22 March 2011

[talk: She Fell Through the Ceiling]

My parents are renovating their place.  After months of looking at different properties, they decided to update the home they were in because of it's incredible property and location. 

They started the process a couple of weeks ago ... gutted and extended the kitchen, raised the sunken family room, took up all the flooring on the mainfloor ... they're changing their banisters, their front door, all the windows in the entire house, their garage doors, the retaining wall ... it's a MASSIVE undertaking.  So - with the floors up and the under beams exposed - it's a bit of a dangerous place.  

Especially yesterday.

For some reason, my mom came through the front door when she arrived home yesterday afternoon from  being out.  She would normally go through the garage entrance - and if she had, none of what happened would've happened.

She opened the front door and saw the exposed flooring.  Unaware that she was actually looking at the ceiling tiles under the joices - she decided, in her lovely black healed boots - that she would try and walk along the joices ... and if she needed to balance, she's simply put her foot on the "floor".  

What happened next was simply crazy.

She applied a little weight at first, then placed both feet on the exposed ceiling drywall and BAM.  Down she went ... 10ft.  Well.  ALMOST 10ft.  She landed on the pinball machine below.

The workers heard the crash, and as God would have it, one guy was actually walking out of the bathroom and passed my mom right as she rolled off of the pinball machine.  He said, "I was shaking, it was crazy - I tried to get her to the nearest chair."

We think she was knocked out for a moment ... she apparently wasn't making sense at first, wasn't talking.  Her legs immediately swelled up and turned black and blue.  One of the guys applied ice and he did such a great job at controlling the swelling ... 

Now.  If you know my mom ... she's a tough lady.  TOUGH.  

There were no tears, she refused the ambulance ... and insisted that she hold the appointment with the decorator (LM) for wallpaper ideas.  She wasn't going to let a little thing like falling through the ceiling stop her.  Oh. My. Word. 

Although it was a few hours later, she finally agreed to get checked out at the hospital.  They did all the necessary tests to make sure that there was no internal bleeding, no sprains or broken bones.  And would you believe ... nothing.  She was totally, utterly, fine - other than some obvious soreness and bruising.

This is a freakin' miracle.  If that pinball machine hadn't had been there, she would've broken her legs, or her feet at the the very least.  If the pinball machine hadn't been on a slope, it would've shattered - and the damage that glass would've done is unthinkable.  If she had fallen only a couple of inches to the left or right ... she would've landed on the cutlery with forks and knives sticking out of it (they have a little make shift kitchen in the basement while their main kitchen gets remodeled).  Or her head would've hit the shelf that's along the wall ... 

It's CRAZY. 

So .., this morning I took the kids to go visit and the trauma of it all has hit her.  She was emotional as she shared the horrifying experience - and said that she kept reliving it over and over in her mind ... the sensation of falling and hitting ... it will take some time for her to get over this, for sure.

I mean ... she's in her 60's.  Fell through a ceiling.  Got knocked out.  And walked away from it.  Here are a few pics, that I took with my IPhone ... just to give you an idea - the man in the hat is 6ft tall ... 




I always knew she was a tough lady ... but SERIOUSLY.  

Love you so much mom, and do us all a favour ... please walk on the plywood from now on!! Xx.

Have a great one :-)!!

2 comments:

Shawna said...

oh my word! I saw LM post that on FB and couldn't believe it -- I should have thought a little further into it...Lil - you might be little but you sure are mighty ;)

Thankful you are not hurt any more than bruises!

Sarah Manuel said...

That is crazy!!! So glad she is alright :0 Praise the Lord!!!