Falling

1

Did I tell you I fell?

Happened about two months ago, right in the front yard. That's where all the accidents happen, at home, because you're there all the time. Kind of like seat belts, keep them on for short drives, that's where you are the most, in your neighborhood, and you don't want to be unprotected.

So...

The driveway is short and steep. Not THAT steep, but far from flat. and the mailbox is at the bottom. And I went down to get the mail one day and...

Nothing of note really comes anymore. They talk about limiting delivery to three days a week. Actually, if you're my age, you'll remember when mail came TWICE A DAY! Yup, hard to believe. And growing up getting mail was a thrill. But now? It's just junk. Anything important comes via e-mail/the internet. And if you're still getting paper bills...don't. Because once a bill didn't come and I went into arrears and...that's another thing, you can't depend on the mail. And they used to brag that everything first class was delivered within three days, from coast to coast...good luck with that today.

Anyway, I came up the driveway to the front walk, which has a bend in it, kind of like a kidney-shaped pool, the status symbol of the sixties, why make it straight?

And I don't know if I was looking at the mail I'd gotten or just absentmindedly not paying attention, but my shoe...I stepped down with my left foot and half was on the concrete and half was in the small rocks adjacent to it.

Correcting for the turning of my ankle, falling to the left, I instinctively went to the right. And my right foot stepped on the concrete and then my left... I was bent over, but I was gonna save this. And then I didn't.

Now living in ski country, going to college in Vermont, you learn how to recover from a slip on the ice. Kind of like learning how to drive in snow (although now with antilock brakes it's so much easier). You don't go down immediately. You learn how to go with the slip, stay somewhat erect, and ultimately regain your posture. It's a skill. So today when I slip on the ice I usually recover.

But now I was on land.

So restating this, I rolled my left ankle, then thrust forward with my right foot, and then my left and...

I wasn't gonna make it. I was gonna go down. I could see it in my brain before it happened. I was going to land on my right hand and it was going to break. There was no doubt in my mind. I've been hurt before.

So my pinkie and the outside of my right hand hit the concrete, but what I was not prepared for was what came next, my body twisted the other way and my head BANGED on the concrete.

Now I wasn't so concerned about my hand.

Could this be the end, it was for Natasha Richardson, and she fell on the snow!

Needless to say I wasn't wearing a helmet. My skull cracked down hard. And...

I lay there in a daze, moaning. Wondering if I was going to expire, whether I was on a quick trip to never never land.

I wanted attention. I figured Felice would come out and be freaked and give me some TLC. But she'd gone from the kitchen to the other side of the house and didn't hear me. So...

How long was I going to lay there before I got up?

As for my hand... It hurt, but it was not broken. I know, because I've broken my hand before. But my HEAD?

At least it was daytime. You really don't want to get a head injury at night. Because you think you're okay, go to sleep and then you die.

And I'm dazed, if not completely confused, and I look in the mirror and see a nearly golf ball-sized bump at the junction of my forehead and my hair, but I know what day it is, who the president is, so I go to the freezer and get some ice, wrap it in a cloth, put it to my head and...

Sat there.

And then started to Google.

I know, I know. you can get in trouble Googling your injuries/illnesses. But I've got a system. Not only do I go to multiple sites, I'm looking for a threshold, a line that is crossed that means you need medical help. And it's usually pretty clear. They were talking about disorientation and other maladies I did not have. And I know people who've had concussions...

2

So two days later, I had to meet Harry at République. I used to love to go there when it was Campanile, and have never had a meal equaling the old restaurant at the new one, but I've got to say, the food was FANTASTIC! Which is surprising when it's such a large space, relatively speaking.

And I got there before Harry, so I decided to go to the bathroom, which is upstairs. You go about two-thirds of the way through the restaurant and the stairs are on the right and I take one step up, and then another and then...

It's happening again. It's palpable, obvious, I'm going to hit the deck once more.

Only this time it's wood.

Diners don't have a good viewpoint of the steps, but a few turned around and I got up, relatively quickly...no, I was down for a bit, positively stunned, and then I got up, checked for obvious injuries, and went up to the bathroom, where I checked myself over in more detail. I won't say I was pain free, I was beaten up a bit, but not like when I fell in the front yard. But TWICE IN A WEEK?

I couldn't believe it. I've always considered myself to be a good athlete, coordinated. How did this happen?

Well, I investigated on the way down. And it turned out the first two steps of the stairs were different sizes. So I'm attributing my fall to that. But I hadn't fallen there before, and I was wearing New Balance sneakers and I'd love to tell you I could make sense of it all, put it all in a box and wrap it up tight with a bow, but I just put it in the back of my mind as I met Harry and we sat down for our meal. I was hurting a bit, but I saw no upside in telling him. And I wasn't hurting that bad. And we hadn't seen each other in nine months...

But I was really anxious about telling Felice. Twice in three days?

I kind of soft-pedaled it when I told her, but she both expressed concern and rolled her eyes. Was this the new normal?

3

Now I was positively stunned when we went to Colorado two weeks later and my hand still hurt. Like I said, I've been hurt before, broken multiple bones, I know when you need to go to the doctor, and this did not require medical attention. But how come I wasn't fine? I mean in the old days, in a matter of days I'd be back in one piece. But this went on and on...my hand STILL hurts!

I mean it hurt typing after the injury, not so bad I couldn't do it, and it really doesn't bother me now, although when I just reached to the upper right corner of the keyboard I felt it, but when am I going to feel okay?

My mind thought back to that day at Vail, putting on my ski boot...

These Nordicas were stiff. The higher performance boots are. Getting them on when cold is impossible. But in this case, they weren't that cold. But I'd been having trouble getting them on and I decided to use a lever, insert it in the boot to keep it open, so my leg could slide in. BIG MISTAKE!

Oh, believe me I winced. But injured? I was stunned. I was just putting my boot on.

I limped for a couple of days, which stunned me (but of course I still skied), but thought I'd be fine thereafter.

But two weeks later I was in Whistler and could barely get my boot on. I needed help.

And then hiking in the mountains, my foot kind of flopped. I couldn't pull the toes on my right foot up.

That was 2019. Now it's 2025. And I've still got a problem. It has to do with the nerve in my lower leg, about halfway up, on the side. It continues to get better, but SIX YEARS?? For a long while I couldn't do anything approximating running, the foot can still be somewhat flat. Not that I need to run, but when I see other people doing it...

And then I fell again.

4

We were at Beaver Creek. Hiking from the saddle all the way across Birds of Prey and Grouse Mountain to the lake above the ski area. It was kind of cool. Especially when we stopped at the lake on the way down, after we'd hiked about fifteen minutes past it and then turned around, not knowing how far it was to the top, and we'd been going for quite a while by this point. But sitting by the small lake on the way down...

It started to hail. Which was beautiful and hilarious. Nature will surprise you. We took video. It was funny. These little ball bearings covering us.

Now we went up so far that it was too late to make it back to the saddle and take the Chondola down, so we decided to walk all the way to the bottom. Which is long, but not super-strenuous. Oh, there are rocks for a while, but after you go past the end of the Birds of Prey race course, past the Talons restaurant, you hit a road. I won't say it's smooth, after all it's high in the mountains and it has to deal with frosts and freezes and all that snow, but...

We're just strolling down. Telling tales of our lives and then...

I'm thrown forward, very quickly. I know I'm going down. Kinda face first. And I'm scared, but it is happening faster than it did in the front yard and then BAM! I employ both my hands and arms to break the fall, I don't want to risk my head...not that I thought too much about it, it was mostly instinctual, but I FELL AGAIN??

This was just too much. I couldn't believe it. This was not funny. How did this happen? I mean I was busy bullsh*tting, I can't say that I was paying a lot of attention to where I was going/stepping, but this was a PAVED ROAD!

So we decided to investigate. Turned out there was a nub of asphalt. Not that big. Maybe half the size of a golf ball, and it turned out my boot got caught on it.

HUH?

I looked around, and there were no other nubs. Just this one.

Then again, this is the leg that has trouble, the right one, where I can't lift my toes quite as high as I can with my right, but still...

I was pretty banged up.

5

So now...

My head is okay. The ice worked wonders, really took the swelling down. I was a bit out of it for two days or so, but when the internet told me it was all right to take Tylenol...the acetaminophen took the edge off.

But my right hand...I can still feel it.

How can this be?

I mean I feel fine. This was just the luck of the draw, right? I mean there was a ready explanation for each fall, right? Or was there....

And then the other day there was an entire article about oldsters falling in the Science section:

"Why Are More Older People Dying After Falls?"

Free link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/health/falls-deaths-elderly-drugs.html?unlocked_article_code=1.k08.yGhf.O62hR4KZ5nCn&smid=url-share

The question is whether it is drugs. In my case, I don't think so, but all boomers take drugs. And if you don't...the joke is on you. They keep you alive. If you're over 60 and you still think it's healthier to take no medication...

Oh, I don't want to argue with you. People are vociferous in their opinions these days. They're right, you can't convince them otherwise, and while they're at it, YOU'RE AN IDIOT!

But, Ahmet Ertegun fell backstage at a Stones show and died.

And the article says more people may be dying from falls because we're tracking them in a way we didn't used to. It's kind of like autism... Have things changed, is there more of it, or is it now just being diagnosed?

All I know is none of us is here forever. Something's going to get us.

And it could happen when everything looks okay, when you think you're doing fine, walking back from the mailbox.

But if I'm still here, why does it take so damn long to heal?


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25