Have elderly parents in your care?

It's been an exhausting two weeks and I miss my blogging world. My mother took a misstep three weeks ago and fell on her left side. By the next day, her left lower leg was swollen and although I recommended an x-ray, she and my father brushed it off saying that it was a bruise that would go away with regular applications of the ubiquitous panacea - the kuzhambu. I should have pressed harder - but it is difficult to argue with people who have been the ones who always knew better. So I kept quiet until the next week my mom took an outing and then had unbearable pain, which she told me about only two days later. I pushed her harder and then she relented and went to a local clinic. But the GP there took her word for the injury and my parents did not push the x-ray question. The result? She hobbled on that bandaged leg for two more days till it started bleeding one night and we had to call the ambulance to take her to the hospital at midnight. The first thing they did at the hospital was to get an x-ray which showed two hairline fractures that will need a surgical operation to fix. 

So if you have elderly parents who you care for, please don't let them minimise their illnesses, but get them prompt medical attention. It will save a lot of pain and inconvenience. Falls are very dangerous in old age, especially for women who might have osteoporosis. There has never been another occasion in my life in which I have felt so bad at having been right all along. If only I had been a bit more persistent in arguing my point...