I have a BOO BOO…..

No, not that kind of BOO BOO — an “ouchie” BOO BOO! I have been dealing with a sharp pain in my right side for about 3 weeks now! I thought I pulled a muscle or something, but also recognized that the pain was just about where my gall bladder is, so wondered if it might be that! I started to hurt so bad that I finally gave in and went to the new Urgent Care facility on Hawkins Ave about a week and a half ago. They ruled out gall bladder (no other symptoms associated with gall bladder problems). They took some X-rays because they suspected a cracked rib, but the X-rays didn’t show anything. They concluded it might just be muscular and gave me some pain medicine! It helped with the pain somewhat – at least it helped me sleep through the night without the pain waking me up! But, it got worse again in the last few days and no help from the pain meds – I was up with the pain all night last night! So, I went back to the Urgent Care this morning and they took some more X-rays and asked me a bunch more questions and poked around some more……………I have a fractured rib!!! Man, that hurts!!! It hurts constantly, but is really intense when I move just right, breath in deep, or use my right arm for almost anything. They gave me some more pain medicine to get me through the nights, but there isn’t much else they can do – I just have to take it easy until it heals and that could take up to 8 weeks!!!

They used to wrap fractured ribs in a rib support thingy to restrict movement, but it also restricted deep breathing and full expansion of the lungs – which caused pneumonia!!! So, they don’t do that anymore. They only treat the pain now to help the person with a rib fracture deal with the pain while the rib heals itself.

So, that’s my drama for now — I won’t be doing cartwheels or exotic pole dancing for a while…….