Ok, so here is my story (and yes, I'm sticking to it)
On Sunday night I had a friend over... I was giving him a hug and I felt like my back could crack, so I told him to squeeze and see if he could crack it. For those who don't know, I crack my back on the regular along with almost every other crackable part of my body. Back to the hug... he squeezes, there is a pop. I felt it in my ribs, but thought it was our ribs shifting against each other, on the outside... he thought he cracked my back (right?).
It didn't hurt right away, but I started to feel some pain by the time I went to bed. All day Monday at work it hurt bad, mostly when I would laugh or cough. I called the doctor to talk to someone about it... basically I didn't want to waste my time and money going there only to have them tell me there is nothing they can do for me; that is what they tell people with broken ribs, fractured ribs, bruised ribs, etc. Those things have to heal on their own, basically. So she tells me there a couple reasons to come in: a) to have it documented b) in case there is a break or fracture, they want to make sure it doesn't have potential to hurt or damage my lung - good enough reasons for me.
I figured I would wait it out another day, and make an appointment for after work Tuesday.
Tuesday morning I am getting ready for work and I coughed, all of the sudden there was this super intense SHARP pain in my ribs and it dropped me to the ground. I take a deep breath, get up and make my way to the bathroom to finish getting ready. As I'm in the bathroom, still a bit shook up from the pain, trying to put my hair up I start to get light headed. I've had experiences like this in the past; light headed, short of breath, weak - only a few times, all surrounded by the fact that I have a weak stomach.
This time was no different, all the symptoms are there... so I attempt to make my way to the couch to lay down, crawling because I'm too weak to walk, well I didn't make it to the couch and ended up laying on my floor trying to catch my breath. I finally make it to my bed and, still short of breath, call Jayne to tell her I wouldn't be car pooling and I wasn't sure if I'd make it to work at all as I was going to try and get in to be seen. She, obviously, understood.
Fast forward to my trip to the doctor - I have X-Rays taken and tell my stupid story to about 3 people. The doctor comes in after looking at the X-rays and tells me she didn't see any crack, fracture or break in any of my ribs but that the expert would take a look and may see something different.
So, what's wrong with me then?!
Because my vitals are normal and my lungs sound normal she thinks I pulled a
Intercostal Muscle, which can hurt as bad as a broken rib and can take several weeks to heal! At least she doesn't think there is a break, which is good and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it holds true after hearing the second opinion.
My next question was
what about the sharp pain this morning? She said that once a muscle is pulled it can spasm at any time without warning. The spasm can and most likely will return upon sneezing, coughing, and in my case most likely laughing also.
I've been instructed to take an anti-inflammatory twice a day and to try and take it easy for the next couple weeks.
ugh.
That's about all I've got for you today folks.
One last note, completely separate from my ribs, I have a friend who needs prayers. She just found out there is a malformation in her sons brain; they are not saying tumor or cancer... but she has to wait a month before he can be seen by a neurosurgeon - she and her son are amazing people who have been though a lot in their lives. Her name is
Terri, she is the woman I knitted the pink bag for and she also walks the Breast Cancer 3-day in Phoenix. She is a great person and deserves only good thing to happen to her. She and Nate (her son) need your prayers. Please.
Ter, hang in there... keep your head up... you are loved and in the thoughts and prayers of many!
