Hi Falling can be very dangerous. One has o anticipate and protect themselves fom having dangerous falls. A PD friend of mine recenly had a fall and goot his brain damaged and had a stroke. He died with in a few days. Raj ******** ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Ann Ryan" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 11:35 AM Subject: Re: the art of falling > > The 7 or 8 falls I've had up till now I felt I could account for, not > > paying attention, etc., but this was completely unexpected and I've always > > felt fairly "safe" in the walker. is this just how it works? You > > suddenly lose your balance? > > > Ray, Jamie falls all of the time - some weeks he might fall once a day. I > try to emphasize that he shouldn't try to walk unless I am standing behind > him with the wheelchair, but you don't have that option. > > Jamie can't use a walker - he *picks it up* and walks with it, which is > extremely dangerous. He has learned when he falls to protect his head > because head injuries cause the worst out-comes. He has taught himself to > drop whatever he is holding and immediately curl his body while he raises > his hands to cover his head. Curling prevents neck injuries. > > He weighs 220 so he also has some extra padding. Luckily, the only thing he > has broken has been a couple of toes, his little finger and a rib. He has > bruises on his right hip and bottom, but he hasn't broken his hips or legs > (thank God). The bathroom is the scariest of places because of all of the > hard surfaces that can cause terrible injury - which is why we are building > an accessible bathroom. > > Hope that this helps. > --------------- > Mary Ann (CG Jamie 65/25) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn