By Brian Barolo
Mom Mom Passed
My daughter called me yesterday evening with some gravely sad news. The unfortunate passing of her grandmother on her mother’s side of the family. She had gotten up in age and was becoming very frail as most of us humans will do due to the never ending aging process. What is a person to do? After all, we are unable to stop getting older. It is impossible! Mom Mom and Pop Pop were getting into the eighties and that is a long life even though no one wants to die. They were pretty healthy and took good care of themselves. Along with eating healthy they were active and tried to take care of each other as most couples will do.
Time has passed and Mom Mom started having problems eating and keeping weight on. She was getting very skinny and her body was becoming very frail, that may have had everything to do with the cause of her death. This frailty may have been part of the situation leading to her passing. If you become so frail that you are unable to get up after a fall, then becoming so weak can lead to dire life and death catastrophes. Not one individual ever believes that they are not capable of standing, walking and getting around by themselves with out the help of others. As we get older our minds may still be very active and we tell ourselves that we do not need the assistance of others to just get around. This is a very tricky game that our mind plays on us. This is so far from the truth, but it is extremely hard to accept when we become in need of others guidance and help. The same goes when we must turn in our driver’s license and are no longer able to be independent enough to drive away at any time.
Back in the day there was a commercial for an emergency button you wore around your neck. In case of an emergency you push the button and help is sent to you immediatly. It went like this, “I have fallen and I can’t get up”. If you remember that commercial then you know that this simple system works when elders need some security of being able to get medical assistance when in an emergency. An emergency would be if an elder person fell down and may not be able to get back up. Now that was one of the original alerts made for older people or those with failing health. Nowadays there are much newer and advanced emergency alerts due to the advancement of technology . They make some of these alerts to be triggered if some one is to even just fall down. Gravity will trigger these mechanisms and there is no need to actually have to push a button. What if you became unconscious and were not able to push that button to alert emergency help. The worst will happen and that is what happened to MomMom. I do not know if she even had any sort of emergency button or not.
When you are old and happily living with your partner you never believe you will ever need such a device. Life is great and nothing bad will ever happen to you or your other half. You always count on your partner to help with what ever you need help with and visa versa. You both kind of cover each other with every day life. No one believes they need these devices when living with a life partner. You have each other and don’t need much from anyone else. Not always true as in this situation with what caused MomMom to pass. Even if she had a button she may not have had the ability to push a button. No one is absolutely positive of how this went down, but I will try to explain it the best that I am able to from the way my daughter explained it to me is how I will try to to transcribe it.
PopPop was taking a nap from 3-4 in the afternoon as he always does. It was extremely cold or frigid outside and for some reason MomMom went outside onto the porch during his nap. Everything was frozen due to the extreme climate leaving ice everywhere. We believe that when she was outside heading back in she slipped and fell due to the ice on the porch. She may or may not have been knocked unconscious, but obviously could not get up or even crawl back indoors. If she was aware and called for help no-one heard her. There are no close neighbors and PopPop was sleeping and did not hear her if she was calling out. It being so cold out and MomMom having fallen, she may have hit her head and got knocked out or was unable physically to move then she may have froze to death or had a heart attack. which one happened first we do not know. It is too late to be concerned about the details. What happened was extremely sad.
The point to this story is about having emergency precautions in place and always on alert for people who may posibly need a touch of looking after. After all, as I mentioned earlier about having to give up your driver’s licsense is decided by tests given to all people who wish to drive. If you are unable to passs all of the tests you will not be able to drive. This will happen to everyone at some point in their life. The same goes with our physical attributes like walking and seeing. As we grow older we to tend too start losing our motor skills and we become slower paced. It is really up to each individual and their loved ones to make the choice to bring alerts into their life in case of emergencies. The biggest problem is called stubborness. Most of us refuse to admit that we may posssibly need a little looking after as we grow older. Do not be embarresed to have an alert sysytem if you are at all concerned about your physical abilities. Nobody has to know but you and your closest loved ones, so there should not be any embaressment. To take care of your health in every manner possible is the correct way to live. Be smart and be safe.
