Falling and Breaking a Bone: One Man’s Story

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Bob, age 78, is a member of my Ping Pong Parkinson’s group.  He recently fell, broke a bone in his leg, and was in the hospital for a few weeks.  Bob graciously allowed me to interview him for this blog post.  Thank you, Bob!

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How long have you had Parkinson’s?

I believe the formal diagnosis was in 2017, although the symptoms were mild and probably were present for several years before that.  One sign that was clearly obvious occurred when I took walks with my wife.  She would say things like, “straighten your spine a little bit more” or “your left arm is not swinging as much as your right arm.”   She noticed little things like that, then I started to notice that my left foot sometimes brushed the ground in a way that my right foot didn’t.  I never took any of that seriously until I began to feel that my left thigh felt like thick heavy foam rubber.  That was it.

I understand you fell and broke a bone in your leg.  How and where did it happen?

I was in the same wonderful ping pong program you were in, having great fun.  Since I had never played ping pong as a kid, I started as a total beginner.  The volunteers who worked with us were excellent.  I got to where I could play well enough to keep a rally going until the volunteer and I broke a sweat.  I didn’t want to play competitively because the point of playing competitively is to stop playing.  You earn a point, and you stop and start again.  I tried to keep a rally going and maintain the rhythm and have the exercise.  A couple of volunteers were terrific in doing that with me.

The day I fell, I was warming up with one of the other Parkinson’s players.  I have no idea what happened.  I know that I was sort of going backward to my left, and then suddenly I thought, “You idiot – you’re falling.”  Then I hit the ground.  For some reason, I don’t recall any pain, but I couldn’t get up.  Some wonderful people, including one of the volunteers, who was a retired nurse, came by and helped me get into a chair.  They could see that I was not in great shape.  They called the EMTs [Emergency Medical Technicians].  Cops came, EMTs came.  The ambulance people were excellent, the police were wonderful.  Everybody at the club was terrific: supportive, enthusiastic, helpful, and caring.   The ambulance took me to a hospital near my home, so my wife could visit easily.  My recollection of the timing is not very good because of the shock of the whole thing, but I remember the surgeon either that evening or the next morning saying I’d just broken the biggest bone in the human body (the femur) and I needed to have surgery.

Can you explain this a little more?

The break was just below the head of the femur.  Looking at the X-ray was nightmarish for me because it was so clear how bad the break was.  The surgeon separated and removed the head of the femur and replaced it with a synthetic object of some sort that was attached to a spike which was then driven into the femur.  [Note to readers:  the X-ray at the top of the page was downloaded from Wikipedia Commons.  It doesn’t show Bob’s leg.]

How long did you stay in the hospital?

I was in the hospital for about three weeks.  The last couple of weeks, I got physical and occupational therapy.  As everybody knows, the sooner you can do some physical therapy, the better.  So, for the last two weeks I worked on physical therapy intensely.  Three hours a day of physical and occupational therapy.  I thought it was great.  I’ve gained a great deal of respect for those two professions due to my experience.

For example, for one of the occupational therapy sessions, two therapists were in their little office gym.  I entered using my walker and sat on a chair with the walker in front of me.  They said, “We’d like you to stand up now, and one of us is going toss a ball to you, then you throw it back.  She’s going to move across in front of you, so just keep catching the ball and tossing it back to her.”  So, she tossed the ball to me, and I threw it back.  She moved a step to the left, and we tossed again, then she kept moving to the left, and finally she reversed direction, taking steps to the right, each time tossing the ball back and forth to me.  After that little exercise, I sat back down in my chair, and because I was curious, I said, “Can you tell me the point of that exercise?  What were you looking for?”

The therapist responded, “We were trying to assess your balance and your ability to focus.”  She paused for a second, then said, “You didn’t notice that you were not holding on to the walker in front of you the whole time.”  The two therapists were sensitive and brilliant people.  If they had said at the beginning, “We’d like you to let go of the walker and toss the ball back,” I would have been petrified by fear of falling.  But they knew I could do it without any error…. [pause]  I’m pausing because I’ve actually got tears in my eyes thinking of the sensitivity and care they showed with that little exercise.

Are you getting physical therapy now?  What’s it like?

Yes.  It’s for eight weeks, three times a week.  I think it’s excellent.  I’m not a professional, so it’s hard for me to judge, but it’s very intense, exhausting, and sometimes painful.  Nonetheless, I think they’re doing the right things.  I should add that the break was on the left leg, which is also the side of my body that suffers from Parkinson’s symptoms.  The combination of the two produces a great deal of rigidity, stiffness, and tightness.  We’re both strengthening and stretching, which are almost contradictory tasks, so there’s often a fair degree of pain when I find myself unable to stretch the way I’d like.

Based on this experience, what advice do you have for other people with PD?

Part of my advice would be to physically exercise one way or another.  Another good thing for Parkinson’s patients is to get involved in the community.  I really like the ping pong group I’m in and the Mark Morris dance group for people with Parkinson’s.  They are both mutual support groups without being a sit-down-in-a-circle-and-talk support group.  The feeling of support is outstanding.

I would also say don’t hesitate to tell people you’ve got Parkinson’s disease.  Everybody that I’ve spoken with has been sympathetic but not saccharine.  People have said, “Is there anything we can do?  Can we help in any way?”  I know one person who kept his Parkinson’s disease hidden from work and even hidden from other Parkinson’s patients for a long time.  He felt so relieved when he finally leveled with everybody.  There’s nothing to be ashamed of.

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The X-ray at the top of the page was downloaded from Wikipedia Commons.