Elderly neighbour fallen over

[LovelyBath77]

My lovely older lady neighbour has fallen and bruised her ribs on an open drawer. I popped in as she had left me a note from school. She doesn't want to ring the docs as they will send to A and E for an X ray (understandable, busy and big city hospital)

I have got her some paracetamol from her cabinet for her and got her the phone to have right by her next to the sofa so she can ring us if she needs to, but she says she just wants to sit quietly and hope it improves.

She says it hurts to breathe which worries me a bit. Wonder what else to do or am I interfering? I have said will ring her tomorrow and see how she is.

She says she doesn't think the ribs are cracked or she would have heard it, so thinks just bruised. She has rang her daughter and left a message. I told her if needed to trip to the hospital we would take her up in the car.

She isn’t being very fair to you - if she deteriorates and in the worse case scenario, dies of a punctured lung, you will feel terrible. I’d go back and explain this and ask her to reconsider at least calling her gp.

Might be worth a call to 101? (? 111) to get advice from a clinician or trained operator? Bless her, brave lady.

Sorry, can't remember which number is correct, it's the NHS 'helpline'.

Does she have any family nearby that you could alert? Or could you ring 111 for some advice? Hurting when she breathes does not sound good!

Maybe call round with some dinner for her in a bit to see how she is. Insist that you are able to help her seek help if she needs it.

www.england.nhs.uk/urgent-emergency-care/nhs-111/

I think she should get checked, at the very least by GP just to be on the safe side. She needs a set of obs and she needs her ribs checked. The fall could have been a fluke but could also be due to a medical reason. It's lovely of you up to offer to take her, hope she's okay

Please ring 111, you will be worrying all day otherwise. I hope she is okay but it's best to be on the safe side especially with the pain when breathing

Oh bless her, my dm broke a rib a few years ago. She said it was very painful when breathing & trying to sleep. There was no hospital treatment given, advised to rest & take paracetamol. The recovery period was quite a few weeks

If you can pop back and explain you are worried. If mobility is an issue the ambulance service can come and assess her and decide if she needs to go to hospital.

Does she know why she fell? That needs to be assessed as well in case she suffered from an ‘event’ that needs investigation. You sound lovely. Perhaps get the daughter’s number and have a chat?

@ Urbanbeetler way to go to guilt trip someone! It's highly unlikely that she would have a puctured lung as she would be fighting to breathe. Fractured ribs are extremely painful and because of this people find breathing in properly difficult.
OP do you know how to contact her daughter? If so it might be worth speaking to her about her Mum's fall.

She has spoken to her daughter who is a couple of hours away, in London.

Yes, i feel the same about the fall, did she faint? She seems Ok as in no signs of stroke, she insisted on coming with me into the study to get her phone etc and could walk although slowly and in pain.

She has some water and resting on the sofa.

Might go and check on her in a bit. Tricky to not be too interfering as she is very dignified and doesn't like fuss. I could see if she wants anything to eat.

If you call 111 do it with her consent and be with her when you make the call. Telephone triage is difficult and if you'renot with her they will be forced to allocate an ambulance to go and find out what's going on. Also if she has directly said she doesn't want to call anyone at this point that's her decision to make and to take away her autonomy isn't a kind thing to do. Unless of course you have reason to believe she could be impaired due to dementia etc?

As an aside the treatment for bruised and broken ribs is typically the same: paracetamol. Being sore when breathing is absolutely normal-her chest is bruised!

I’m sorry - I didn’t mean to guilt trip. Just that op sounds lovely and probably would feel bad even though it wouldn’t be her fault at all. It’s how I would feel. At least that way she’d know she had done everything she could to try to pursuance the neighbour to seek help

Op, apologies if I made you feel guilt tripped.

that's OK, it is a worry.

Yes that was what DH said, don;t do anything without asking her first.

If she's cracked/broken her ribs they won't do anything, they just leave them to heal up by herself. It would still be a good idea for her to be checked out for any other injuries though, just in case she's done some internal damage.

You're really lovely, OP.

I happened to ring my Mum a couple of weeks ago just after she had had a wobble standing up suddenly and hit her head against the wall. She said there was a small graze. She has a caring husband so not alone. They said they would ring the GP and declined my offer to come over. It was about 5:30 pm but she got through to the GP who reassured her and said to come in next day if needed.

So I was cross with them both to find an email when I woke up next morning saying the "graze" wouldn't stop bleeding so they had gone to A&E via ambulance and had been there all night.

She's fine now, had her blood pressure checked etc and steri strips to the graze. But my point is that generation try not to make a fuss at all costs. Sometimes we have to make the decision for them.

I think your neighbour needs checking out. Why did she fall? Lots of elderly are dehydrated in this hot weather and getting uti's. Thanks for being such a caring neighbour.

Op - I think your neighbour needs checking out. In your place, I would go round to see her and explain that you are concerned and ring 111 from her phone, so she can speak to the operator. The operator can advise your neighbour directly.

If she doesn't want to get checked out, and she doesn't lack mental capacity, you shouldn't force her to. She's old, but knows her body better than anyone else, unless there is anything else at play (ie. dementia).

Did she manage to get herself up after the fall? Did you speak to her daughter?

Any elderly person should be seen by the medics after a fall, I would be inclined to make her GP aware of the situation. Rather a heavy mantle for you to bear if she deteriorates during the night.

She needs some strong pain meds so she can take deep breaths and keep her O2 up. Try ice packs as well.

It’s so tricky. We have elderly neighbours and one of them fell and couldn’t get up. Didn’t want to bother anyone but asked me to come and move them into bed.

Very stoic and dignified. In the end I convinced them to call the ambulance as we didn’t know why the fall had occurred and legs not working. They didn’t want to, but agreed. In the end they were hospitalised for a week for tests. It was the right thing to do, but it’s tricky.

Hi she got up herself and seems very with it as usual. I'll pop down in a bit (in flats) and see how she is doing. She has spoken with her daughter. It is a bit tricky as don't know them that well, to interfere, says Ok without ice etc. or stronger painkillers.

She does get migraines wonder if that is anything to do with the fall.

She's walking as well.