Hazards at Home

Caution. Be aware of household hazards.

Our group has diminished, but two of us have been meeting for lunch on a regular basis. Today, one of the new people joined us. She has just retired so is a lot younger than us.

It is good for all of us to get out of the house. My regular friend and I have lost our spouses. The new person’s husband is away due to his mother just dying, so it is good for all of us to have person-to-person contact. It is difficult to form friendships via text.

We went to what was a new restaurant for two of the three of us and were pleasantly surprised. It operates like an old-fashioned restaurant. The servers and staff are cordial and polite. We did not feel like we were pushed to order fast, eat fast and get out. It gave us time to relax and have a conversation.

The new person was expostulating about gaining weight and being out of shape. She laughingly shared how she had looked forward to a tub bath a week ago. She got in her tub, but couldn’t get out without help.

My other friend said that had happened to her. Her house is extremely well-insulated. There were people in her home, but she yelled and yelled and no one heard her. Finally someone wondered where she was and checked on her. They had to call 911 to get her out of the tub.

Before my spouse died, I encouraged a nice warm bath. With some difficulty, I managed to get my loved one down into the tub, but it was too narrow to turn sideways to kneel. There were no grab bars. I was about to call 911 when I considered that my neighbor may be able to help. Fortunately, the neighbor reached into the tub and picked up my spouse like a baby.

From that moment on, the tub was my enemy. This past year I had it ripped out and replaced with only a shower. I am still grieving and don’t want to spend the energy hating a person-eating tub.

The conversation between the three of us segued into falls and how so many older people fall and break hips. We spoke of how hard it is to recover if the person has become frail or decimated by other diseases.

We really didn’t start out to have morbid conversations. I think these topics had been lurking and needed release. They may have been festering as so many unpleasant and hidden topics do.

Of course, we went through the safety list of falls prevention, including to get rid of throw rugs, create well-lit areas, paint strips on steps, install handrails and wear decent shoes.

None of us yet want a “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up” monitor around our necks. We do agree it is a good idea to touch base with someone every day since we live alone.

We all know of someone who has fallen and was down for days before someone found them. It isn’t just a sales ad gimmick. Now at least there are wrist watches that do the fall-monitoring for us.

It seems hazardous these days to venture out to the store. There are so many muggings and inadvertent gunshot victims. What we have to take into consideration is the percentage of each type of incident. It may be that the home is more hazardous.

We finally got off to more pleasant topics and decided it would be a good idea to have pie for dessert.

What I decided, since I am having visitors in a few weeks, is to install a hazard warning. I have a tortoise, who, after basking in front of a heater in the morning, traverses a path from her night condo to the porch to her day condo. Sometimes she takes a detour and crosses the kitchen to the heat register there. I turn on the heat especially for her in the morning to get her warmed up.

I’m going to install a flag for her. If it is up, the tortoise is still inside. It will be a “Look down, don’t trip warning.” I know to look down. Others don’t. They are too intent on getting their coffee.

There’s only showers in the house now, so no one will be trapped in a tub, but I don’t want them falling. That is too much coffee to clean up.

Let me know how you are doing. I care.

Sincerely,

Lynn Brooke

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Photo Credit: © 2023 Rachel Gareau