Posted on 04/16/2005 6:26:06 AM PDT by RedBloodedAmerican
HAMPTON, Va. (AP) - A 75-year-old woman who lay trapped in her bathtub for five days toasted her rescue with a cola and a cigarette. Jane Fromal suffered slight dehydration even though she said she ran tap water to drink during the ordeal.
Doctors said they would keep her at the hospital for a few days to make sure her muscles were working right.
Fromal drew a bath Saturday afternoon to nurse a sore tailbone.
"I thought I'd get in the tub and soak," she said Thursday as she rested at Riverside Regional Medical Center. "I didn't know I was going to soak for five days."
She tried to lift herself up a number of times but was unable to do so. Her elbows and forearms were left raw and sore.
Fromal didn't sleep much during the five days. "How can you sleep in a bathtub?"
She finally got help when a neighbor's grandson noticed newspapers piling up in her driveway and insisted his grandmother call Fromal's family.
Shaun Foley, 21, tried banging on her doors and windows and noticed that her mailbox was stuffed.
James Mountjoy, Fromal's grandson-in-law, burst through a locked storm door. Family members found her in the bathroom off her upstairs bedroom on Wednesday evening.
After donning a warm robe, being lifted to safety and drinking a little water, Fromal didn't ask for food. She wanted one of her Parliament 100s and a Coke.
It wasn't the first time Fromal, who has a little trouble with her legs, has been stuck in the bathtub. A few weeks ago she lay in the tub all day.
Fromal's family plans to add railings and a tub chair in her bathroom.
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I think it's time to take her tub away.
Can you imagine the wrinkles?
"She finally got help when a neighbor's grandson noticed newspapers piling up in her driveway and insisted his grandmother call Fromal's family."
God bless that kid.
"Fromal's family plans to add railings and a tub chair in her bathroom."
Considering this is the second time that happened, I'd say that's a good idea.
Good grief.
LOL, I'm really glad that there were no pictures. My mother was very skinny and weak in her last year and I could see this happening to her. And yes, the first thing she would ask for would be a smoke and probably a coke. I'm convinced that she lived a year longer than she would have had she quit smoking. She would never smoke in bed and had to be up and about to smoke.
When I was in college and working fulltime at night for IBM I use to sleep on steel file cabinets during my lunch hour. If your tired enough you can sleep anywhere.
I think it's time family start checking on her every day... or if she can't rely on that, there are 'phone friends' services that will call every morning, and if you don't answer, will send help.
Or.... she could get that signal device Dr. Koop advertises. Stuff like this was the constant fear of my grandma when she lived alone, and was the only reason she packed up an moved to an assisted living facility.
You mean they didn't put the railings in after the first time??
"...Fromal didn't ask for food. She wanted one of her Parliament 100s and a Coke."
Now there's a trooper! I swear my Grandpa made it to 89 years old due to his daily diet of Oscar Mayer Bologna & Kraft American Cheese sandwiches. He had more "preservatives" in him than a gallon of Formaldehyde. :)
Was it a bubble bath?
There's a lawsuit in there somewhere. I mean, her doctor should have known that she'd have trouble getting out of bathtubs. He did a physical exam on her, didn't he? He should have known. He could have ordered the rails for her. Can you imagine how much suffering that lady went through? It ought to be worth at least $2,000,000.
viz. "When to Pull a Feeding Tube"
How about a bathroom phone extension????
I feel bad for her, but the only one she should be able to sue is herself. She should have asked someone to put some kind of handhold system in there for her. Then again, there are a lot of things I should have done in the past, too. FReegards....
My mom is 80. And she still orders me around like I am a little squirt at 48 when I stop by. She has another 20 years in her:):)
So9
My 85 year old sister needs help getting in and out of the tub. She has a helper come in for two hours five days a week. She also subscribes to "Life Line" a phone service that dials a help number by pressing a button on a wrist band. She used it two different time when she fell and broke her wrist and when "she fell and couldn't get up".
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