I received a call from Crystal at Woodland Terrace, who said she was my mom’s nurse today. Crystal was calling to let me know that my mom had “had a fall” this morning, but that she was fine. I asked her what happened and she said that “earlier this morning” an alarm had sounded to let them know my mom had fallen, and that she was found on the floor next to her wheelchair. She stressed that my mom “suffered no injuries” and was “totally fine”.

I noted to Crystal that on Saturday I had received a call from Sue-Lynn because my mom had fallen that morning as well, and that Sue-Lynn had told me that they were taking steps to make sure my mom wouldn’t fall again. Crystal said there was an alarm on my mom’s wheelchair, and that they checked on her “visually” frequently and that was all they could do.

At that point a horribly loud, piercing, high-pitched noise started blasting from my phone. It was literally painful in my ear. (Crystal seemed completely unaffected by it.) I asked Crystal if she could hear it and she said that it was just an alarm in the building and seemed to think that it shouldn’t affect our conversation. The noise was so loud and so high-pitched, however, that I had to just hold the phone a few inches from my head until it stopped.

I asked Crystal if I could speak to my mom and she said that she was in her bed, but she could try to get a phone into the room. I told her that I was in Los Angeles (which surprised her) and that I would call again around noon my time when I would have more time to talk.