| Popis: |
drifted in and out of reality. The morning had begun in the same monotonous way as every other day but ended abruptly when she lost her balance and fell on her left side. Stunned, she lay there trying to regain control, but getting up was impossible. The incessant ringing of the phone irritated her. She struggled to reach it but was unable to drag herself any closer. For hours she desperately cried for help. Thoughts of a vigorous youth mingled with an awareness of excruciating pain in her left hip. How did this happen to me? she wondered. She vaguely recalled the past months since her husband's death and her minor stroke. Her decline had been subtle. She could no longer walk to the corner market a block away; her appetite had slowly dwindled; she had lost 15 pounds. Loneliness frequently overwhelmed her. When she looked in a mirror and saw the image of a wrinkled, gray-haired, thin, hunched woman, she would wonder in disbelief, Can this really be me? Sounds of pounding hazily surfaced in her awareness and interrupted her thoughts. At last someone was coming. Her front door shattered. Following a total hip replacement and an eight-day stay on a busy local hospital's orthopedic ward, she was transferred to an extended care facility for rehabilitation. But attempts to help her achieve independent ambulation failed, and she lived out her life in a nursing home. |
