Crippled by the filing cabinet
Tuesday 3rd March 2009
What do you do the cleaning in? Tracksuit bottoms or a novelty pinny? Well, I didn't bother with either of those. It was a warm March morning, so when I got back from walking my dogs, Oliver and Patsy, I stripped down to my bra, knickers and a baggy T-shirt, then got
to work dusting my flat. Glamorous it wasn't. But there was no one around to see, except the dogs.
'If you don't tell, I won't,' I said to Patsy, as she pottered along after me.
I finished the living room, but before I could start on the kitchen, I needed to replace a dud lightbulb. Carefully climbing onto the coffee table I reached out for the light fitting and screwed the bulb in. But stepping back down, instead of carpet, I felt something furry under my feet.
'Oliver?' I gasped, as he let out a yelp.
I'd put my glasses on the table in case they fell off when I was peering up at the light, but it meant I couldn't see properly. Oliver's brown coat was camouflaged against the carpet and I'd trodden on him. But that was the least of my worries.
As I desperately tried to regain my balance, I fell sideways and grabbed onto the filing cabinet I kept work documents in. But it was no good. Pitching towards the floor, I gripped the cold, metal cabinet for dear life. Then everything went black…When I opened my eyes again, the living room was blurry. Then I remembered my glasses were still on the coffee table. It was only when I tried to reach out to get them, that I realised I couldn't move.
I was trapped, face-down, on the carpet, with the three-drawer filing cabinet on top of me.
As the reality hit me, I waited for the tears to come. But they didn't.And neither did the pain.
Surely there should be pain? I thought, as I tried to move my leg.
It didn't budge. Even moving my head was impossible. I'm paralysed!
As panic surged through me, I summoned all my energy and managed to wiggle my fingers.
Not that it was much good if the rest of me couldn't move. Lying there, squashed into the carpet, it dawned on me I might not make it. It's funny the things that go through your mind because, despite the fact I couldn't move my legs, all I could think about was what
I was wearing. What an embarrassing way to die, I thought. Trapped under a filing cabinet in my pants and a T-shirt. Whether it was that hideous thought, or the fact I couldn't bear the idea of the dogs dying with me, I was hit by another emotion.Determination to survive.
But how?
I'd lived in Bratislava, Slovakia, for the past 10 years, ever since visiting my friend, Tanya Sefeikova, here. Most my friends and family were back home in Paisley, but, worst of all, it was a Saturday. Some weekends, I didn't see anyone for the whole two days. If nobody realises I'm here today, someone might notice when I'm not at work on Monday, I told myself. But that was 48 hours away. Surely I couldn't survive under the cabinet for all that time? And what about the dogs? As they stood next to me, making worried whining noises, I knew it wouldn't be long before they'd get hungry and scared. Just thinking of them gave me the extra strength I needed.
'I might not be able to move my legs,' I said out loud. 'But I can still move my lips.'
I took a deep breath and…
'Help!' I yelled. 'Help!'
Then I tried shouting 'pomoc', the Slovak word for help, in the hope one of my three neighbours might hear. But the longer I shouted, the more out of breath I became as the heavy cabinet pressed down on my lungs. The damn thing weighed a ton. By now, the dogs were yelping and sniffing around me.
'You're my only hope,' I told them.
Without my glasses, I could just make out my red mobile phone on the far end of the coffee table. If I could get the dogs to drag me to it somehow, I could ring Tanya.
Summoning all my energy, I tried to move my arms and dislodge the filing cabinet.Useless. And worst of all, the clock on the wall was all blurry, so I had no idea what time it was or how long I'd been stuck here. It felt like hours. After a while, I felt my eyelids getting heavy and I slipped in and out of consciousness. Each time I opened my eyes, I tried to rock my body free.
'Come on, Mags,' I urged, as I gave an almighty rock.
Suddenly, there was a loud crash as the cabinet fell away from me and I sucked in a huge breath of air.
'Thank God,' I gasped, trying to scrabble onto my feet.
Only I couldn't.
I might have been free, but I was still paralysed. Another wave of panic swept over me. Now I knew the dogs were my only way out.
'Here boy,' I said to Oliver.
'Here girl,' I beckoned to Patsy.
Slowly, the dogs padded over, tails wagging, and I grabbed their collars.
'Walk forwards,' I ordered.
As they walked forwards, they dragged me along. I was only 5ft 2in and weighed just 6st 5lb. They must have weighed 11st between them, but I could feel their necks straining. They didn't give up, though.
Eventually, they dragged me to the coffee table, where I grabbed my mobile. Relief hit me. Then despair. Without my glasses I couldn't focus on the buttons properly to see who I was dialling. I didn't know the emergency services' number so I desperately pressed one button after another until I heard ringing.
'Hello?' a voice said.
It was my younger sister, Carina, 25, who lived in Blackpool.
'Help!' I gasped. 'I'm trapped in my flat. I can't move my legs.'
'Oh God, no,' she said, horrified.
'I can't help you, Mags. I don't know anyone's number in Slovakia.'
Then I remembered Tanya was on speed dial. It rang and rang, but she didn't pick up.
'Please answer,' I prayed. 'Please.'
I pressed redial over and over again. Slowly, it got dark outside. And with nothing apart from a bottle of fizzy orange juice to keep me going, my stomach was rumbling. But the dogs were brilliant. They curled up next to my neck, licking my face and trying to keep me
warm as I began to shiver. I pressed redial again.
'Hi,' Tanya mumbled.
At last!
'Tanya,' I whimpered. 'I've fallen over. I can't move. Please help me.'
'I'm on my way,' she replied.
Next thing, there was a rattle as she forced open the front door. She took one look at me, sprawled on the floor in my pants and T-shirt, and rang emergency services.
'You silly woman,' she said, rushing into the bedroom to get me some tracksuit bottoms.
'What time is it?' I asked.
'One o'clock,' she replied.
'I've been trapped here for 28 hours,' I groaned.
'Well, you're safe now,' she said.
Safe I might have been. But that didn't stop me feeling totally stupid.
'I was only doing the housework,' I explained. 'I didn't think anyone would see me like this.'
Half-an-hour later, I was on my way to Kramare Hospital.
'The cabinet crushed your spine and the vital nerves it protected,' the consultant explained. 'That's why you can't move your legs. It also destroyed your bladder.'
'Will I be able to walk again?' I asked, terrified.
'It's too early to tell,' he replied.
I was dosed up on painkillers and Tanya visited every day.
'The dogs are being looked after in kennels,' she said. 'So you just concentrate on getting better.'
My mum, Margaret, and stepdad, Douglas, came to visit, but it was five long months before I was allowed home in a wheelchair. A month on, I came back to Paisley and am still having physiotherapy at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. Just the other day, I managed to walk a few steps with my sticks, and I'm determined to be out of my wheelchair for good soon. I've got a catheter too, but in comparison to not being able to walk, it really doesn't bother me.
My dogs couldn't come back to the UK so they've been rehomed in Bratislava. But not a day goes by when I don't thank them. If they hadn't dragged me to my phone that day, I might not be here now.