Yesterday evening, when getting home from work with mr me, I stood on a drain cover on our drive. It was loose and I fell down the hole. Fortunately not all of me fell down because I think I might be more seriously hurt, but my body and one leg went down leaving me suspended between my left arm and right leg on either side of the hole, landing on the left side of my ribs and with one shoe missing. Panicked. Fortunately mr me helped me climb out and got me into the house ignoring the boys who were paused open-mouthed from their game of street football. Then he fed me chocolate and tea and comforted my trembling tearful shock. I was pretty fortunate really - I saw a patient in A+E last year who did a similar thing and fractured his humerus into three pieces. Went to the minor injuries unit for a quick check-up just to be on the safe side, even though I knew what they would say:-
1. your rib may or may not be fractured
2. we don't do x-rays for this because it doesn't alter the management
3. you need to take it easy, take painkillers, take deep breaths
4. if you get short of breath or cough up blood, see a doctor immediately
5. if your rib is fractured the pain will get worse for 3-5 days and may last for up to six weeks
I know all this because I've said it myself a lot of times. Just wanted someone to listen to my chest and prod my back really. The rib that hurts is my left twelfth rib, which is one of the "floating" ribs at the bottom that only connect to the spine, not the sternum, so it's not really hurting to breathe, only to cough and laugh and twist and bend. I was supposed to be on call last night, but called in sick for that and then again this morning. Am actually feeling less stiff, rather than more, today, but do get the occasional sharp twinge. Am starting to get that guilty feeling I always get when I call in sick. I'm not actually dying - what am I doing at home? When I keep still I feel quite comfortable and well. In fact I'm starting to think this whole post is an attempt to justify to myself that I am allowed to be off sick today. Which is ridiculous, so I shall stop it. now.
4 comments:
Crikey sweetheart, I know the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back but you don't need to emulate them!
Hope you feel better soon. MM.xx
Oh deary me. Hope you feel better very soon. (Sooner than the 3-5 days of getting worsness...)
Y'ouch!
I hope you got to enjoy your sick day and stop the guilty feeling. Good daytime telly? Good book? :)
Feel better love!
xxx
Not many people injure themselves by falling into a drain hole, but believe me, I sympathize. Two years ago, in total darkness beside a freeway, I tried to jump over an open but deep drain, misjudged the width and fell inside with only my ribs and hands to break my fall on the opposite edge. I couldn't breathe for a few seconds and, to this day, I don't know how I hauled myself up. You see this often in cartoons, but it has stopped being funny now :-).
My parents were horrified when they saw me approaching in the headlights of the waiting car, bent over double. My mother does not disclose the first thought that entered her mind when she saw me like that, but I think she might have thought that I had been stabbed/gored in the stomach. It was a minor miracle that nothing was broken, though the pain persisted for a long time.
I hope you feel better soon.
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