The quiet inside an empty home can feel heavy. Ever since April, when cancer suddenly took her husband, that quiet had been her daily companion.
Roxana had lived a long, full life across multiple states. She was born in Washington, raised in Washington and Montana, and later moved back to Kansas with her husband to care for his aging parents.
But life can change in a heartbeat. On an ordinary morning, dressed in soft flannel, she sat down on a smooth wooden chair, and in a single, terrifying second, everything changed.
The fall in the quiet
Roxana slid off the seat and landed hard on her right side. Her legs tangled up in the legs of the table, pinning her to the floor. Her head rested on her hands against the kitchen floor, in a position that looked like she was praying.
For twenty or thirty long minutes, though in the stillness it felt much longer, she tried to get free. She pulled, turned, and tried to move, but her body would not listen.
As Roxana lay on the floor, the hard truth set in. She lived alone. Her husband was gone. Her close family members had passed away. She had no children and no local family coming to check on her that morning. No one was going to walk through the door.
“I thought, I’m either going to lie here and die, or I press the button.”
Three months earlier, the 95-year-old had bought a medical alert button. She had not been very excited about getting it at the time, but she bought it anyway. That morning, when she fell, it happened to be in her hand.
Unable to free herself, her fingers reached for the button and pressed it. That single choice saved her life.
A birthday in the Emergency Department
The next thing Roxana remembered was an ambulance ride to the Emergency Department at NMC Health. She was in a lot of pain, but as the hospital doors opened, a familiar sense of comfort came back to her.
A few months before, she had called 911 when her husband collapsed. She never forgot how kind and helpful the care team had been back then. Now, she was the one who needed help.
It happened to be her birthday. Instead of celebrating, Roxana listened to Dr. J. Scott Pigg of NMC Health’s Orthopedics and Sports Specialists explain her injury. She had a partial fracture in her hip. He spoke to her not as a patient on a chart, but as a real person with a life to get back to. He gently explained that having surgery right away was her best chance to return to full mobility.
That evening, on the very day that marked another year of her life, Roxana looked down into a pillow, closed her eyes, and trusted the surgical team to take care of her.
Finding a home in the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit
When she woke up, the dark fear of the fall was replaced by hope. After spending some time in our Surgical Unit, she was given a choice of where to receive inpatient physical therapy and occupational therapy. Roxane decided to move down the hall to NMC Health’s Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit. What she found there was more than just medical care. She found a home away from home.
In a world where healthcare can sometimes feel cold or rushed, her time at NMC Health was filled with smiling faces, real warmth, and true care.
“Overall, everybody has been so thoughtful and so caring,” Roxana says. “They really made me feel like I’ve been part of a little family here.”
The nurses walked into her room and knew exactly who she was. Dr. Robbie O’Brien-Leighton came in during lunch just to sit and talk with her, taking the time to truly listen. Even the warm, tasty meals made her feel cared for during a hard time.
Small steps, big victories
Healing happens one small victory at a time. When Roxana first arrived in the rehab unit, she could not even lift her leg onto the bed. But day after day, the therapy team worked right by her side. They gave her clear directions, kind words, and steady encouragement.
Soon, she was lifting her leg all by herself. Then, she was standing up. Before long, she was walking down the hallway with a walker, taking bold steps back toward her freedom.
Looking ahead with hope
While Roxana had been staying at NMC Health, her independent living apartment at a local retirement community was adapted for her return home.
“The first thing I’m going to do is look around and see how big the disaster is,” she says and smiles.
Roxana knows the apartment will be quiet. She knows she will be there by herself. But she holds onto a simple rule for getting through life’s hard storms: when you go through something traumatic, the best thing to do is pause, stay put, and let things settle down until you can think clearly again.
Roxana leaves the hospital not with fear, but with deep thanks. Her message to the nurses, therapists, and doctors who walked alongside her is simple and straight from the heart:
“God bless you all. Just keep on doing what you’re doing.”
She has spent time in hospitals before throughout her long life. But here, in a smaller town, surrounded by people who cared for her heart as much as her hip, she found something rare.
“They’re warm, real people,” she says. “I’m almost hating leaving. My stay here has been in no way unpleasant. Some of it has been downright enjoyable.”
Roxana arrived on her birthday after a scary fall, all alone in the quiet. But she leaves feeling whole again, wrapped in the warmth of a community that treated her like family.