Neighbor Scare

I was cooking Chicken Florentine and I needed one more egg. So I sent the boys over to Billie's house.

Let me start with a little backstory: Billie is my 83 year old next door neighbor. She didn't have any children so she's really great to my boys. They love going over there to eat up her Hershey Kisses! lol! Last year she slipped and fell and broke her hip. It was about this same time last year, snowy and icy out. She ended up getting surgery and was in the nursing home for months. She recovered and was back home. It was really weird to be looking out my kitchen window over at her house and not see her light on. She's a night owl, always up late watching late night TV or knitting when everyone else should be sleeping.

So back to tonight, the boys went to get eggs. I was on the phone with my friend Jaime and began to wonder what was taking them so long. Then Cohen comes running to the back door yelling that Billie fell and it was an accident!!! I put a beanie on the baby, wrapped him up in a blanket and ran over there. I tried to open her back door but she was laying in the floor up against the door. Camden had told Billie to push the button on her necklace to call for help. He ran to the living room, unlocked the door and had it opened and waiting for me. He was on the speaker with Life Alert when I walked in. I shouted to them that I was in the house, they let me know that the ambulance was on it's way.

I ran to Billie and asked how she was. I saw that her glasses laid beside her broken in the floor. She bumped her head going down and expressed that her knee was hurting her. I was really concerned that she may have re-injured her hip. She told me that the boys had their hands full with cookies, eggs, and ice cream sandwiches, so she leaned forward to attempt to hold the door open for them. She lost her balance and went forward.

Shortly after that the paramedics arrived and they were able to get her up and sitting in her chair. They couldn't fit the back board in that small space so they carried her out to the ambulance in her chair. Mom and my aunt Joyce went with her to the hospital. Billie has a large goose egg on her forehead. Later after a few tests we found out that she cracked her 2nd vertabra which could have paralyzed or killed her! They think the fracture was old and that we're lucky they found it. She also broke her femur and will require surgery to put in a steel rod. They transported her from the local hospital to Barnes in St. Louis.

I'm so proud of my boys and how they handled a stressful situation so well. Daddy took them out to McDonald's for milkshakes.

* Update: She's still in St. Louis. She's in a room but doctors haven't decided if they will treat her there or send her back home for treatment. We're just waiting to hear what's next.