Yesterday's Dumb Move of the Day

[DanStokes]

Probably a good plan (helmet at the docs). But NEVER when playing pool.

Slight change of subject but still about docs. The pain has been on-going so I sucked it up and went to the doc this afternoon. My regular doc couldn't squeeze me in so I went to the local open clinic deal (MEDAC here in Wilmington). They seemed to take good care of me. However, my "pulled muscles" turned out to be 2, count 'em TWO broken ribs! I KNEW I shouldn't have gone.

Anyhow, they're still lined up OK and nothing else is wrong. They checked for a collapsed lung, blood in the urine - all that stuff. So now I have to wait and let 'em knit. I just took my first dose of oxycodone (along with a stool softener) - I HATE opiates. Still the best thing modern medical science has to offer for pain. Right now it still hurts like mad when I move in certain ways and especially if I move quickly.

Doc says about 5 weeks of taking it easy and I was planning to install the lowering kit on Truck. I'll probably take the kit and the truck to my buddy Dave's shop and have them do it. I was looking forward to doing it myself but I do want it done for the June meet in Ohio. Dave will do a top-notch job and there aren't many I'd trust to do it.

I'll live

Dan

[Huskinhano]

Glad to hear you wear wearing a brain bucket. I always wear one. Years ago I use to play a little pick up hockey and never wore a helmet. One weekend my brother bought one and I chuckled. That night while diving on the ice to reach a puck, I took a stick to the nose and bled like a stuck pig. Next week I had a helmet with a cage. Man I'm glad I did. I don't know how many times I took a puck to the helmet after that!

[DanStokes]

Many pucks to the helmet, eh. This is beginning to explain a lot!

At least you have an excuse - I just have screws loose for no apparent reason.

Dan

[oldsman496]

TWO broken ribs! I'll live

Dan

OOOOh! I've broken 2 ribs one time and 3 another. - Brother take it easy. really. - that stuff is about the most hurtfull you can get when it comes to broken bones... really go slow. try not to laugh. or cough. or breathe. hope you feel better.

[A/Fuel]

I feel for you Dan, I've broken ribs a few times.
Take it easy and get well soon.

[SuperBuickGuy]

yep, I feel for you. Been there, done that (skiing).

I'm also glad you were wearing a helmet - they save lives. what kills me is when I see dad out with his kids - their helmets (if they have them at all) improperly put on the kid; and dad doesn't have a helmet.

I hit the car at 13.8 mph and it did save me to an extent. However, I suspect that the helmet (no visible damage) slid off the window thus compounding the blow to my jaw. That said, I'd have been in lots worse shape without it.

[ratty]

only takes a 5 mph blow to the head to kill you (think of someone being attacked with a hammer... not much speed going on there)... i like the idea that someone mentioned about their state requiring an extra $20K on their insurance to be allowed to not wear a helmet, but 20K??? that'll barely cover food and linen costs at a hospital for a couple of days... severe head trauma injuries will easily eclipse $200K in one or two days, a quick million in several weeks or months.... and yes, the state (i.e. the taxpayers) end up paying for it, and higher fees for everyone else, when riders don't wear helmets and get creamed in an accident... that is, if they even survive... they usually don't.

and yes i will agree whole heartily about broken ribs... i was hit by a bus 15 months ago, still recovering from it... hit on my left side, i took the whole brunt of the bus with my left arm, body slamming me like a mechanical cyborg line-backer from hell... shattered my entire rib cage on the side... broke 10 of 12 ribs, in 2 places, front AND back, in a condition called a Flail Chest where the rib cage breaks free (a common injury in the battlefield from explosive blast shock waves... i'd say a 14-ton bus is a good replacement for a bomb blast, minus the shrapnel)... i spent a week in the hospital, and another several months on my couch unable to lie down in incomprehensible pain... unable to breathe... or cough... or laugh.... or sneeze... or yawn... or move at all.... You don't realize how much we need to lie down horizontally to sleep until you're forced to stay upright... (also lost my spleen, lung was messed up for awhile, 3 operations so far, one to repair the nerve damage in my left arm, and another just a few months ago to put my abdominal muscles back together after being cut apart during the first emergency surgery....)... running about $200K in medical costs already... never mind the debt i'm in from not working for 15 months... oh yeah... be careful out there people, the track is probably the safest place you'll be, it's the public streets where you've got the best chance of getting killed.... you can trust racers at the track, you can't trust the average idiots on the road

[DanStokes]

Ratty - you sound like our kind of guy. Welcome to BS! Heal soon and well.

Any of you who have had broken ribs - other than removing them to make a couple of women (Old Testament reference), what can be done to ease the pain? The emergency doc gave me oxycodone (I HATE opiates) and they do work a little. My regular doc just prescribed muscle relaxants in addition to the oxy. Mary Ellen just got home with them so I don't know how much help they'll be.

My broken ones are # 6 & 7 on my right side, so just below the arm pit. It seems like wrapping my torso with an Ace bandage might feel better - anyone try that? I'm open to any input on this as it hurts like - anything (he says, cleaning it up a bit).

Dan

[A/Fuel]

I never took any pills for mine, maybe thats why I have such fond memorys. The bandage would help with the sneezing and trying to catch your breath. I can't really think of anything else other than time.

[DanStokes]

I never took any pills for mine, maybe thats why I have such fond memorys. The bandage would help with the sneezing and trying to catch your breath. I can't really think of anything else other than time.

Dang Dude, you're a He Man! At my age I'm a bit of a wimp and the doc OFFERED. As I said, the oxy does help but I could never be a junkie - hate the side effects. I'll see if ME will pick up a long Ace next time she's out.

Guys - please keep the suggestions coming.

Dan

[SuperBuickGuy]

When I broke my ribs (second time) I avoided the hospital because they hurt you more. The ribs were lined up (like yours), I simply took anti-inflammatory; tried to avoid humorous situations; and lay on my other side. And yes, it hurts and opiates do little to help.

It's miserable, and one of the worst breaks because there's little the doctors can do to help. Certainly use ice, tylenol, and try to find the most comfortable position.

If this helps, (maybe not) it's 6 weeks healing time. Then it's simply sore for another 6 months. For me, it simply meant I woke up often when I turned the wrong way.

Even with opiates you get ghost pain, and in some cases it actually hurts worse than without the opiates - why? because you stop the low-level pain and the high level pain is still there, so you go from no pain to blinding pain with little warning. If you're hurting (without opiates), you don't move to the 10 pain because the lower level pain is telling you to slow down.

Wrapping the ribs rarely helped for me - but as it does for you, perhaps try heat rather then ice on the break location. To heal, your body needs to move as much blood as possible to maximize the healing process - which is what heat does for you. Cold is to reduce swelling (which prevents blood from moving to the injury as quickly as possible).

[ratty]

Thanks Dan! and yeah Dan, there's really nothing you can do for broken ribs... Just make sure you don't open yourself up to catching a cold, keep little snot spewing kids away, and eat healthy... sneezing is NOT an option. Back in the old days, they used to wrap your chest to supposedly help the pain of broken ribs, but that's no longer done, as they realized that it did very little, and only made breathing more difficult, more shallow, and opened up the person to a much higher chance of getting pneumonia from fluid collection in the lungs from shallow breathing.... The muscles that are wrapped around each rib, are part of our breathing mechanism... a lot of the pain is not just the rib itself, but those muscles that have been brutalized. The one thing you have to be VERY careful with, with broken ribs, is getting pneumonia... which is very common when someone has broken ribs in pain and breathe very shallow, and end up not cleaning their lungs out properly, and fluid collects, and it's just downhill from there, and back to the hospital in worse shape than before. If the hospital didn't give it to you, buy a Spirometer... it's a plastic breathing exercise device... it's basically a mouthpiece and a tube with a little ball in it, that you inhale, breathe in, attempting to hold the floating little ball in a certain spot as long as possible, and then release/exhale... and keep doing it over and over, as much as you can tolerate... I'd just have it next to me sitting around watching TV or playing online, taking 'hits' as much as possible.... This keeps your traumatized chest muscles flexible, and improves breathing, and helps prevent fluid in the lungs, and the threat of pneumonia... and of course, helps alleviate pain in the long run as you heal up.

As far as drugs, yeah, they're very unpleasant when they wear off, and it's an evil cycle... when they wear off, you just want more, and before you know it, you end up getting addicted to them very, very quickly... Try to use them only during the worst nights when you can't sleep, don't take them in the day time if you can handle it. Be careful not to take acetaminophen too much (like Tylenol), it's very bad for your liver... stick to ibuprofen (like Advil), it's pretty safe to use daily, and helps to alleviate the rib muscle pain... And beer helps too if you drink (like Pabst Blue Ribbon, Corona, Sam Adams, or that delicious italian beer Peroni), hehe :D ....but just remember to NOT take any Oxycodone (or any serious pain killer like that), with alcohol, very very bad idea...

oh this is what a Spirometer looks like.... i'm sure most pharmacies carry it

[wrenchn2]

You might want to try a sling for the arm on that side.

get better soon
wrenchn2

[Caveman Tony]

Dan, whatever you do while you are healing up, don't slow down.

Sitting around will de-condition your body, and when you do feel your ribs healed, and you want to go do something, you won't be able to. That's how the vicious cycle towards immobility starts... with an innocent injury.

Keep moving. Even if it hurts.

Your life depends on it.

It'll be THAT much harder for your heart to get back into shape if you take a month and a half and do nuthin'.

[DanStokes]

Hi Tony! Folks who don't know - Tony is one of The Good Guys.

I keep moving as best as I can. I've taken to walking laps in the house for now and hopefully I'll be able to do 'em around the circle soon. I feel like a knucklehead wandering around the house but movement is good and that's what I can do right now. I'll be walking and every few steps I have EXCRUCIATING pain. I wait for it to pass and keep going. Sometimes are better than others, partly depending on how effective the drugs are being at that time.

Dan