My mother broke her hip

Well, actually, the breaking happened several months ago (before I discovered weblogging). So what follows are emails to relatives sent previously, with more details added today…posted here for posterity.

My siblings and I call her Mommy but with all the apos being born, and so many aunties and cousins becoming mommys too, we now call her Lola Consing to lessen the confusion especially during our big family reunions.

Black text – original email
Gray text – new addition
Links – definitely new addition
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Augus 29, 2007

Subject: lola consing fractured hip

hello everyone,

lola consing is scheduled for compresion hip screw fixation of her left intertrochanteric fracture tomorrow august 30 at 2 pm here at the silliman medical center. (Technically, the bone that is fractured here is the femur but since it is the part of the femur that is intimately related to the pelvic bone, it is commonly called a hip fracture, the hip being actually a joint of femur and pelvic bone.)

ang story is:

august 26 sunday evening: arrive sila (daddy, mommy, jovitt) from sta. catalina

august 27 afternoon: watch Parada Sillimaniana sila. didto sila sa bank ni jean, landbank. kauban sila daddy, jovitt, jean, edgar, nanet, onin, bhea and ellyn (my helper).

may nag throw ug candies to the people watching the parade and lola consing niapil ug ilog sa candies. twice pa. the first time, ok ra. the second time she slipped and fell on her side and broke her left hip. ang iya purpose daw was to get some candies and give them to anton who was also in the parade. drummer boy man si anton so they (daddy and mommy) were planning to unwrap the candy and put it in anton's mouth when he passed by. onin said, "gi-help man mi ni lola to get candies."

ang ga throw sa candies kay ang women's auxillary of the medical center kay SUMC contingent man ang ga-pass by sa land bank at that time. when they saw mommy fall they thought daw nakuyapan ang old woman kay init man. but when she got up they saw that one leg was shorter than the other and that she couldn't walk na, gi-akay siya ni elyn, they immediately knew that it was a a surgical case. gitapukan dayon si mommy sa mga doctors sa medical center who joined the parade and timing pud ang ambulancia was also in the parade, so gipasakay dayon si mommy sa ambulance. silang nanet thought sprain ra and they said mag pick up ra sila. but the SUMC people knew na dili lang to sprain because of the leg shortening so they insisted na ambulance gyud. daddy and nanet joined her in the ambulance.

ang nahitabo, wala sila kakita kang anton. si anton gasunod na hinuon sa ambulance. ang end sa parade kay sa grandstand man just across the medical center. while all this was happening, kami ni patrick ga parade pud (med tech si patrick, ako sa medical school) apan layo ra mi.

(nanet kept texting me these terse messages but since they were non-medical terms, I couldn’t get a clear picture of what was going on. I had to wait for the resident to relay the initial findings.)

wala na lang pud ko ni run to sumc kay wala man pedicab, streets were closed to traffic ug wala pud koy mahimo sa emergency room, x-rayhan pa man so nihuman lang usa ko sa parade. her doctor, dr. manny katada was also with me sa parade.

we were past the capitol area, quite near sumc, already when the surgical resident texted dr. katada and me simultaneously. Left Intertrochanteric fracture. we always try to be calm and clinical about these things. all the more when it involves our close relatives. our dialogue was simple and brief. “is this your…?” “my mother” “intertroch” “yeah. let’s schedule her soon.” i contacted mommy’s internist to start tests for medical clearance and went back to manny and told him about mommy’s surgery for a urinary bladder stone back in 1991. since then her calcium intake has been limited because she was a stone former. meaning, her bones are not strong on account of the limited calcium intake.

so now, dr. katada had to study her case very well coz her fracture is not a simple one, it's comminuted. plus the fact that mommy's bones are kind of brittle... remember she had surgery for urinary stones back in 1991? so since then her calcium intake was limited kasi stone former cya so her bones are not that strong.

mommy's internist already gave her cardio-pulmonary clearance for the surgery. she is in skeletal traction now, gibitay iyang left leg. she has a trapeze bar in her bed but she does not want to move much. i took some pictures with my celfone but i can't figure out yet how to get the pics into this computer so i can email them to you. i'm having a techie person look into it pa.

this is all for now. let's all pray for a smooth and successful surgery and a speedy recovery.

salamat kaayo.


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to be continued...



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