AN ENIGMATIC AND POIGNANT JOURNEY AROUND MY AGEING AND EVOLVING MOTHER! PART 127.

 

So, she is lying on the bed and wants to sit upright on it. 

A task which an abled bodied person would perform, by just lifting their head and torso up into a sitting position, while pressing their bum on the bed, as they put their your feet on the floor. 

Then place their weight evenly on both feet and lift or propel themselves off the bed. 

For my dear mother, the process is more complex, and, whereas the able-bodied person will be carrying out the process automatically without thinking about each of the processes. 

She will have to be thinking about each of the individual tasks in the process and coordinate them with the physical actions involved.

My dear mother is at risk of falling, due to her over-balancing, misjudging distances, failing to catch an object she intended to hold onto to help with her balancing. 

She might knock into things she has not noticed and processed, she might trip on things, or she might move too fast in trying to gain momentum and overdo it. 

These things can individually and in combination, lead to my dear mother having falls. 

My dear mother could reduce her likelihood of falling, by remaining in one position or place and moving less, but that would be at the cost of exercising what limited mobility and freedom of movement she has. 

Consequently, because of the increasing risk of falling, I have come to the conclusion that, the emphasis should not be so much on preventing her from having falls. 

Particularly if that means doing more for her, and by discouraging her from exercising her decreasing  freedom of movements. 

To be continued!