How devastating can a hip fracture be?

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blickbob Asked April 12, 2024

How devastating can a hip fracture be?

My 96-year-old grandmother fell in the nursing home this morning and fractured her hip. She's in the hospital and will have hip surgery tomorrow morning

Could this possibly be the beginning of the end for her? How much longer would she be around post-injury?

Broken Hip End of Life Falls

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score 0 · Answer 1

Blickbob, Thanks so much for updating us that surgery went well and GrandMom will be back so very soon to her living situation. Second time in about a month we have seen surgery go so quickly and so well for a broken hip in someone very elderly. I will say having had a recent surgery, and as an old retired RN that things just seem to go so much faster and so much better and with so much less trauma. For me it was 1-2-3 and in and out in hours and that was with a general anesthesia. They even gave me a special drink only HOURS before surgery (in my day we withheld anything by mouth after midnight). It was an electrolyte drink much like gator ade sort of thing, but was cleared faster from the system. They said it helped a great deal in no nausea post op, in fast recovery. I honestly awakened feeling really good!

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score 0 · Answer 2

Ironic OP that mom has her mother in a nursing home but expects you to take care of her when she is bedridden and wont even use a wheel chair.

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A wheelchair is used the few times she's around the house.

And to add to the irony, she doesn't want to risk catching Covid or the flu, but kept my grandmother in the nursing home after Covid emerged and never pulled my great-grandmother out of the nursing home every flu season during her final years.

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score 1 · Answer 3

I'm so glad for the good news!

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score 5 · Answer 4

Update:

She had surgery this afternoon. It lasted 40 minutes and the doctor told me and my mom everything went smoothly and she's expected to have a smooth recovery and not have any issues moving forward. She'll spend the weekend at the hospital before returning to the nursing home.

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score 0 · Answer 5

That would be a guess. It can be deadly. It can heal well.
We recently had Forum member who had a grandmother or mother who fell, quite old, had surgery and healed well.
As you likely know, at 96, every system your grandmother has is more fragile. She also is more prone to suffer from hospital induced confusion and from the bad effects of anethesia.

Falls, even withOUT fracture OFTEN are the beginning of the end, and they are inevitable in age, as it is a matter not of weakness but of balance changes in the brain. You can easily google this with "aging and fall prone".
For my own Mom it was a fall that took her out in her mid 90s. She fell backwards in bathroom hitting her head on the tub. Minor fall, no concussion, but involved hospitalization overnight to watch her, a placement of catheter, a subsequent bladder infection, then pneumonia, another UTI, and her already aging heart began to fail. She died some three months (very unpleasant ones for her) afterward, despite there having been no broken bones.

I wish you luck in this. But as I said, the future is just guesswork as with all things aging, and really as with all things medical.
Hoping you will update us.

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score 1 · Answer 6

A lot depends on grandma.
Unrepaired the life expectancy would be about 6 months and the person would no doubt be bed bound.
Repaired, if she survives the surgery, the life expectancy might be the same or longer. (brilliant statement there)
But will she participate in rehab? Will she walk again? Will her quality of life be better or the same? You say she relies on a wheelchair so she probably will not participate in rehab nor will she walk again.
So my guess is that the surgery is for minimizing pain and discomfort.
All that depends on your grandma and what she does post surgery.

You might want to contact Hospice and she would no doubt qualify for Hospice. They would help manage pain and be another set of eyes on her in the Skilled Nursing facility.

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score 2 · Answer 7

Breaking a hip in the elderly is serious. Yes, some die from it and like said others do OK. You are just going to need to take things one day at a time.

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score 4 · Answer 8

My mom broke her hip at 90. Had surgery. Lived for another 4 1/2 years.

Wishing her well!

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score 3 · Answer 9

Hope your grandma does well during surgery sending prayers as I just lost my Grandma in January 🥺 💔.. Cherish every moment with her and help her live her best life❤️🙏

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score 4 · Answer 10

I'm so sorry for this situation. At 96, the odds that she returns to her pre-fall level of function is less likely. If she is being anesthetized for this procedure, she may develop hospital delirium, which can take a while to go away and sometimes it doesn't ever. Hopefully she cognitively will cooperate with whatever the surgery, and post-op PT requires. Pain meds can be very constipating. She could develop pneumonia. It's possible she may not regain mobility. It's possible she could have a clot from this type of break. We think this is what caused my 100-yr old Aunt to pass away in rehab. Then again she may do really well. Everyone is different and there are many variables at play. Don't have any expectations...take things one day at a time.

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