The Midnight Hour

My old man fell over going down some outsides stairs. He was ADAMANT that he “fell” and did not “have a fall”

“Old people have falls” he said “I fell over”

“Yes dear” said my mum, while smirking.

Tom

“I should probably keep my agility up by having the wife shove me down at random, unexpected times throughout our late middle age. That should be a good way to train for “falling” when it really matters.”

That’s a great idea.

I never thought much about this either (being not TOO many years older than you), until I started working with elderly & visually impaired people in a “movement” class. It seemed silly to me at first, helping them do a kind of “chairsitting workout” where the scariest thing involves stepping off a curb without someone’s hand on your arm…

But when we started teaching people how to get themselves vertical again in the event of the dreaded fall, I could see what a terrifying thing it was to most of them. Brittle bones, slow reflexes, deteriorating eyesight… makes you off-balance. And one fall can scare someone enough that they don’t want to walk or move as much, then the body deteriorates even more and they fall again. It’s use-it-or-lose-it.

So enjoy your youth, Midnight! And I suppose the occasional practice-shove might help too.

I could see it now. Midnight, enjoying the game, gets up to grab a tasty beverage, when all of the sudden…

HIP CHECK!

I mean, throw that woman in the box for charging already!

I’ve studied GoJu Ryu karate for a couple of years now and one of the things we practice is falling (part of throwing which was taken from akido and judo and incorporated into our art).

Our Shihan, John Roseberry, has a student who is a physical therapist and he told us last time they were down that people do lose the ability to fall safely (if they ever learned it) as they get older. Combined with aging bones (which IIRC become more brittle), falling in the elderly can be a serious incident.

Hehehe Awesome post. Loving the hypothetical wife phone call. Not a bad idea about the wife challenge at the end though. Keep it coming brother.

My Grandmother lives in a pretty large house with one of those staircases that goes straight to the second floor without any turns. She was dragging her laundry basket behind her going down the stairs, accidentally fell into it, and rode it all the way down. She came to rest in the middle of the foyer, got back up, and shook it off, and said to herself “Oh Dear”. ..

Tough as nails. I’ve got to call her sometime.

This comment is about falls in the elderly, not celebrities.

On duty in a community hospital I was walking down a hall and heard a loud thump. I went in to find a woman in her 80’s on the floor with a fracture of the head of the femur. She fractured the neck of the femur falling down going to the bathroom. This is not uncommon.

Elders lose bone mass by osteoporosis which makes the bone easier to break.

Factors that contribute to falls in the elderly are decrease in muscle mass and strength, decrease in the pliability of the semicircular canal sensors that give us our sense of balance, neurological decline, and secondary chronic illnesses that all contribute to instability and the inability to recover from tipping over.

You are right in saying that the news of a celebrity fall is not news worthy, but elders do fall, and it indicates steep decline in their physical and sometimes mental ability- frailty.

God grant you the opportunity to live a long productive life and arrive at that natural point of decline of old age when falls are part of passing.

When the elderly go down, particularly with fractures and are bedridden, they often do not rise again in life.

George

Type your comment here. As a Marine Corps officer’s wife, mother of a Marine and being a former Marine myself, I’m sorry to see “your kind” in the officer corps. It sounds like you think you’re pretty funny. Surprise,surprise, you will not be 25 all of your life(thank goodness).
The comments on this page are worth you looking at again. And how about having a little heart for those in this world who are not perfect.
And may I remind you, the saying is an officer AND a gentleman. Learn it. Live it. You cannot leave being a United States Marine at the office. You represent. When you act like a thoughtless little kid, people take notice. Even people like me, a nobody housewife(in your opinion) who has 22 years in the Corps. You never know who is listening do you? If YOU plan to last 22 years you might want to listen more, and talk less and well ah…grow up.

“I say if you don’t fall at least once a week, you’re probably not challenging yourself. ”

That line is so perfectly classic, you should be in history books…

TAHickey, I found your comments far more offensive than anything he said in his article. Since when does your version of politically correctness qualify as a prerequisite to represent the Marine Core? Also, I read nothing about ‘nobody housewives’ as you say. Thanks for your service, but wow, you must be a very sensitive person. Excuse me while I reel in this trollbait.

It never ceases to amaze me that people come into my house (my blog), act obnoxious, pretend to know everything about me from a few paragraphs of writing, and then call me names and accuse me of being the obnoxious one.

Reference the subtitle: Not reading this is absolutely free. Learn it. Live it.

My grandmother tripped over something in her kitchen once when she was in her eighties (in her nineties now). She broke her hip, and broke her wrist on the arm she was trying to catch herself with. So I guess falling is a lot more serious when you’re old. Osteoporosis and all…. I’ll have to remember to stop falling off stuff once I get there. Seems like not as much fun that way, though.

That’s funny, my quote while mountain biking is that “if you don’t fall at least once a ride you are not riding hard enough.”

As old age sets in, the mental capacity required to dexterously roll with it thereby avoiding injury is probably reduced. Plus, old bones break a whole lot easier than my 35 year old bones or your 25 year old bones. I agree though LOL with your comment: “I should probably keep my agility up by having the wife shove me down at random, unexpected times throughout our late middle age. That should be a good way to train for “falling” when it really matters.” Funny but true huh?

Joe, George, Banzai, and Jenny all brought up some good points on elder mobility issues. I’ve lived around elders more than those my own age. My maternal grandmother(1907-1997) lost her balance on the steps at her home and sheared off the top of her femur(broken hip+osteoarthritus+osetoperosis+beginning alzehimers=bad combination). She lived another 7 years but never really returned to her previous self. Maternal grandfather(1903-1997) had issues too. He was blind from glaucouma and developed acute leukemia from exposure to an herbicide sprayed on the railroad right-of-way and he drove through it on his motorcar. He would collapse in the floor from lack of circulation. Dad had his own experience, ‘04 he was trimming a bush in the backyard and fell backward off of a ladder, breaking his scapula, 3 ribs and 2 vertebrae in his neck. The fall was caused by his early stage Parkinson’s and he too has osteoperosis, he recovered but is banned from climbing on ladders.

midnight is right again, especially about that TAHickey lady. you can’t just assume from reading a comment your whole personality. i didn’t really find anything offensive, given i’m even younger than you midnight, but we’re all entitled to our own opinion, something that lady has to understand, i don’t see how you “smudged” the image of the corps by just talking about old people falling. maybe she has some sort of decoder that picks up offensive statements from your blog we all missed…things you didn’t even know were there. who knows. the lady is a kook.

Midnight….I feel for ya I really do. You come on here on a journal that is yours and people ahve the right to rad it or not to read it and through one simple blog, a funny one at that, these people come in here on a soapbox and act all accusatory, calling names and being judgemental. I’m older then you Midnight but not by much and I’m sure we both know very wel the seriousness of someone elderly falling due to healthy concerns. However, I’m pretty sure you and I are far beyond the realm of understanding them to hear people preach about how this was just so wrong. Grow up people. And here’s a line a favorite one of mine from a movie that goes well to them…..”It’s called a sense of humor. You should get one. They’re nice” (Pretty In Pink) Grow up people and act like the adults with some sense of humor you obviously need. Another fine read from you Midnight. Ignore the judgement and take it for what it is…worthless babble. God Bles

Yes Sir It really is Hell , to get old !! when I was 24 , it was up before the Sun and run around Key West before breakfast and think nothing of it. Now I’m 70 a walk to the store for a paper HMMMmm maybe I could get that paper delivered !

Sorry for butting in, but:Fer crying out loud. I support TAHickeys right to flame back. If she has 22 years in the Marine-core, you are according to what I know stand up straight and take your scolding with a smile. Respect seniority while not in action is, or at least was, part of core-code. You could be insubordinant, but you had to be polite, is how I have been told it many a-f&%king time. (Not a marine myself, but worked with ex-marines and served in Norwegian Army ). Has the Marine-code disappeared?

“Has the Marine-code disappeared?”

The Marine-code? Is that some type of secret handshake?

No, wait… I found it:
http://www.marinecode.org/

On a serious note, we Marines hold ourselves to a high standard of conduct. There is also a Code of Conduct (which I’m guess the previous poster meant by “The Marine Code”), but that deals with actions when taken as a POW. Additionally, as officers, we are scrutinized even more as leaders of our Corps.

However, comma, none of this guarantees that I will never upset someone or that I will never have a difference of opinion with anyone, even a senior officer’s wife. Furthermore, spouses do not hold rank. My wife is a part of my unit’s key volunteer organization, and that is one of the first things they learn. Neither of us can give orders to a corporal’s spouse and a captain’s spouse can’t give either of us orders.

Of course, I exude respect to spouses of any rank, not just seniors. However, if someone’s spouse goes off half-cocked and acts a fool on my webpage (which is personal property) then I have no responsibility to accommodate his/her silliness. Let’s remember that this webpage is hosted by a company that gets paid (by the webmaster) and it is quite literally owned. Rapture and I own this site. Come into my house and you play by my rules. If you don’t like it, leave.

Further attempts from Norwegians, disgruntled military spouses, or anyone not wearing an Eagle Globe and Anchor to tell me my responsibilities and judge my conduct as a Marine will be met with swift, violent, and comical actions.

One day offenders may return to find their flaming comment has been turned into a review of Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

HAHA you tell em Midnight! What’s wrong with people? You are a Marine but does that code say something about no sense of humor when you aren’t out fighting for us? Jeez!

I remember being twenty five, almost, maybe I hit my head during one of those falls.
Never really saw the big deal in falling? I use to drink quite a bit, no, a lot, I think? Anyway, I fell a lot. Always got back up though!
I guess as you get older, 50ish, you start to see the problem with falling.
Mother in law, semi crippled on one side from a stroke, fell in the tub on Saturday, wife found her still there on Sunday afternoon. I had to pick her up.
Guess falling was a problem for her, which became my problem, sort of.
Oh well, get lot’s of practice, and try not to have a stroke, that way when you do fall you won’t have so much trouble getting back up.
JR