That dull thud that makes you run off

Anyone who lives with an elderly person knows exactly what I'm talking about.

You're sleeping. Suddenly you hear a noise. A dry thud, like an explosion.

And for a few seconds your heart stops.

You run. Hoping it's nothing. Praying it's nothing.

I had been fighting with her about this for a while

I kept telling her: "Don't rush. Don't get up from the sofa or bed and run off without first making sure your feet are firmly planted, that you're steady."

A few days earlier, she had hit her head on the side table when getting out of bed in a hurry.

And then came the night of the real blow

I was sleeping. And suddenly I heard a BOOM, like a bomb. Against the shower screen, against the tray. Thank God that screen wasn't real glass —otherwise, I don't know what I would have found.

From that night on, the same thing happened every other night.

The excuses after each fall

"I went to turn on the light and fell," she told me. And I said: "And why do you turn it off? I've told you a thousand times to always leave it on."

It was never her fault. It was always "it was because of this," "it was because of that." Meanwhile, she was aging without really adapting anything—and the consequences were piling up, fall after fall.

I wasn't resting either

At the slightest fuss, the slightest noise, I was already awake, thinking she had fallen. And many times I was right —she would go somewhere and end up on the floor. "God, what are you doing!" I would say, halfway between fright and relief that she responded.

I lived tormented by it. And so did she, although she didn't say it. Neither of us truly rested.

It's a silent worry that many people live with for years: an ear always half-alert, even when sleeping.

The risk cannot be completely eliminated. But what happens if it occurs can be reduced.

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