Then the fall

 

Since my disabilities began I began to take my walks with a walker.  The above walker is what I used around 2015, much lighter than my current version.

I am much weaker.

For almost 15 years the reality that I could fall has been a reality.

And the fact that my disabilities make me much weaker points to another reality in that I am not strong enough to get back up on my own.

I have experienced over 20 falls during those years. However, my martial training always kept me from breaking bones. When going down I roll down.

Several days ago I went for a normal morning walk with my walker.

Probably about a 1/2 mile walk, it went fine.   When I take my morning walks I normally do not see other outside, which is normal for Arizona. That is what I experienced today.
 

At the end of the walk I went to check our mailbox which is near our home.  I went to park my walker at the side of our mailbox making it easier to get my mail. But this time the breaks would not set and I leaned forward, my hands on my walker trying to stop it moving forward. As my weight shifted forward, that weight made the walker keep moving forward.

Slowly it kept moving forward pulling me along and into a fall.

I rolled in to my walker with my chest.  Then my weight made my walker collapse and I went down atop my collapsed walker.  I collapsed into the gravel beside the mailbox. My hat had slid across my face, my arms pushed into the gravel near my face.

I lay sprawled atop my walker beneath me. 

I did not have the strength to get up or move.

Of course my phone was down in my walker underneath me and I could not move to reach it.

Frozen on the ground, unable to move, realizing my only option was to begin shouting I yelled "Help!" then I repeated it again and again.

Over and over I shouted for help.   Of course I was very uncomfortable but I continued to shout.

Eventually a nearby couple, going outside for their own morning walk, heard me then they approached me to see if  they could help.

I explained where I lived at the end of the block. The wife went to tell my wife.

Maureen called an ambulance then walked up to where I lay. She knew she was not strong enough to lift me  so she waited alongside me.

The ambulance team arrived. Seven people.

They asked me what happened, then after their questioning they turned me over and slowly assisted me standing.

Giving me my walker they assisted me walking to a nearby low wall.

Then they gave me an examination.

Agreeing I seemed Ok, they gave me a form to sign to turn down a hospital visit.

Finally they walked alongside me as I returned home, to go inside and then sit in my chair.

The incident was done.

Later I did find a scratch on my forehead.

Later I forced my walker breaks to work, and very slowly walked to my mailbox then to return home.

Maureen ordered a new walker  for me. It arrived the next day.

 

While all is well that end's well.

I again experienced what my karate training meant to my life.