Falling into Medicare

Post date: Dec 19, 2018 10:41:10 PM

Turning 65 has been more exciting than I imagined. First, in the months leading up to my birthday, I was besieged by phone calls, emails, texts, and actual letters about Medicare. It was exhausting. Mike and I attended a Welcome to Medicare session, met one on one with a volunteer who went over options, and looked at booklets and websites before selecting a plan. I felt like I was cramming for a Final Exam at college again, and if I made the wrong choice, we would pay dearly.

Then, October ended, and with it, my insurance from Hawkeye Community College, where I taught for 20 plus years. My shiny new Medicare card came, along with the cards for my new plan and drug card. Mike suggested that I make some photocopies, which I did – giving him a copy.

We made the decision to invest in adjustable beds in hopes of sleeping better, so we donated the guest room bed. Lynn and Kathy, my friends who clean our condo twice a month, arrived on the first Friday in November, and we took a look at the almost empty guest room. I had moved several small pieces of furniture out of the room already, and we had donated several pieces. They began to gather their supplies. I saw the big area rug and thought that I would move that out as well.

Unfortunately, I was wearing slippers. As I exited the bedroom and entered the hallway, the edge of the large rug caught my foot and since I was hurrying, there was apparently more momentum than I realized—I fell, landing on my head, face first. I lay there, feeling very foolish and tried to catch my breath. My glasses had fallen off. I tried to get up. Mike walked out of his office and cautioned me not to try to get up.

Kathy said, “You’re bleeding,” and Lynn got a wet washcloth. She, Lynn and Mike debated how best to move me, and I said, “Oh go push the emergency pendent!” Shortly, Gary, head of maintenance, arrived and gently helped me up. Mike got my rollator and the girls helped me put on a coat and grab my purse. They got me in the car and Mike grabbed that print out of my new Medicare card, folded it up, and put it into a pocket.

We went across the way to the Urgent Care at Prairie Parkway; they examined my face. I had a deep cut on my forehead, above the eyebrow and it was bleeding. My cheek was swollen and hurt; I had a headache, not surprisingly, and my eye was starting to shut. I couldn’t wear my glasses so Mike had wheeled me into the building with their transport chair. They put bandages on my head and told me that they were contacting a plastic surgeon because the cut was too deep to do a few stitches. They made the appointment for us, and we had a little time to wait so Mike got me a muffin and some chocolate milk at the Clinic’s self-serve food court while feeling like a Halloween mummy, with gauze wrapped around my head and blood seeping through.

At the plastic surgeon’s office, I finally got 14 stitches and was told that I needed a CT scan. Again, Dr. Congdon's staff made all of the arrangements and we just had to get in the car and drive to ADI. They asked for the scan to be read that afternoon, so as I lay under the CT scanner, trying not to move, I thought again that it looked like the Star Gate. A few minutes passed and it seemed like I had been under there for quite some time, and I tried to stay calm, telling myself, “You can move a tiny bit, you can breathe…..but you can’t sit up.” Finally, I said, “Are we done?”

The technician apologized and said that the doctor was looking at my scan. She came out and helped me out of the machine and back into the wheelchair. The doctor came out and told me that I had broken a bone in my cheek and had a blow out fracture. They got Mike from the waiting room and told him what they had found. The doctor said I should see my eye doctor to be sure that there was no danger of retinal detachment.

So, we were off to see Dr. Mauer late afternoon. He examined my eye and found that I could move my eye up and down and back and forth, so the muscle that controls those movements had not been trapped. My retina looked fine. He recommended we see a specialist down in Iowa City at the Eye Clinic there, to be sure that I didn’t need surgery. Sometimes when the injury heals, the eye sinks back into the eye socket – not a good look. While we were at the clinic, someone carefully adjusted my poor glasses so that they could fit on my face, and I could finally see, sort of, again because my eye was swollen nearly shut.

We got home around 5 that evening. Lynn and Kathy had done their usual wonderful job of cleaning our house. It felt surreal: we had been to four doctor’s offices in one day, from 11 in the morning on. I felt like a little package being wheeled from office to office.

My son Jon came to check on us that evening. He and Mike gathered the supplies that Mike would need to clean the area around the stitches. Jon also took away the offending rug.

For the next week, Mike took good care of me. I got the stitches out and recovery seemed slow, but I tried to be patient.

A few weeks later we had the checkup in Iowa City: the young doctor examined me and assured me that I was healing up well and he did not see a need for the surgery. It was almost anticlimactic but what a relief!

What did I learn from this experience?

1. I had no idea how much damage a simple fall could do. I didn’t think I was hurt at first. I was very fortunate that this didn’t happen when I was alone!

2. I was not prepared for how much a head injury bleeds – the people at urgent care wrapped me up in a bandage going around my head trying to control the bleeding and I bled through. I felt like a Halloween mummy.

3. I was not prepared for the fatigue and headache that accompanied the injury. I lazed around that weekend, watching movies and napping and using ice packs on my head. It took several weeks to recover and even then, I felt that I was more tired at the end of the day than usual.

4. We were blown away by the kindness, competence and cooperation among the medical community. We are very fortunate to be within a few minutes of so many wonderful doctors. We have an awesome medical community in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area and I want to thank the Urgent Care staff at Prairie Parkway, Dr. Congdon’s staff, the Staff at ADI, and the staff at Mauer’s Eye Clinic. They all took great care of me.

5. It was quite a shocking way to break in that new Medicare card; however, we were not asked for a copay at any of these places and Mike was thankful that he had all of my information on one sheet. I would encourage others to think about what information they might need if a loved one needed medical care.

6. I took a critical look at the rest of my house. I am more aware of the dangers of falling. I am more apt to put on shoes in the house instead of wearing my slippers. I want to do everything I can to avoid another fall, and I encourage you to do the same!

Last updated December 19, 2018