Keepyourheartopenandyoureyeswideshut ·
14/07/2025 09:58
My poor dear 82 year old mum has advancing Alzheimers, a breast cancer diagnosis last year, has a pace maker and is bent over with osteoporosis.
If that was not enough to deal with she took a fall in the garden on Friday and ended up in A&E. She has broken a bone in her hand, received a massive gash to her forehead and dislocated her knee. All of those issues have been dealt with (hand splint, head injury stitched and knee popped back into place) but the worrying concern is the Odontoid fracture. The orthopaedic registrar in A&E explained with mum's age, the osteoporosis and dementia an operation would not be possible but sadly surgery is really the only 'cure' for this type of fracture, so it's management only in mum's case.
Mum is now on a ward and over the weekend we couldn't speak with anyone other than the nurses but the physio and orthopaedic team will do their rounds this morning, I will go and visit this afternoon and try to glean as much info as I can but according to Google and YouTube, this type of fracture in the elderly (which is apparently quite common) has a high mortality rate with up to 50% of elderly patients dying within 3 months of the injury.
Obviously, I hope to find out more later on today but wonder if anyone has any experience of this type of injury? It is so stressful not knowing what we are dealing with and mum's future.