No, it’s not that kind of chest pain – and it’s on the right side of my chest, not the left.
At the end of September, I was walking across our back yard carrying some short sections of cut up 4×4 lumber in my left arm when I stepped into a depression in the yard and lost my balance. As I fell, I guess I pushed/flung the lumber away from me to keep from falling on them. That didn’t give me any time to limit my impact with my arms and I hit the ground pretty hard on my right side.
Every other time I’ve fallen since I was a kid, I’ve been able to get up and – after a little bit of cussing and walking around – get back to whatever I was doing before I fell. I had been pulling branches and other yard trash from piles in the yard to a spot where we were burning the debris…, and I started back at it and continued the next couple of days.
Big mistake – and the pain wasn’t going away like I thought it should.
I didn’t realize how long an injury like that to the rib area could take to heal. I was probably exacerbating the problem.
After a week, I called the clinic to see if I could get in to see a doctor. I was pretty sure I knew what it was, but decided I should get a diagnosis from a professional.
As they were fitting me into the schedule, it didn’t surprise me that it took over an hour. Everyone, staff and patients, was wearing their masks. The chairs in the waiting room were a little closer together than I would have liked, but they probably satisfied the social distancing requirements. Quite a few people cycled through while I was waiting, most of them to get a flu shot.
After an initial consult with the doctor, he sent me to another part of the clinic for x-rays and then saw me again after they had been taken.
His diagnosis matched what I thought was the problem: bruised ribs – also called chest wall contusion. None of the ribs were cracked or broken. He prescribed some pain medication – I only used that at bedtime a few days before I disposed of the remaining tablets.
One of the online medical sources says, “Don’t do any activity that causes pain.” Hah! The pain is the worst after getting out of bed in the morning. I’m not about to stop sleeping. I think the pain there is from laying in the same position for a long period and stiffening up.
Unfortunately, chest bruises can take weeks or months to heal. It’s been nearly 4 weeks, I guess. In the first couple of weeks, it really hurt whenever I would cough, sneeze, or even have hiccup. That kind of pain is pretty much gone. The remaining pain isn’t noticeable… most of time.
The older one gets, the more concerning falls become.
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Hi Mike – I gather bruised, cracked or broken ribs are excruciating … but glad to hear it’s not serious … just needed the time to heal.
Our flu jabs were rostered in … one after the other on a Saturday – no other patients … in and out very quickly … I had both … flu and one for pneumonia … not exactly sure what – but as over age … two jabs! I’m lucky and healthy … and the doc (newish young one) recognises me … so we had a general chat … makes it easier when I need to contact him -he knows I haven’t changed!!
Take care, stay safe … and whatever else matters at the moment! – cheers Hilary
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Thankfully, I think this is going to be weeks instead of months — though there may be some lingering minor pain for quite a while. Karen was injured in a car accident a decade ago and her chest was still hurting somewhat several months later.
Be safe!
Mike Goad recently posted…Chest Pain!
Actually, you are very lucky that you did not suffer any cracked ribs! That could have been worse!
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Oh, I certainly agree with that.
Another week or two I’ll be back at it out in the yard, unless it’s too cold or wet. We’ve got cold rain coming from the west and there is a tropical depression that they say is going to turn into a hurricane heading north towards us through the Gulf of Mexico. We need the rain…
Mike Goad recently posted…Chest Pain!
Sorry to hear it, Mike (no, I haven’t forgotten you). It is strange how sometimes the least “injurious” pains (by which I mean there is nothing to be done – except to sit it out) can be the most painful. On one memorable occasion, a few years ago, the Angel was about to shift one of his Marshall amplifiers. The bigger one. It’s huge. I call it The Monster. The smaller one is The Beast.
Ever helpful I tried to . . . yes, lift it one end. Just as the Angel called out “Mama, DON’T” (but I already had) I heard a sort of cracking sound in my lower back. Oh dear. Lift now, repent for weeks. Nothing a doctor could do about it. Ah, Mike, but what of the bliss, that pure bliss, when one day it’s all gone and you are as good as new? That in itself makes pain (almost) worth it.
May you heal, the yard can wait; rubbish has a habit of being patient waiting to be dealt with,
U
Thanks Ursula! It’s good to hear from you.
The lower back can be dreadfully painful. I had a herniated disk in 1996 that put me on short-term disability bed rest. One day, I rolled over in bed to reach for a piece of paper and felt absolutely excruciating pain. I had Karen call an ambulance as there was no way I was going to be able to sit up in the car while she drove me the 10 miles or so to the emergency room.
That experience had some relevance to this one. When Dr. Barton asked me about the level of pain on a scale of one to ten, I told him a four. I’ve always had a problem when they ask that figuring out where whatever pain I had was on that scale. This time, it was easy. I just related it to the memory I have of the worst pain from the herniated disk.
What I was working with was more than a little bit of rubbish. I had cut down quite a few small saplings and a couple of larger trees in the early summer. Then, in early September, I had tackled four larger trees. Three were “four” to “eight” inches thick. The largest, a hickory, was fourteen inches thick at the base. The wood from all of this has filled the firewood shed and what was left went into piles of branches and debris for later burning.
Mike Goad recently posted…Chest Pain!
I’m sorry it happened, but I’m so glad it wasn’t more serious. Our doctor keeps threatening us with hip fractures if we don’t take medicines. So far we’re saying no but try to be careful about falling.
Thanks.
I know that I need to be more careful about fall risks as I age. I have a pretty sturdy bone structure, I believe, but even that becomes more brittle.
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