Soothing earth tones and nature graphics, soft lighting, hushed quiet. Ahhhhh.....looks like a nice relaxing waiting room of a peaceful spa, right?
Wrong. It's the waiting room for Urgent Care, which is where I was last night after work.
Seems that there's these bones in your chest called "ribs" and when you cough too forcefully, they can become shifted, dislodged, or fractured. Oh, and it will cause STABBING PAIN every time you breathe or sleep or try to cough.
Yippiee!
Wednesday afternoon I was talking with my boss at work and launched into another coughing fit; in the midst of my hacking, I felt a "pop" in my upper side/chest and then shooting pain. Wonderful.
By Thursday afternoon, it was bad bad bad, so I made a detour on my way home from work and stopped at Urgent Care.
Since I just had an x-ray a week ago to rule out pneumonia, the doctor didn't want to do another because of all the radiation. And, even IF an x-ray showed a rib issue, there's nothing they can do about it.
Lovely.
But she did swaddle me in a nice, tight rib band, which feels so good! I'm supposed to wear it during the day, and it really seems to help. I'm to stay on the hydrocodone/homatropine syrup at night (LOVE that shit!), and do the Benzonatate pills and OTC cough syrup during the day, supplemented by Motrin.
It's ironic that I have Stage IV NHL, was on watch-and-wait for a year and a half, and went through four Rituxan infusions, and have basically sailed through it all with no problems - but I'm sidelined by a stupid rib injury caused by coughing.
How do I feel about that?
Hi, I was actually just checking out a few of your posts and had a quick question about your blog. I was hoping you could email me back when you get the chance -emilywalsh688 (at) gmail.com- Thanks : )
ReplyDeleteEmmy
hey terry, i wanted to say, first and foremost, that i am truly sorry about your illness, and hope that you keep fighting until it is beaten.
ReplyDeletei am currently working on a documentary regarding similar illnesses, and was hoping you would consider sharing it with others, if you think it is noteworthy, so that it may eventually find its way in the lap of some one who can contribute to the indiegogo campaign. if you decide to blog about it, let me know, and i will be happy to post a link to your site from our site, in the credits, to thank you for spreading the word.
the site for the documentary is: http://ToxicBiology.com/
i hope this helps you or some one you know in the future. thanks, and, good luck!