My Birthday Started With a… POP!

 When I say that my 63rd started with a pop, I'm being literal. I can laugh now - but only if I do so carefully...

This actually happened the day before my birthday. I had a lot going on. I was (am still) fighting a nasty cold/infection/something lung-wise; I have family coming for the 4th (how exciting!!!); and I was stressing over my medical insurance booting my doctors out of network (that is a rant for another post).

Anyway, I wanted to put on nice clean sheets for anyone staying with me over the 4th. I did a couple loads of laundry and realized that I had already strained my side a bit. That had happened when I'd twisted my body the wrong way getting out of bed earlier. I was sore but not in real pain. I took a rest and then got started stripping the bed to put on the clean linens. 

When I was stripping the bed, I had to keep resting because my right side was getting more sore from all the activity. Also, my cough was acting up so I put on a mask. I don't want to put my family on germy sheets! Finally, I was ready to get down to business and get that bed made up. I got the bottom sheet on and was getting the top sheet lined up. (My bed is queen-sized so I have to do a lot of leaning and stretching to get the sheets on properly.)

As I leaned across the bed to pull the top of the sheet even, a cough snuck up on me. It was a big one. Thank God for the mask, right? I didn't have time to straighten up or get into a good cough position (???). That cough came out like a Cat 5 and I felt something in my right side pop. I'm not sure it if made a sound of "pop" but I clearly felt it pop. It was a big pop.

That pop felt like what I imagine a gunshot feels like. It was hot and sharp and took my breath away. All I could do was drop onto the bed and be still for a minute. Sweat broke out all over my body. When I tried to take a breath, I felt like something was burning or stabbing or doing something crazy to my ribs.

For 2 years a good 2 or 3 minutes, I could not move without severe pain. So I'm lying there stretched across the bed, face down, trying to remember exactly where my phone was. Thankfully, I remembered having sat it on the bedside table. All I had to do was slide down, maybe get on my knees next to the bed and blindly reach for the phone. Maybe.

It took a while - and a lot of very shallow breathing and truly praying to God that I wouldn't have another cough - but I got my phone in hand and called my brother. I think he could hear the pain I was in. 

By the time my brother and SIL got to me, I could stand and walk slowly. As long as I didn't take any deep breaths, I was fine. I coughed once and thought I went blind for a second. I literally almost passed out. 

Cut to the ER. I had to wait almost an hour before I even got to triage. I think that's when the staff realized I was hurting more than I'd mentioned. It didn't take that much time to get me to an exam room.

I did fine holding back any coughing. I sipped water and sucked on a Luden's. A nurse brought a Lidocaine patch while someone took a blood sample and ordered x-rays. Then I had to wait another half an hour before someone finally came to - give me a pain shot?  cut me open and rip out the rib that was punching into my lung? save me from drowning in the sweat that was running down my face because I'd coughed again? NO. The girl was there to get my payment info. They take Discover...

Finally, a nurse peeked in (she was there to close the door blinds for the daily observance of "quiet time" the hospital has. Luckily, she noticed that I had broken into another sweat. It was running down my face and I was clutching my side and leaning against the wall. She left and came back with another patch.

Anyway. I managed to hold in any more coughing. Maybe the patches were working because I could take breaths a little deeper than before. And the doctor came back in with the results.

It seems that I had been coughing due to a mucus plug (possibly, but I'm going to have to get that checked out with my primary doc). Apparently, there are muscles between the ribs. Apparently, because of the position I was in when I had coughed, I'd sprained all of those muscles on my right side. Unfortunately, there is not a lot that can be done to quickly alleviate that pain. They dosed me with Tylenol and sent me home with a prescription for my old friend Prednisone. 

You've heard me rant here about how I hate prednisone (aka the devil drug), but it has its uses. I took 40 milligrams and the pain eased up almost immediately. Of course, it eased back in every time I moved wrong, but... 

My brother and SIL refrained from jokes until I brought it up. But when I did bring it up, they were on the same page. We all had this in mind:

(He just had to curse once, didn't he? ~sigh~)

I'm going to be seeing my doctor soon. I am so excited to see my family but I won't be able to do a lot. I can't really eat much except soft foods and I'm going to have to be careful taking walks. Yay.

But I am blessed and thankful that the God Lord let me live to see another year - another day, another moment. Not everyone woke up this morning.

For mhy Facebook friends, thanks for the beautiful wishes!

Peace

--Free