Susan's Stitches: East TN Shop Hop and My Mother

I've spent the last 2 weeks with my mother. My mother has had several falls during the past few years. She had fallen on March 31, and crushed lumbar vetebra #3. She is home-bound and receiving treatment from that fall. I did go to Sewing Bee and Tennessee Quilts in Jonesboro, and Somewhere Sewing in Johnson City on Monday, June 22. I bought several Kaffe Fassett kits from the book Country Garden Quilts, which I already had. I bought Pastel Star Bouquet Quilt, Economy Blue Patch Quilt, Garden Rainbow Quilt, and Garden Whirlygig Quilt from Tennessee Quilts. I bought some of their $3/yd. sale fabric, too. Somewhere Sewing had a whole section of batiks for $6/yd., so I bought a yard of several of those.

My sister and I were going to do the East TN Shop Hop. We drove to Knoxville Thursday, and visited 5 shops on Friday, June 26. (I'll tell more about our shopping later.) As we were on our way back to the hotel, my sister's husband called about 7 p.m. and said that our mother had fallen in the shower about 7:30 a.m. and that they had just found her! My mother later said that she had just gotten up and washed her face. Since she couldn't wring out the wet washcloth, she had gone into the shower to hang it up so that it wouldn't drip on the floor. As she was stepping out of the shower, she fell backwards. She tried to pull herself up several times, but she was not strong enough, and would fall back and bang her head every time that she tried. She had both her knees replaced about 19 years ago, so she can't get up when she falls. She laid there all day without any food, water, or medicine. My sister's husband said that he was following the ambulance to the hospital. So, my sister and I went to the hotel to collect our things, checked out, and returned to Kingsport Friday evening. When we got to the hospital, the doctor said that her blood-work was good, and that the CT scan and X-rays didn't show any further damage to her back. The doctor said that he would let her go home on the condition that someone would stay with her, and that she should not be left alone. I told the doctor that I would be staying with her. I told my sister and mother that I would stay with her for as long as it takes for her to be able to take care of herself again. Here is a picture that I took one morning from Mom's house.