Dumb damage

Two things have been sliding towards ineffibility lately: me injuring myself and me breaking something expensive. One happened Thursday, the other this morning.

I had been on the tail end of the bronchitis when Seamus brought home a headcold that turned to post-nasal drip pretty quickly. Not a problem if I hadn’t already been coughing hard for weeks. On Thursday Seamus and I walked into the cafe I take him to for his post-swimming class hot chocolate. I coughed twice and felt a POP on the left side of my ribcage. I dropped to my knees for a couple of seconds - it hurt that much - and took a couple of breaths trying to figure out what I’d just done. It didn’t hurt to breathe, which reduced the likelihood of a fracture, but pain ran down my ribs from my armpit down to my floating ribs (where I felt the pop), then wrapped around to my back. Given I was in the Alameda Marketplace with my cafe-bound four year old, and that I could breathe and walk, I hit the ATM and got him his chocolate. I told Shay what had happened, told him what we needed to do to get dinner on track for Thursday and Friday, texted Patrick about the injury, then shopped with one hand while Seamus pushed the cart. 

The kid may be a terror, but he is superlative in emergencies.

I got home and got through the evening with half of my torso ignoring the Tylenol and mineral ice I used for the pain. After reading on the Mayo Clinic website that I should lie on the injury if I could, I did, and woke up sore but feeling better until I gingerly attempted to figure out how much mobility I had, felt a weird rubbing sensation, and THEN couldn’t breathe without pain. Enter an advice nurse who thought I was in preterm labor or developing pneumonia, despite my very clear descriptions of what was happening, and for some reason didn’t believe me when I said I’d stopped taking my bronchitis meds because they stopped working. Not quite sure what to do with me, she got me in to see an OB-GYN here on the island my mom came down to drive me there and to help pick up Seamus, which turned out to be a good thing as Patrick got stuck in bridge traffic.

Dr. H checked my lungs and found them to be clear, checked T/M and found him/her active with a good heartbeat, felt my ribcage and said she thought it was a muscular inflammation, and gave me a scrip for Tylenol with codeine. Poor T/M, to be fairly chemical free until the third trimester, and then to get cold meds, steroids, and opiates all in a month. I am grateful to be carrying low and transverse, as 90% of the movement I feel is nowhere near my ribcage. And I’m feeling a LOT of movement. She referred me to the x-ray clinic in Oakland, but said they would call me since they were already closed. Fortunately, I’m feeling a lot better. I’m not lifting anything heavier than the cats, but all I feel is a bit sore when I lie down or get up. 

Good thing, since I dropped and smashed my phone this morning.