Blog Post: I can’t get up
I can’t get up. The other times I’ve fallen, I’ve been able to get up. I’m 83 now and need my cane. This time it was different, I tried to get up and failed.
Wanting to know where the heavy dump trucks were hauling so many loads of material down Weeks road, the road past our house, I decided to find out. I assumed they were our son, Jeff’s, town trucks getting rid of the accumulation of gravel and dirt in the roadside ditches. It was that time of year where the ditches needed to be cleaned out from the gravel used during winter for traction. Maybe the fill was being used near the new free-stall barn my neighbor was building.
I began walking at a steady pace down the road depending on my cane to keep my balance. It was a beautiful spring day and my walk was needed. Ellen said, “if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it”, my ability to walk, that is. There was no dirt dumped by the pond, by the trailer, nor anywhere near the new barn my neighbor’s was building. I checked the new culvert Jeff’s town crew had recently installed to improve drainage before paving the road. I turned around and headed back home, still curious.
Brayden passed by as I was cautiously descending the grass covered, access road down to Grandpa’s pond. A dump truck returned and I didn’t recognize the driver as one of the town men. I had just decided to go see the pond when I lost my balance and fell forward on my face to the ground.
Are there any devices where you push a button and help comes? I recalled an advertisement for such a device years ago and I’ve since discovered that the device calls 911 or the designated number you entered so someone you trust can come help.
When trying to get up, I tried to recall what had just happened and see what I could still do. I recalled anticipating the fall when I tried to get my cane further in front of me, sliding my feet ahead as rapidly as I could. I discovered that my hands and knees still worked. My face felt wet and dirty from smacking the hard grassy ground. I found my cane and began crawling back towards the road, holding it crosswise to bend down the new growth ahead of me. A school bus went by and I lifted my blue cane, not really expecting the driver to see me or stop. I continued crawling towards the road. By using my cane and grasping clumps of grass to keep by balance, I was able to get up on one knee but my leg was too weak to stand.
Maybe I could get up if I tried on a slope. The culvert that allowed water to pass under the road nearby offered the incline I needed. Crawling into the ditch I found that leaning on my cane and steading myself with a clump of grass and weeds worked. I was standing in the ditch. I heard gunshots, maybe at woodchucks on my other neighbor’s farm or from Jeff’s house. With only one ear working I couldn’t tell where the sound came from. I heard several more shots. Maybe Jeff was shooting beavers. I whistled my loudest shrill whistle that he would recognize as his dad calling him. He might hear me. On the side of the ditch I was erect, so tried taking a step uphill, and promptly fell again.
I rolled over on my back. The sun shone brightly at the edge of a drifting cloud. It was a beautiful day.
Jeff and his twin girls drove up just then on their family four-wheeler. How did they know I needed help?
My wife had expected me back home by then and started walking down the road to look for me. Jeff was coming over with his twin girls on his four-wheeler to see Grandma. He offered to go ahead of her and find me and God sent the me help I needed.
My wife says I should have a phone. What for? My little flip phone’s battery is dead, and will only work in an emergency. I usually ignore the messages that accumulate anyway. Why didn’t I have it with me when I fell? If I did, what number should I have called? If I had a device that delivered a call for help, I am wondering where the message would go by default. Certainly not to God.
The same day I fell, two ambulances and two police cars had showed up at Dick and his wife’s house from church. I’m guessing someone called 911. The world has emergency response teams that definitely came for Dick. Why two police cars? Why two ambulances? The initial response report stated what the first responders found, “cardiac arrest/male”. There existed a recognized expression of Dick’s instructions, called a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate), but it wasn’t found quickly enough to stop the ambulance response team’s automatic human efforts to save Dick’s life.
What is your life?
The Bible says, “It is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14) and that “It is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgement.” (Hebrews 9:27).
Dick received the world’s best care. His desire, having put a DNR order in place, was not to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if his heart or breathing stopped. His DNR instruction, was later discovered in the hospital records and the plug was pulled. In this case however the cost of the ambulance was recorded as was his time of admittance to the hospital, plus all the related expenses. Depending on how long this took, the service bills accumulated until the time of death was duly noted on the death certificate when the plug was pulled.
Who determines the time of death?
The initial diagnosis was noted; male/cardiac arrest. One can understand the reaction of the EMT team that immediately started artificial respiration and used a defibrillator to stimulate the heart back into beating when his body was found with no breathing and no heartbeat. Wasn’t he already dead? With no oxygenated blood circulating could not the approximate time of death simply have been verified when the EMT team arrived? Maybe the button should have called the mortuary instead of 911 and they would simply have written a note to report the time of the anticipated death and transported the body to the funeral home.
When a patient is admitted into an emergency room the treatment initiated at the hospital will depend on the type of insurance held by the patient. A body may be maintained in the hospital for months still registering brain activity. However, if the insurance company declines to pay for the services being received, what happens?
The amount owed becomes the responsibility of the patient who may claim that he is absolutely unable to pay. If he is retired and covered by Medicare the patient’s co-pay responsibility is about 20% of the bill, $205.00 per day and accumulates rapidly. The hospital makes every effort to find out, even using a lawyer on staff, what assets the patient has and if he is truly eligible for Medicaid where the government will pay the accumulated bill. The responsibility to pay will otherwise be billed against the patient’s estate.
In the Bible, Jesus called the one a fool who laid up treasure for himself in this world (Luke 12:20). God said unto him, “Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
Individuals try to control who receives what they have accumulated and not spend everything on their own long term care in a nursing home. If a DNR is in place they may die naturally of a heart attack, and not face the expense of long term care. They establish a family irrevocable trust to avoid the liability for their end of life care being placed against their own assets by a government court. They may give them away, however there is a look back Medicaid rule that checks the patient’s financial history over the last five years to see if he has truly given away all his personal assets. The findings could make him ineligible to receive Medicaid and still place a lien against whatever was given away less than five years ago. It makes sense. Why shouldn’t this world’s riches, be used in this world?
When I was unable to get up from that ditch, my faithful wife wondered why I hadn’t yet returned home. I came home on the front carrier of my son’s four-wheeler. Another time, when I was cold and totally unable to walk though I hadn’t fallen, I was carried from a wedding reception by a volunteer fireman to my wife’s car and came home. Maybe the way to avoid being taken into the world’s system is not accepting an ambulance service.
“I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. ” (2 Tim 1:12 )
May our life be totally committed to Jesus. Whether we live, therefore or die we are the LORD’s (Romans 14:8)