Once my husband begins the downward descent, there’s a much better chance he’ll take me down with him than I’ll be able to keep him upright. I have learned that it is better to stand by and watch as he goes down because at least one of us is still able to call for help if needed. It may sound cold, but it doesn’t do any good for me to intervene and get hurt myself. Once he’s down, I still need to refrain from jumping in as we see if he can get himself up off the floor. When I start grabbing arms and pulling on him I may cause more injuries than he had from the fall itself. If he is down and can’t get himself up, I need to call 911 for assistance.

Twice when he has fallen, he was in the bathroom and there was no way I could have stopped it from happening. We looked afterwards at what may have caused the fall so we could adjust the environment to keep it from happening again. He falls in slow motion, perhaps that’s the muscle stiffness he experiences thanks to his Parkinson’s diagnosis. After both of the these falls, I was able to help him maneuver into a position where he could pull himself up. So far he’s only had bumps and bruises, no serious injuries.

It’s instinctual to try to help when I see him falling. I have had to reteach my responses, slow them down so I act appropriately rather than react in haste. I also have had to share this with any guests in our home who might be there when he takes a fall. We certainly don’t want anyone getting hurt while trying to be helpful. Thank goodness there are a lot of adaptive tools that help him stay upright from strategically placed grab bars to transfer poles, even his cane and walker. We haven’t had to deal with a fall for several months now, I hope we can keep that stretch going.