My father in law's fall

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As I've now seen 2 posts today about elderly people falling, it reminded me of the time my father in law had fallen. I thought I should do my own discussion on it as it's a bit of a long story (longer than a comment anyway). My father in law died in 2011, he'd been sick for a couple years with leukemia. He was often weak due to his illness. My mother in law died about a year and a half before he did. After her passing he lived alone. We only lived around the corner, so we'd visit often.. The fall happened on a holiday.. I believe it was labor day. We'd had a cookout at our house, made some burgers and other grilling type foods. After we ate we decided to bring my father in law a plate of food. When we got to his house I waited on the porch. I often didn't go inside the house as it smelled really bad (that's another story). If it was nice out FIL would come sit on the porch when we visited and the kids would play in the yard.. So hubby went in to tell his father we were there.. Then he comes outside in a panic and told my oldest son to come inside and help, but told me not to let any of the other kids inside. That was all he said, so I was worried. As it turns out, my father in law had fallen at about 9 o'clock that morning. We got there around 2 in the afternoon. He wasn't able to get up, and he couldn't reach the phone. He had pulled some paper towel rolls over to put under his knees, and had gotten himself far enough that he could rest his arms/head on a chair.. but he could go no further, and he'd been stuck there like that all day, unable to get any help. Needless to say my husband started checking in on him more frequently after that. However he died about 3 months later.