[speeder]

My younger sister took a bad fall on the ice on the lake we grew up on, (and where she still lives), over the weekend. She called me on Sunday and told me about it, happened on Saturday. She got a concussion, knocked out and doesn't remember what actually happened.

I decided to post about it here as a caution for members who live in cold, icy places. She has lived there her entire life and walks around the lake with her dog every day, (weather permitting), so it's not like she isn't familiar with ice. We talked a little about the dangers of falling as we grow older in the thread about the passing of Rusty Heap. It can happen to young people as well but gets worse as we age. My sister is 61 and in good health, not overweight and walks several miles a day. Here is what happened, minus the unknown parts:

It was a nice, sunny winter day and there was a kite festival out on the ice of the lake near the bandstand of Lake Harriet, (for locals). We are sponsoring a family of Afghan refugees who recently arrived in Mpls. and the youngest member is a 5-year old girl who is very sweet and love kites, so my sister was taking her to see them. She remembers walking out onto the ice and then being in the ambulance, (with the poor little girl strapped in next to her...she remembers that), apparently she called her husband at some point because he was talking to the paramedics and directing them where to take her, etc. She has no memory of calling him. They are both MDs, fwiw.

She can't figure out how she fell without injuring wrists, (usually we try to block the fall), also her forehead sustained injuries requiring stitches and her glasses were smashed. The current theory is that she fell backwards and was concussed, then tried to get up like a boxer in the ring and fell forward again face first onto the ice, which has the consistency of cement.

Her husband, my BIL, being the seasoned ER doc he is needed to rule out a seizure or heart arythma(sp) that had her faint on her feet and drop, CT and ECG normal. She is at home recovering and feeling better as of yesterday. She is the youngest of us and possibly my favorite person on earth, though her 28 y.o. daughter is giving her a run for the money. If anything really bad happened to her, I'm not sure I could take it.

This post might possibly be TMI about someone who doesn't post here, I just thought that if it causes one person to be more careful on ice, it's worth it.