Well so much for my luck changing.

[smokeonthewater]

I spent most of yesterday tinkering on the parts boat I just brought home from MASS. Around 10:00 pm I decided to go back out and start pulling some interior parts off of it... I grabbed my cordless impact driver and climbed the ladder to the swim platform. I stepped up on the transom steps, over the back seat, and down to the floor...... All in the dark... I had an led work light in my hand but it wasn't turned on... I had completely forgotton that I had taken the engine hatches up and instead of an 18" drop it was about 5 feet! I hit on my ribs on the battery shelf on top of the fuel tank about 4 feet below and 5 feet forward of the surface I stepped off of and found myself in a ball and unable to breathe at the bottom of the empty engine room. I finally managed a few breaths just as I was starting to black out and somehow managed to get out of the boat and inside to my recliner.... This morning I had my folks drive me to the urgent care and I have half a dozen fractured ribs and some torn muscles in my ribcage..... and it hurts..... It takes me about 15 minutes to go from sitting to standing because every little twitch sends the muscles in my abdomen into a painful spasm and I can't breathe till I can get them relaxed.

I've had broken ribs before that hurt like heck but hardly even slowed me down at all but DAMN I didn't know they could hurt like this.......

I'm soooo pissed at myself..... there is just no excuse.... I should have never left the hatches off. I should have had the light ON! I should have never ended up in that damn hole... heck, had I landed differently (like hit my head or been impaled by the 10" extension and phillips bit on my impact driver) or had I passed out in a position where I couldn't breathe in that hole I could have died there.... stupid stupid stupid!

[phatdaddy]

wow, that coulda been real bad. i do stuff like that all the time, last summer i dropped a spear gun through my foot. i had a cracked rib when i played football and its some serious pain, i can't imagine 6 of them & torn muscles.

[Destroyer]

But you didn't die (thankfully) and you'll live to tell the tale to your grandkids and maybe save somones life in the process. Glad you're ok (relatively speaking).

[smokeonthewater]

Yeah I'm pretty amazed by the pain... I've had sharper pain before in my knee and back and neck but man you throw in the spasms and losing the ability to inhale and it gets pretty rough.... The doc prescribed flexeril (muscle relaxer) and loritab 5-500's and they aren't even touching it... I tried taking a second loritab after 3 hrs instead of 4-6 but it just made me dizzy and sleepy but nothing on the pain
I'm gonna have to get something stronger.... Any suggestions on what to ask for that will really stop the pain so I can breathe normally?


Yeah it certainly could have been worse .... lol

[RidgeRunner]

Goodness gracious be careful.. Hope the pain eases soon for you. I never done that as close I ever came was when I busted my arse pretty good with some in-floor lids that I left in the open position.. Crawling around in the dark, all of the sudden where did the floor go. In my case I had lights everywhere, spreader, cockpit, under gunnel lights even lights in the compartments that tripped me up. Had any been on I could have averted the entire face plant into the leaning post scenario.. Stupid me..

[Blue_Runner]

Dang Smoke that makes MY ribs hurt just hearing it. Hope it gets better real soon. If it makes you feel any better, a couple months ago I fell off my daughter's electric scooter going .5 mph and face planted into concrete. On top of that my right kneecap did too. Pretty sure it fractured it but it doesn't hurt any more. I'm also guilty of stupidity! v1

[Road King Cole]

When I got hit by a peterbuilt and got 6 broken ribs, I was taking both Oxycontin and percoset. Still hurt. Couldn't watch anything funny as I couldn't laugh. Had to do the dreaded breathing machine thing to keep my lungs open.

It sucked for a long time, but it did get better and we are alive.

Sorry for your pain.

rkc

[EngstromNK]

Get good pain meds. I have 3 friends who have each developed Pneumonia after breaking thier ribs. You don't breath deeply or cough so all the fluid builds up deep in your lungs causing the infection.

Sorry to hear about your misshap. I hope you get well soon.

[willy]

Sorry for you Smoke, pay close attention to what these guys say about the breathing. Had a couple broke myself once. Hurt like a biatch just to breath the first week.
Good luck I hope you heal fast

[RWilson2526]

Damn, sorry to hear about that. The boat will have to wait. Heal up as fast as you can.

[Destroyer]

When I had my motorcycle accident several years ago I broke 5 ribs along with several other bones. Like was said, it hurts to laugh.... but the absolute worse is when you have to sneeze. Try to avoid that at all costs!! Breath as deeply as you can... work thru the pain and force yourself to inhale deeply. The breathing machine is your friend... trust in the machine... :hide:

[smokeonthewater]

I'm gonna have to go to the doc again soon for follow up and will demand better meds then.

The worst part is trying to move... takes several minutes to go from sitting to standing because after every slight movement it takes 30 seconds or so to get my chest muscles to relax enough to inhale.....

Doc said what he thinks I did (besides cracking the ribs) is tear the muscles that hold them together... since the natural response to any attack on the abdomen is to tense up to protect the internal organs, the slightest twitch sets of a lightening fast chain reaction where the muscles contract causing more pain and a tighter contraction and more pain etc..... I AM getting a little better at controlling it tho and as soon as I can relax, 90% of the pain instantly goes away....
If I could just stop the spasms I would drop to single digits on the whineybaby'o'ometer :cry:

[CaptJ]

OUCH! Hope you feel better.

"The doc prescribed flexeril (muscle relaxer) and loritab 5-500's and they aren't even touching it... I tried taking a second loritab after 3 hrs instead of 4-6 but it just made me dizzy and sleepy but nothing on the pain
I'm gonna have to get something stronger.... Any suggestions on what to ask for that will really stop the pain so I can breathe normally?"

I don't go for the pills, and find help in a script written by Rudy Toombs, and endorsed by Amos Miburn, John Lee Hooker, and George Thorogood.

"One bourbon, one scotch, one beer"... sounds like you may need to double up on this every couple of hours.

I'm glad it wasn't worse, as imagined, take care bud. You will bounce back and we may remind you of this once or twice in the future.

[smokeonthewater]

thanks for all the well wishes guys....

Been doing a little research looks like it's called a "compression tear of the intercostal muscles" Also looks like most people say 3-6 weeks for a full recovery but some claim up to 6 months...YIKES! I sure hope it's the former and not the latter.....

[wellcraftv20step]

Smoke, i hope you get well soon. when i was a kid i took a running dive off the shed roof into the pool and didn't quite clear the pool ladder ! i also know that rib pain and it sucks for sure.

[Destroyer]

thanks for all the well wishes guys....

Been doing a little research looks like it's called a "compression tear of the intercostal muscles" Also looks like most people say 3-6 weeks for a full recovery but some claim up to 6 months...YIKES! I sure hope it's the former and not the latter.....

Most of the pain should be gone in 3-4 weeks. The full healing usually takes about 6 weeks, but you don't feel the last part of it.

[lumberslinger178]

Get well soon Brother...

[macojoe]

Guess we should of had lunch when you were healthy!! Its to bad and i am sorry you got hurt but it will heal! Careful with pain meds, they can be worse then the ribs at times, I use to be on Oxy and you can't go to the bathroom!! Talk about pain, when the doc had to dig it out 6 days latter I was yelling like a little girl!:zip:

[Road King Cole]

good gad....

Now that's a vision that's going to haunt me.

Good point though, I was also given stool softeners with my meds...

rkc

[smokeonthewater]

oh nice....................

just started on oxy (percocet) this morning.... still not stopping the pain but at least it dulled it enough for me to sleep a couple hours..... guess I need to eat plenty of fiber ...YIKES

[RWilson2526]

Smoke, i hope you get well soon. when i was a kid i took a running dive off the shed roof into the pool and didn't quite clear the pool ladder ! i also know that rib pain and it sucks for sure.

Thank god we didnt have video and youtube when we were kids!

[Destroyer]

oh nice....................

just started on oxy (percocet) this morning.... still not stopping the pain but at least it dulled it enough for me to sleep a couple hours..... guess I need to eat plenty of fiber ...YIKES


Lots of fruit and you'll be fine.

[smokeonthewater]

apple juice n bananas...... hmmmm... pineapple spiced rum..... That stuff goes welll with painkillers right?

LOL

[chumbucket]

Yeah MJ......next time you feel like sharing those stories? DON"T :cen:

[phatdaddy]

i'm thinkin about mj' s doc, imagine his nightmares.

[smokeonthewater]

Well,managed to get a little mobile.... I was actually able to walk a few hundred feet around the yard today... I was slow and awkward but I guess that's better than just sitting in the recliner.... I can't wait till I can actually lay down in bed, maybe in a few more days... A good night of sleep would be sooo nice.

[randlemanboater]

I guess that's better than just sitting in the recliner.... I can't wait till I can actually lay down in bed, maybe in a few more days... A good night of sleep would be sooo nice.

After having SEVERAL episodes requiring recliner sleeping, I have gotten rather good at it.

Praying for a speedy recovery for you.

[smokeonthewater]

Thanks.

My lower back just couldn't take any more recliner time so about 4 am I laid down on the bed... was excruciating getting there but tolerable once down.... I got a solid 3 hours of sleep which was such a relief from all the 20 minute naps I've had all week.
Only took about 15 minutes to get out of bed too.... starting to get better already.

[RidgeRunner]

Good to hear.

[smokeonthewater]

quick update.... I'm getting to the point that I can get around pretty well... I'm down to 1000 mg of advil about twice a day now... generally at night to sleep and in the morn to get through the first few hours that hurt the most. I'm able to handle short trips to town with minimal complaints and am confident that I'll be able to make the 3 hour trip each way for my sister's wedding this weekend tho I may hit the advil a little more.

I AM going bonkers tho just sitting around... I have a solid month of work sitting just outside my door (boat, jeep, truck, jetski, and wrecked car) and not doing it just isn't me.. may try to do some light stuff in a day or so.... might regret it after LOL

[RidgeRunner]

Crawl before walking, it will all be there in a week. Did I say that?
Feeling old today myself.. Voice of reason isn't my normal role. Hang in, it won't be long now.