Having now got set into a daily routine of taking a mid-morning nap to make up for the lost hours in having to rise between 3 and 4 a.m. to attend to feline needs by serving them their 'breakfasts' followed by ushering them out and fetching back in where necessary, I returned to bed around 9.30 as is my wont on Sundays, having had my first run-through of the 'Observer', intending to rise in time to catch my weekly compulsory listening to 'Desert Island Discs' (Yusuf Cat Stevens today - unmissable).
More often than not on going to bed there are already one, two, sometimes three pussy-cats before me already snoozing there. Today Bobby and Snowball had already bagged their nicely separated 'territories' and I had to snake my body between them, only to be followed shortly later by Blackso, purring loudly and pounding a lower leg of mine, 'massaging' a calf, in effect. Any shifting around on my part would be unwise if I was to avoid being given a threatening hissy snarl on awakening any of them. Anyway I did manage to sleep for a little while but when the time came for me to leave the three deep sleepers, if I wasn't to disturb them I had to go through a series of contortions to extricate myself, only on this occasion to misjudge my physical centre of gravity and tumble right off the side of the bed with a thump - to look up and find three pairs of wide-open green eyes, censoriously fastened on me sitting there, twisted on the carpet. Now if I'd been younger, or even a sprightlier middle-ager, I would have got up and laughed it off. Unfortunately I'm long past that stage now and just getting on one's feet again in such a situation is no trifling matter. Looking this way and that for something to hold onto so that I could lever myself up, at an age when my muscles feel like they are trying to lift all dead-weight, I was sitting there on the carpet for at least a quarter of an hour, the cats having returned unconcerned to their dozings, my evident distress not being their worth to worry about, and probably with some irritation at me having interrupted their repose. Anyway, after struggling every which way, finally with the help of a door knob as a fixed fulcrum I did manage to haul myself up onto the edge of the bed again, panting and puffing like a steam train, but with considerable relief. When I'd gone down it was onto a hip and I did wonder if I might have injured myself, but it only took a few more minutes to recover from a trifling soreness, and soon I was right as rain again. But for a short while I did have some serious concerns as to my well-being.
It's not by any means the first time such as this has happened, the last time was maybe four or five years ago when I tripped right over in the same room. Simply getting up, and beside the same bed once more, took me even longer to get over than today's mishap. I fear that today won't be the last time either.
Oh, the 'joys' of senility, which I guess most of you haven't started to experience yet! It's a laugh a minute, I tell you!
Well, glad you're okay. Rest up, let the kitties nurse you for a minute, and rest easy knowing that I, too, fell out of bed and dropped three feet dead weight to the floor in a thud. And as I lay there, trying to figure out what happened, I hear Carlos grumble, "What ARE you doing?"
ReplyDeleteI really HATE it when, just after you've accidentally possibly injured yourself, someone says "Just WHAT are you doing?", most of it all with an accusatory tone as though you were just having a lark. No sympathy, merely contempt which grates deep!
DeleteFive hours since it happened and not feeling any the worse for it now, but I do fear for the next time which I know WILL come.
Thanks for the thought, though.
Yikes. scary. But glad you’re ok. Please do be careful, RB. Those kitties need their caretaker to stay well, as do your fellow bloggers!
ReplyDeleteThey'll only miss me when they need their eats or comforts, S/b, and not a thought in this direction till then. But thanks anyway.
DeleteEGAD! and the pussies did NOT even lend a paw to help you back up! perhaps keep a walking stick near the bed for leverage? glad to hear you are OK.
ReplyDeleteI get about as much sympathy as......as.....well, say a President commenting on the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives through his own fault. But whereas we know that animals only have limited mental capacity, humans should.....oh, bother. Never mind.
DeleteFor years I've been toying with the idea of purchasing a back-scratcher. Maybe having one beside the bed would be a double-boon.
Ta for your sympathy, W.Q. Much appreciated.
then NOW would be the perfect time to obtain such a useful instrument!
DeleteGoodness, Ray, glad you're better now. I know the feeling: I fell in my driveway a few years ago...was sure I had broken my hip. I have now gotten into the habit (almost obsessively, I think) of carrying my cell phone on me, just in case I fall (I live alone). I have never fallen again or even come close, and yet I still carry it around w/me...Stay safe!
ReplyDeleteIt's the falls outside which have the potential to be the really dangerous ones, Elle. It's now over four years since I took such a tumble and re-arranged my front teeth, leaving an unsightly vision for whenever I open my mouth to speak [current mask-wearing requisite is additionally helpful in that respect] that my dentist seems to have given up on me.
DeleteI don't have a mobile phone, but with no one to call that's usually not a problem. And I could only ask the police or an ambulance anyway, who'd have to break in to rescue.
As I notch up yet another year in a fortnight it has not been a 'good' age to fall over in for some time now. May your own luck in not falling continue without end.
Thanks for your thoughts.
As a multi-cat "mom" I can so picture the situation perfectly. And I've gotten to that age where getting up is much more difficult than it used to be. Glad you're alright.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's the lack of muscle-power which is quite alarming in such circs. Not so long ago since it was nothing to worry about. Now it most definitely IS.
DeleteThanks, Sadie.
Raymondo
ReplyDeleteHave you a mobile phone ?
Have it by your bedside and reachable from the floor
A couple of blogger friends telephone numbers in it
Xxx
No mobile, JayGee. Never had one as there's no point 'cos I've got no one to talk to apart from my sis, now 82 years old and 350 miles away - and just a landline is sufficient for that.
DeleteI don't have any blog-pals phone numbers at all - only half a dozen e-mail addresses - nor any other friends, apart from in Amsterdam, Munich and Melbourne, so not exactly 'local'. You are the most prominent home-country [i.e. U.K.] blog-pal I have. Oh, poor me! - No, seriously, don't worry TOO much about me; maybe just a teeny-weeny bit. ;-)
'Ta' for your concern, though.
While I am always glad to read about your personal goings-on I too was dismayed by the bad event.
ReplyDeleteJust one of those things, Dr Spo. Trouble is, those 'things' seem to be happening with increasing regularity now. (Did I just say 'seems'? No, scrub that!) But thanks for calling by, all the same.
DeleteWell, I have yet to take a fall or a slip out of the bed yet myself...a miracle some night with my g&t nightcaps. Now my dear mother has fallen out of bed, because she shares her bed with her Ridgeback dog...which a fairly sizable. One time there we were looking for something or other and I remember seeing a book under the bed and asked what it was there for. She said well, if she ever falls out of bed and can't get up right away, she at least has something to read till she can get up.
ReplyDeleteThat's a thought, M.M. A book by the bed - perhaps it ought to be a Bible or prayer book.
DeleteAt least a large dog you can feel is there, but when you've got, potentially at least, FOUR cats of various dimensions, an additional worry is if you might turn over onto them or onto one of their limbs. But they certainly let you know in no uncertain way when you do.
Thanks for your passing by.
Oh Ray, I am so sorry to hear this and I'm very glad you are okay.
ReplyDeleteI've had a few falls myself, due to my major balance problem. But I haven't fallen out of bed... yet.
Give the pussies an extra head scratch from me.
I'll scratch the little 'uns heads for you, Rozzie, perhaps scolding them at the same time. With each of them it's all 'ME, ME, ME!' - as long as what happens doesn't impinge on THEIR comfort they care not one jot.
DeleteWith my diabetes (Type 2) I also do regularly get giddy spells which can be rather unnerving, and which makes trying to avoid tipping over even more vital. I don't know if your own balance problems have a similar cause, or perhaps they have a more ear-physical origin? Whatever, it sure is something to be wary about.
Thanks for your popping by.
I'm so glad you're OK. That sounds awful. I've had falls where I momentarily didn't think I could get up but never anything like that. I banged my shin on an end table yesterday trying to avoid stepping on Moose. Take good care!
ReplyDeleteYes, the range of dire possibilities when just about anything can happen while you least expect it is frightening.
DeleteAnd yesterday did you get any sympathy from Moose? Silly question! As if he could care!
Thanks for your drop-in, Mitch.
Very scary. I have night terrors, so I know what it's like to wake up on the floor. Glad you are not seriously injured. You could buffet your self with pillows on either side, but it gets a little claustrophobic.
ReplyDeleteIt happens so rarely that I think surrounding the bed with soft cushions, pillows etc would cause more disruption than anything else as well as extra obstacles to traverse every night. But thanks for the thought, which I will have to seriously consider should it happen again.
Delete