be :-D

They’re a good idea, those lights. The only motion lights I have are outside, front and back.

One of my aunts died after hitting her head falling downstairs she was late 80s.
It is a worry when living alone. Neighbour has a key and there is also a key psafe. And I try to remember to remove the key from inside the door. I invariably. When indoors Ave trousers on that don’t have pockets. I take the stairs very slowly and carefully. Did fall down them once when in my fifties. Just sprained an ankle. I have no family members near. Daughter is five hours, son two and a half.

That's sad about your aunt Ann.
Yes, living alone can be a worry but you don't have to live alone to fall down the stairs and die. This happened to a friends wife while he was out. I think the real concern is not being found for days, weeks even :-(

That long delay must be awful for people who find a person long dead following a fall. The state of the body doesn’t bear thinking about and it’s something ‘ordinary’ folk usually never have to deal with but when they do it must be something they never forget because of putrefaction of the body.

Thanks for that Joy :-0
A step too far perhaps?

Try to remember, you don't know what others might be going through and use some tact.

I live in a bungalow. Unfortunately, in their attempt to not remove all the asbestos containing tiles from the place the Council decided to fit 'thresholds' in the doorways, to compensate for the potentially uneven floors.
Through determination, logic, and constantly breaking tiles, ALL tiles were eventually removed.
However, I'm left with the most amazing 2cm high trip hazards, and a concrete floor!

I haven't tripped over them ... yet.

My sister phones me most nights. both my daughters have keys to the house, and my neighbour knows about my hidden key :-D