I just fell over my floss boxes and think I`ve cracked a rib or three on the arm of my sewibng chair! It`s OK if I don`t breathe, move or cough. I bet I`m sore in the morning, but if it`s TOO sore I`ll go dowqn to the hospital! There`s not a lot you can do for cracked ribs, anyway. Something`s clicking in there if I breathe too hard!
Naturally John didn`t hear the crash, nor the whooping sound as I tried to catch my breath! You should get danger money for having a deaf person in the house!
Pat
Be who you are and say what you feel....Because those that matter....don't mind....And those that mind....don't matter.
You are right, there is little that can be done for a simple cracked rib. HOWEVER, dear 70ish friend, please get it checked out. It is possible that the crack could eventually puncture something much more important.A little xray is worth a lot of peace of mind!
Thanks everyone - It was sheer agony this morning so I went to the local A&E, where they checked me over - BP and oxygen levels all OK. They cheerfully told me that it`s going to be a lot more painful before it gets better - so no really good jokes, please - not without a health warning, anyway!
I have to go back tomorrow so my own doctor can check everything. They no longer Xray (unless they suspect anything untoward) and don`t strap either, as they don`t want to inhibit your lungs from working (scared of pneumonia). I know it would FEEL better to have the support of strapping, but I understand their point. So strange there`s no bruise yet as I hit it one hell of a whack. It`s a very interesting sensation though, having some of your ribs sort of "clunk" whenever you take too deep a breath, or move incautiously.
I love their prescription though - sit in the most comfortable chair and watch TV, or read a book (Or, in my case, stitch, I thought). The painkillers are beginning to work, but if it gets unbearable during the day, they said to go back to see the duty doctor this evening. I think I`ll be OK now, though. I intend to be very good for once and do exactly as I`m told!
Luckily it`s on my fairly useless side again so I still have my good RIGHT side pretty much unscathed. The left side has taken a hammering over the past few years, what with the stroke, then the broken hip a couple of years back and now this. I should be split down the middle and just have the left side thrown away.
It`s a darned nuisance though, as I have masses of bulbs and things I want to plant in my newly designed front garden! Still, there was a bonus, proving that nothing`s all bad. We met up with some old friends we hadn`t seen for years - SHE was in with an awful black eye (tripped over a paving slab) so at least our husbands had a lovely chance to catch up while we were both being sorted out.
I`ve had to phone the two younger kids to tell them not to panic though, as John made the mistake of telling our oldest (Bi-Polar) one this morning, and she ALWAYS rings round the other two and gives the impression that I`m at death`s door even if I`ve only cut my finger!!! She can`t help it, but there`s no need to give the other two a nasty turn.
I did something similar many years ago and I remember that the pain was excruciating. Try all the different chairs in the house until you find the perfect one. It's really the only way to get comfortable.
Thanks, Lucille - fortunately my stitching chair (the one that did the damage!) is the best for me - it`s more straightbacked, and a bit higher too, so easy to sit comfortably, and most important of all, easier to get out of! Actually the car seat seemed to support me best of all!
As you say - the pain really is excruciating - but the painkillers have certainly taken the edge off it. I don`t like taking them, as it masks what may be going on, but in this case ......!!! I won`t take them tomorrow, until after I`ve seen the doctor, though.
Home accidents like this are amazing arent' they? I recently took a friend to hospital b/c the dog wiped her out in the driveway! She had the worst black eye I've ever seen - if I hadn't seen her fall I'd have sworn it was makeup! The dog had wrapped his leash around her legs & then took off running. We've considered renaming him Mike Tyson! Then there was the time I parked my car on my foot - I think everyone in the entire hospital that day had to come by my room & ask ' hw did you do this again?' LOL...Or last Memorial Day, I was bowling with DH & goddaughter. Fell in the gutter & almost broke my wrist! Oh well, just call me clumsy....LOL
They do enjoy a laugh in Emergency!!! Like the time I fell off my exercise bike and broke a bone in my foot. They were laughing so much they tried to Xray the wrong foot!
Your friend was lucky just to have a black eye! A friend of my mother`s had a very similar accident - only she went backwards and broke her neck! It didn`t kill her but she was in a pretty bad way for ages!
Thanks to everyone for the advice and good wishes. It`s easing a little this evening - either that or it`s just the painkillers working. I`ll know which when I get up in the morning.
When I think of the number of times I fell off a horse and came to no harm, it`s quite ridiculous. Mind you, at my age, we don`t bounce so well, do we?
I hope your friend is getting better, anyway.
They do say that far more accidents happen in the home!!!
A friend who was having back problems discovered her car seat was the most comfortable... so she had her DH unbolt the passenger seat and bring it in for her...
Ouch. In emergency - well, it's a break to laugh in comparison with everything else... So sorry about your accident - been away from the computer a bit, so didn't send a note sooner.
One of my friends when we were girls stepped off the curb and fractured the metatarsal bones in her foot - ouch.
Have you done the warm soak at all? Or are you still doing the ice on for 10 off for 20 min thing? Be gentle with yourself.
Less fat, less collagen. Although I think my first real fall off a horse - well.... I'd broken the left arm in a freak basketball accident (8 places, both radius & ulna). Fortunately my DB stopped the lab nurse from sticking the blood draw in the wrong arm - as I was evidently starting to shriek and she couldn't understand why (had to stay in the hospital for that one). Finally, 3 months later, out of cast - and first thing I do - go to the stables. A friend and I are riding together, and I'm exercising a slightly fractious mare so they can use her later for lessons. I am also wearing borrowed boots that a friend got in the wrong size & wants to sell me- and they're a bit big. Furthermore, and stupidly, I'm adjusting the stirrup while we're gently cantering along, and I with a handful of reins in the left (double bit on this lovely) - and we're definitely not taking the jumps to the center of the ring. Along comes my "friend" - swoops past, over the jump - the lovely Maybelle takes off - and shortly thereafter she hits a hole in the track - I'm completely off-balance and somersault overhead - laying on dirt looking up - as the other girls in the arena ride over and ask if I'm okay - my response- catch the horse, and I'm sure I've broken my arm. 42 pieces in the wrist area (smashed the end of the ulna, and all the little bones). My piano teacher - very unhappy. At the ER - when my orthopeadist and the resident took me into the room after x-rays they asked what my plans were? Huh? Well, if they wired it back I could stay in the hospital in traction for about 6-8 weeks - and then I'd have about 95% motion in the wrist, or they could just knock me out, and set it, and I'd have 80-85% motion. Since, at 11 it was clear to me I wouldn't have a career as a concert pianist - I went for the quick fix. After that - somehow my off the horse bounces mostly involved me adding to with a leap so that I'd end up standing up grasping some dangling rein. Made for a heck of a 6th grade.
Just got back from the hospital - the Doctor said it will take about three weeks to settle - meanwhile get everyone to make me laugh - it`ll hurt like hell but it`s the best physiotherapy!!!
It`s the first time I`ve ever known this particular doctor crack so much as a grin! She`s certainly never been famous for it!
Two little kids lined up for surgery are lying in stretchers outside the operating room. The first kid leans over and asks, "What are you in here for?" The second kid says, "I'm in here to get my tonsils out and I'm a little nervous." The first kid tries to reassure the other and says, "Oh! don't worry. It's very simple. I had that done when I was four. They put you to sleep, and when you wake up they give you lots of ice cream." The second kid, feeling a little better, then asks, "What are you here for?" The first kid says, "A circumcision." The second kid says, "Whoa! I had that done when I was born. I couldn't walk for a year!"
So it's kill or cure time - here are som actual headlines from newspapers: "Lung Cancer in Women Mushrooms" "New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group" "New Vaccine May Contain Rabies" "Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors" "Kids Make Nutritious Snacks" "Eye Drops off Shelf" "Include your Children when Baking Cookies" "Chef Throws His Heart into Helping Feed Needy" "Man Minus Ear Waives Hearing" "Panda Mating Fails; Vet Takes Over"
Just one more for Pat: Three old men are at the doctor's office to take a memory test. The doctor says to the first man, "What is three times three?" "274," he replies. The doctor worriedly says to the second old man, "OK, it's your turn. What is three times three?" "Tuesday" replies the second man. The doctor sadly says to the third one, "Okay, your turn. What's three times three?" "Nine" says the third old man. "That's great!" exclaims the doctor, relieved to get at least one correct answer. "How did you get that"? "Oh that was easy Doc!" says the third man. "I just subtracted 274 from Tuesday."
Oh, Pat, do make sure you follow your instructions! My ex-father in law cracked a rib in January from a fall at home, refused to see a doctor until the rest of the family dragged him in four days later. Then, stubborn Italian that he is, he decided he *needed* fast food dinner and couldn't wait for my ex to get home from my place in another
10 minutes... went out in the car under pain med, got into a serious car crash but refused treatment. His kids dragged him into the ER again the next day after finding him passed out on the floor... Turns out that the cracked rib punctured a lung and he spent the next 4 weeks in an induced coma in the intensive care ward while his body tried to heal itself. He finally got to go home in JULY after several more weeks in the hospital and then about 3 months in rehab.
The only good that came out of it was that because of the hospital staff keeping him down, they were able to crack his nicotine addiction (he still smokes but nowhere near as much now) and were able to get his diabetes and blood pressure medications straightened out, as he hadn't been taking the right doses due to his refusal to see doctors. We'll see how long it lasts...
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