Yesterday evening we were having dinner at a friend’s campsite in this RV Park. Rosie was going up the stairs to enter their fifth wheel when she (apparently) blacked out and fell over backwards falling to the ground, but must have hit her back on the bottom step of the 3 steps going up into the RV. I called 911 and paramedics were on the scene in about 4 minutes. They transported her to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center here in Idaho Falls. After CAT scans and X-Rays we learned she had six broken ribs and two broken vertebrae. The tips of the vertebrae were broken so the spinal column was not affected. She is not paralyzed, nor are the injuries life threatening. She is in a lot of pain and was admitted to the hospital for pain control and observation. We do not know how long she will be in the hospital.
If there is a “good news” side to this story, it is that it happened last night at this campground instead of sometime next week when we would have been in a very remote location in eastern Oregon where Emergency Response would have been longer and the quality of medical services might not have been so great. She might have had to be air lifted from such a location.
Our plans to visit the Oregon Coast are on hold until she is well enough to travel. It may be months before these injuries will heal.
This scenario is something all full timers must keep in the back of their minds. The simple act of walking up the steps of a fifth wheel can have tragic results. We are grateful the injuries were not worse.
I will post an update in a few days.