My dad’s sister, Mrs. Blanche Hinson Thomas continues to reside in her own home, although she has had some problems this past year, and changes have been made.
In March of 2020, my aunt was outside her house, along with my cousin, Jane. They were trying to get some laundry done.
Aunt Blanche’s laundry room is in a small shed attached to her car port, where it has been for 50 years.
On this particular March day, the wind was gusting and my aunt thought the door had been well fastened; but no, the wind blew the door open and as it flew open, the door hit Blanche right on her left shoulder.
The hit from the door knocked her off balance, and she fell on her right side and hand. Her right wrist was broken. My cousin called for emergency medical technicians (EMTs).
They came, checked her out, then told them that Aunt Blanche needed to go to the hospital.
My cousin told the EMTs that she and her sisters would take Aunt Blanche. When they arrived at the hospital, my elder cousin went inside and explained the situation and the staff brought out a wheelchair, put a mask on my aunt, and told my cousins to stay in the car; they would be notified how my aunt, their mother, was doing once they had examined her wrist.
I guess this was another “gift” of COVID-19, a 101-year-old lady with a broken wrist had to be in the hospital without any family.
Well Aunt Blanche is a rather tough little lady and once her ordeal in the hospital was over, she informed us that: “The nurse x-rayed me, and found that I had broken my wrist”
My aunt said that the doctor introduced himself, and told her that they were going to set the wrist. He told Aunt Blanche that he could give her some pain medication, but she told him, “no, I can handle it!”
The doctor and his staff proceeded to set the wrist. Aunt Blanche said she, “screamed and almost passed out,” but managed to stay awake through the process.
With that now over, the doctor put a cast on her wrist, someone was sent out to notify my cousins and Aunt Blanche was taken to Cousin Julia’s house to stay until she felt better and was healed.
My Aunt Blanche stayed almost a full week.
The Doctor had prescribed some pain pills for Aunt Blanche to take, and while she accepted them, she also broke the meds in half.
Julia put a “potty chair” in Aunt Blanche’s room, so that she wouldn’t have to get up and have to walk all the way to the bathroom when she needed to use the toilet.
The next day, my aunt got up, and started moving around. She went to the bathroom, using her walking cane and ignoring her potty chair. Before going to bed that night, she moved the potty chair to the side, saying “This thing is just in my way!”
Before morning she had to go to the toilet and fell in the living room!
I asked her, “Why didn’t you use the bedside toilet?”
She answered: “Well, I didn’t want to cause any more trouble for Julie that I give her now.”
I said: “Don’t you think Julie would rather clean up a potty chair, than find you in the middle of the floor, hurt worse than you are now?”
She had no answer for me.
I will tell you more about Aunt Blanche next time (she is back home!)
Be safe, and be kind to one another.
Until next time…….
Patricia Ann Hinson Mordes