What a week it's been.
I've been off the grid and incommunicado since Tuesday night. I fell asleep on the couch alongside my precious Riley on Tuesday night.
All Thanksgiving shopping had been done and was stored in the garage fridge except for fresh produce to be purchased at Aldi on Wednesday. The house was semi clean and laundry was done. I woke up around three AM with mother nature calling. I turned the TV off and got up to go to the restroom. My foot hit the pile of clothes I had shed during a hot flash and slid out from me making me stumble and fall into the coffee table before catching myself. What I did catch was the corner of it with my rib cage.
Huge. Ouch.
I peed and returned to the scene of the crime to retrieve my sweat pants and socks and instead just tumbled back onto the couch for the rest of the night.
Waking up Wednesday morning wasn't a whole lot of fun and I stayed on the couch until almost noon, scared to try and get up again.
I fall asleep on the couch quite a bit, especially when Tim has to work and be up before five AM. My daughter gets up even earlier for work so to let them sleep in peace and quiet, my night owl self stays in the living room on my computer or out on the lanai since all the the bedrooms are on the other side of our living room and kitchen, in the back of the house. My son works at night and usually rolls in after midnight and sometimes even later. He eats and goes to his room to play video games so he's pretty quiet. Me, I like to have music on at all times and sometimes watch YouTube videos. In other words, I'm loud.
Massey had the week off so she came into the living room to see when I wanted to go to the store. I tried to roll over and thought someone had stabbed me in the side. I told her what had happened and she helped me into a sitting position...also painful. Zachary got up to wash his work uniform and heard us talking. He said he heard when the table scooted across the tile floor after he went to bed but didn't know I had fallen.
I put on a brave (although wincing) face and went to Aldi with Massey to pick up our last few items. She wanted to stop for lunch at our favorite Mexican place first so I obliged, since we were in her car and she was driving and paying. I got a phone call I needed to take as we were pulling into the parking lot so I told her to go in and get us a table and I would be in shortly. I got to the table just as the server brought out our glasses of water and two nice big margaritas. (That's my girl)
She said she thought I could use one and being such a team player joined me with another for herself. We ate lunch and took our time sipping our drink, which actually did take a little of the sting out.
By the time we grocery shopped and stopped for gas I was exhausted and ready to do anything but stand up or walk around.
I don't know if it's because I'm getting (am) older and probably have some osteoparosis but when I hurt myself it is always a whopper of an injury and usually always around a holiday. On Mother's Day one year my flip flop got stuck between a crack on our back patio which is about a foot off the ground and made of broken pieces of concrete cemented together. Great to look at, hard to walk on in flops. I fell forward and put both hands out to catch myself right before my face hit. It took me several minutes before I could muster up the energy and wherewithal to get up and go inside. Both hands were cut up from the concrete and when we sat down to eat I couldn't even lift my fork to my mouth. I had hollered for help after I fell but guess I'm not as loud as I thought I was, because none of the other people we had invited over for dinner heard a thing. (so they said) It took me a week to get over that one!
Then there's the time I was simply using a rake to pull out cut trimmings out of our bushes. Massey was using the electric hedger and I was pulling the cuttings off the bushes so I could rake them up and put them in our yard cans. My shoulder popped so loud it was audible and made me immediately nauseous.
That injury put my arm in a sling for several days and still hurts to this day if I turn or move the wrong way. Probably a torn rotator cuff if I had to guess, but it finally healed enough to only hurt sporadically.
Maybe I should write to one of the doctors at General Hospital in Port Charles for a video consult.
That's about as close as I like to get to doctors. I'm scared they are going to find something I'd rather not know about at this point in my life.
I have chosen the path of "Physician heal thyself" in my senior years. I have my GoGo juice I drink every day made from fresh lemon, lime, orange, turmeric, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne,apple cider vinegar and local honey. I Take collagen and Elderberry every day along with magnesium and multi vitamins. I drink water every day all day long and only allow myself one glass of ice tea every other day or so. I cut out soda years ago and never buy cokes for the house. I'll drink maybe one a month when I'm out somewhere. I cut out drinking coffee and switched to hot peppermint tea with fresh lime and local honey. I have cut out a lot of my junk food habits and quit smoking cigarettes over eight years ago. I have a big exercise ball for stretching and we have an inversion table in our gym that Massey and Tim made in our detached garage. We have free weights, a rowing machine, a tread mill, exercise bike, work out bench and even a one person sauna.
Tim asked me the other day why I don't go to the doctor since he put me on his insurance last year. I told him that policy was for the day I finally fall out and don't wake up and they have no other choice but to call 911 and have me carted away in an ambulance. Besides, I'm dropping off his policy in the new year and switching to Medicare when I turn sixty five in July.
I know I'm an idiot but is just the way I am. A diagnosis scaredy cat.
Anyhoo, back to my lastest injury. I almost asked Tim to take me to the hospital a couple of times. It was the sharpest pain I have felt since my last birth contraction. To make matters even worse we've had a respiratory illness going around the house. Massey had it, then Zach, then Tim. Then after ten days Massey got better and Tim relapsed.
Guess who got it after she shredded her ribs? It's not a lot of fun to have to cough with cracked ribs. It was borderline torture. Every. Time.
It made me realize that I can multi task even when feeling poorly. I can cough and scream at the same time now.
I took to the bed on Wednesday afternoon. I knew I had to let my body heal itself. Besides there's nothing a doctor can do for cracked ribs other than charge you a fortune to tell you to do everything a Google search can tell you for free, and the last thing I need is prescription pain killers. Big Pharma is not your friend. It's just an addicting band-aid. Massey bought me a wrap around bandage, an herbal balm which is fantastic for bruise relief off Amazon and was in here less than a few hours. Throw in wonderful edibles (thank you Florida for medical marijuana) and after four days of laying on my good side doing absolutely nothing, I woke up this morning and could get out of bed with out even so much as a grimace. I'm still sore and moving slow, but I took a shower today and began weaning myself off the Motrin. It sounds gross but I even kept a small spit cup by my bed so every time I painfully coughed up phlegm I spit it out. Better out than in.
Unfortunately my Google search tells me it may take up to six weeks for total healing. At least it doesn't hurt to breathe or take deep breaths, a sign of broken ribs or a punctured lung. No coughing up blood, just the same crud that has been ravaging our house for ten days.
Cooking Thanksgiving was absolutely out of the question for me, and thank goodness it was just us four this year. Massey stepped up and did most all the cooking. Zachary cooked the brined turkey, made the gravy and creamed potatoes. Massey did the dressing, green beans, sweet potato casserole and her wonderful homemade cranberry sauce. I sat straight up in the living room recliner and answered her cooking questions. After dinner I went back to bed while they cleaned up and remained there until Sunday afternoon.
Today I finally felt significantly better and think the worst has passed. I will continue to take it easy the rest of this week and give my 100 lb bag of bones time to heal. Tim and the kids have been nothing but wonderful to me. I'll be honest, those first couple of days had even me worried. I have never felt pain like that and hope I never do again.
Getting old ain't for sissies, especially skinny ones with no padding. I'll be honest. I did a lot of praying these past few days. There were times when I regretted not going to the ER, but The Big Guy came through for me. I am sure my family sent some prayers up on my behalf as well, and probably a few for themselves having to do basically everything for five days with no help from me whatsoever, while taking absolutely wonderful care of this broken down old nag. No glue factory for me yet!
In all honesty, I was extremely worried those first couple of days. It was a silent worry and my brain was working overtime with different scenarios. The pain was so intense that I couldn't even sleep. I would pray for sleep and also pray if it was my time, just let me go to sleep and not wake up. Yes I am a coward. But God had other plans this time, and for that I will be forever grateful. I was so unsure about the severity of my injury that I didn't even look at or pick up my cell phone for three days, nor did I log into any device. I just wanted to wait it out alone without pity or unasked for advice or criticism.
Once again I am one of the luckiest people on the planet and have (hopefully) dodged yet another one of life's bullets. I hurt my ribs years ago and while this was more intense it was much the same type of pain, which is: "not fun."
It's going to be a long few weeks, Riley already wonders why I'm not out with her in the yards every day and would come into our bedroom and check on me every few hours. She'd gingerly sniff my face, give me a little boop and go back into the living room with everyone else.
I guess we all know what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving and it's true...
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