Friday, September 13, 2013

Today's Lesson: Don't Cough So Hard That You F**k Up Your Ribs


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?