Managing intense knee pain after a fall onto a concrete floor
Thankfully, my mom saved me from a more catastrophic injury
Written by |
I’ve been through a lot with SMA. I thought I had experienced everything, but on March 20, I was proven wrong. It was a frightening shock.
That morning, my nurse was dressing me while I was in bed, as usual. My mom also happened to be in the room. My nurse didn’t see that I was close to the edge of the bed, and though I knew how close I was, I failed to recognize the significance.
Suddenly, I was tumbling down onto the hard, concrete floor. My mom was the nearest person to me, and her motherly instincts kicked into high gear. In that split second, a voice inside her head told her, “Do anything you have to do to prevent Ari’s head from hitting the floor.”
I was falling off the left side of the bed, and my mom was on the right. Mustering incredible strength, she quickly threw her body across the bed, then reached over to grab my head and torso before they hit the ground. This saved me from a potentially catastrophic head injury.
Whew, what a sigh of relief! My mom always seems to be in the right place at the right time when I need her the most. She isn’t usually in my room when the nurse dresses me, but thank God she was there that day.
As thankful as I am that the top half of my body was saved, sadly, my legs weren’t as fortunate. They got severely twisted as they hit the hard concrete floor, and the pain in my right knee was sky-high. After my mom and the nurse got me on my back, my mom called 911. The firemen picked me off the floor, and I was driven to the emergency room.
It turns out that I had fractured a bone in my right foot, but my legs weren’t broken or sprained. Strangely, though, my right foot wasn’t what hurt.
A couple of days later, somebody asked me how I’d rate the pain in my right knee on a scale from 1 to 10. My answer was that it didn’t hurt much when my right leg was still. However, whenever someone moved it, the pain level shot to an astounding 20.
Because I have an extremely high pain tolerance, for me to say that my pain level was that high was extraordinary. I had never felt anything like it before.
Pain meds helped when my leg was still, but they didn’t work whenever my mom and nurses raised or moved my leg, even slightly.
It was a difficult situation. My mom and nurses needed to move my legs to complete parts of my care, such as turning me side to side in bed at night so that I won’t get pressure sores. They also have to be moved when we’re using my ceiling lift to transfer me from the bed to my wheelchair and vice versa. I can’t stay in bed all the time because that would be bad for my lungs.
Greatly easing my pain
For the first week and a half after my fall, I experienced a great deal of pain whenever my leg was moved. Then I had the idea of keeping a big pillow under my knee when I was being turned.
I had been using a small pillow under my knee during turns, but that wasn’t enough. A bigger pillow reduced my pain immensely.
We have also developed a technique to prevent pain during transfers between my bed and my wheelchair. I’m not yet ready to share all the details because we’re still perfecting this process, but it involves pillow support under my knee. I will explain more in my next column.
Since my fall, I have kept a pillow under my knee all day and night, whether I’m in bed or my chair. But now we’re figuring out how to better use it during turns and transfers.
Everyone is now hypervigilant about keeping me away from the edge of the bed, especially the nurse who was on duty when I fell.
There’s no pain now when my leg is still, and it’s getting better when people move it. By faith, I’ll soar through this situation just like everything else!
Note: SMA News Today is strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those of SMA News Today or its parent company, Bionews, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to spinal muscular atrophy.
Leave a comment
Fill in the required fields to post. Your email address will not be published.