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- Sep 12, 2010
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Takes place in Toronto, present day.
This is what I currently have:
93-year-old woman lives in her own home and is in reasonably good shape for her age, though she uses a cane. The woman falls on the stairs in her house and breaks her hip. She's not wearing her emergency alert bracelet and can't get to the phone. Her granddaughter (who lives with her) finds her an hour later and she is rushed to the hospital. They do an X-ray, she has surgery the next day, and stays in hospital about a week. Afterward, she moves in with her son (whose house is much more accessible than her own) and has regular physical therapy.
I just want to check...does that all sound reasonable? She is quite old, but my understanding is that outcomes are not great without an operation (though maybe that depends on the type of hip fracture), so I assume she would have surgery despite her age since she's in decent health. I don't know whether it would be a hip replacement or internal fixation (again, depends on type of fracture, perhaps?) though the details aren't really important for the story, but if anyone could give me any insight here, that would be great. I read that outcomes are best if the surgery is performed within 48-hours, but is it reasonable that it would be done the next day? And is a week-long hospital stay reasonable?
Thanks!
ETA: If she has surgery in the morning, I assume she will be okay to take visitors later that day, though she might be a bit dopey due to anesthesia?
This is what I currently have:
93-year-old woman lives in her own home and is in reasonably good shape for her age, though she uses a cane. The woman falls on the stairs in her house and breaks her hip. She's not wearing her emergency alert bracelet and can't get to the phone. Her granddaughter (who lives with her) finds her an hour later and she is rushed to the hospital. They do an X-ray, she has surgery the next day, and stays in hospital about a week. Afterward, she moves in with her son (whose house is much more accessible than her own) and has regular physical therapy.
I just want to check...does that all sound reasonable? She is quite old, but my understanding is that outcomes are not great without an operation (though maybe that depends on the type of hip fracture), so I assume she would have surgery despite her age since she's in decent health. I don't know whether it would be a hip replacement or internal fixation (again, depends on type of fracture, perhaps?) though the details aren't really important for the story, but if anyone could give me any insight here, that would be great. I read that outcomes are best if the surgery is performed within 48-hours, but is it reasonable that it would be done the next day? And is a week-long hospital stay reasonable?
Thanks!
ETA: If she has surgery in the morning, I assume she will be okay to take visitors later that day, though she might be a bit dopey due to anesthesia?
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