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!

[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.