Friday, October 14, 2011

What it feels like to have 2 ribs popped out of place...

I woke up Tuesday morning with a pain in my upper back. I figured I just slept on it wrong and it would go away. I woke up Wednesday morning and it was a little worse but still bearable. Well, in the middle of Wednesday night I woke up and when I rolled out of bed to go to the bathroom a shooting pain went through my upper back and it made me loose my breath for a second and brought tears to my eyes. I knew something was definitely wrong. Thursday morning when I woke up to get ready it was killing me. I could not raise my right arm, could not grasp anything with my right hand, reach backwards or anything or it would hurt so bad I would almost cry. I noticed it hurt when I would take a deep breath and cough or sneeze. I had a really hard time getting ready for work...Chris had to dry my hair for me! I told him he wins the "Husband of the Year" award for that :) So, I get to work and it is just killing me. It hurt to breath, to type, to walk...pretty much anything that involved moving. I decide I need to go to a doctor and Chris tells me to go see his chiropractor. Luckily they were able to get me in at lunch! Praise the Lord! The first thing the doctor did was touch the painful area to feel for heat and inflammation. He said he could feel heat before even touching my skin and the area between my spine and shoulder blade was visibly inflamed. Awesome. I told him it hurt to take a deep breath and he said he thought I probably had a rib popped out of place. Greeeat. He made me do a couple very painful movements and deep breaths while he felt around and he confirmed not only was there one rib out of place, but there were TWO!

So, he wants to do an adjustment to try to pop them back in place (which terrified me when he said that) but he told me that my muscles were so inflamed that it would not be fun for me or him. He hooked me up to some machine that sent electric waves or shocks into those muscles and placed cold packs on my back for 15 minutes, hoping that would get rid of some of the inflammation so he could do an adjustment. 15 minutes later they take off the electric pads and ice packs. The doctor tells me to lie on my back and try to relax (HA! Yeah right!) then he tells me not to cuss or scream loud because there are kids in the room next to me. By now I am thinking I am about to be in the worst pain in my life. He twists my upper bottom and arms in some contorted way, tells me to take a deep breath and when I let it out he puts ALL of his body weight down onto my upper body and my ENTIRE body cracked. Oh.My.Gosh. I had goose bumps on my arms and tears in my eyes but managed to laugh! I could not believe my body just cracked as loud and as much as it did. He does 2 more adjustments to my upper back & neck then has me sit up so he can try to find out if my ribs have popped back in place. He said they shifted but they still were not where they needed to be.

I am going back to see him at 11:30 today and again tomorrow morning. He hopes that after these 2 treatments the ribs will be back in their normal spot and I will be able to breath normal again. Crazy, huh?!?!

I asked him how something like this could have happened... I mean, I did not lift weights or do any super strenuous workouts this week, I was not in an accident or anything. He said I probably just did it in my sleep! So, not only do I have 2 ribs that are popped out of place but I my muscles in my upper back and around my shoulder blade are in a constant spasm. Lovely. I actually felt a little better this morning when I woke up. I was able to get ready without cringing and was able to dry my hair on my own. It still hurts but not like it did yesterday. Hopefully after these next 2 appointments all will be back to normal :)

6 comments:

Kristina said...

Ouch! Glad your feeling better. Crazy part of this is as I'm reading it sounds so familiar to what my fiance is going through. I just texted him to make an appt with the chiropractor!

Miss Sweet Tea said...

Oh my gosh, this sounds so painful! That's crazy how that can happen. I hope you are feeling back to normal soon!

PS - I just wanted to say thanks again for participating in the fall scarf swap! If you have any questions about anything let me know :)

Lia Joy said...

oh my gosh. i'm in pain just from reading this!!! please take care of yourself!! make Chris wait on you hand and foot :)

Maura said...

oh my gosh that is horrible! i am so sorry you have to go through that! i hope you start feeling better soon!!

brynn said...

aww girl, that stinks :(
hope you feel better soon!!

e@thisnotedlife said...

ouch! that sounds soo painful! I hope you're feeling better soon