Essayist
The pain medication I’ve been given for my ribs has been making me feel a bit nauseous so Friday was a fairly queasy day for me. I did make some good progress on two of my projects at work, but didn’t feel too good for most of the day.
When I got home, I basically laid down in bed and watched episodes of The Shield until the queasiness passed.
Tomorrow is Capclave.
This morning, I headed over to the local ER to get my ribs checked out. They’ve been bugging me enough so warrant it, especially since the pain has been increasing, not decreasing. I got checked out, had a chest x-ray and the result was that there is no fracture or organ damage. It appears to be an intercostal tissue strain, which can often be more painful than an actual break. The gave me a shot of painkiller (toradol) while I was there. Initially, that did nothing but make my arm hurt, but now it seems to be working quite well. I also filled a prescription for oxycodone, also know as Percoset. I don’t need to take that until later on.
I was surprised with how efficient that hospital is. They all use “electronic” charts. The only paperwork was a sheet I signed when I initially came in, and the papers that were given to me when I was discharged. Even the x-rays were “uploaded” to my chart almost instantly. Pretty cool stuff.
Anyway, I’m home for the rest of the day. I’m reading work-related email and taking care of what I can here at the house. Incidentally, the toradol injection didn’t seem like it was going to work initially. My arm was killing me because it was a muscle injection. But right now, it’s working well. I’ve got only the barest of pains in my ribs and arm.
Remember last Wednesday when I felt a strain in my left ribs while working out. Over the last 7 days, the strain has turned into a pain and I’m pretty sure I re-injured an old college injury. Back in collage, I took a judo class with Dan and managed to fracture a rib trying to throw Dan off me. The feeling that I have now is the same as back then. Back then, when I went to the doctor, they said, “Suck it up.” There’s really nothing that can be done for a rib injury. This time, I didn’t even bother with the doctor. I take Advil and sleep on my right-hand side for now.
I would have mentioned this sooner, but I was afraid that Dad would read this and worry that it was more serious than it really is. So, Dad, don’t worry, it’s fine. I have experience with rib injuries and this is no different than 1994. I’ve been skipping the gym the last several days (including today, much to my disappointment). I’m hoping I’ll be feeling good enough to get back in for a cardio workout tomorrow morning. We’ll see. I’m taking it day-by-day.
Now if you’ve excuse me, I have half a dozen Advil to take.
I had trouble falling asleep last night but at least I know why. First, I had random echoes of what I was reading running through my head. This happens to me from time to time when I read a lot on a particular day. It doesn’t happen often but I am resigned to it when it does. Second, my mind was busy working on ideas that will allow me to expand “Graveyard Shift”. It was close to midnight when I finally got to sleep.
At some point in the night, I slept must have slept on my left arm wrong–very wrong for when I awoke this morning, my left shoulder was excruciatingly sore. I have a high tolerance for pain, but this is ridiculous. The pain seems centered on the left end of my collar bone, but it is affecting my entire shoulder. In fact, I grimace just to lift my arm. I had difficulty holding my book on the train with my left hand (admittedly, it is a heavy book). I don’t know what I could have done to it that made it hurt so much.
Incidentally, I finished In Memory Yet Green last night and started in on In Joy Still Felt first thing this morning (that was the heavy book that I had difficulty lifting). It’s a good thing I’ve given myself this week off from the gym. I fear it would have been impossible for me to do anything with my shoulder in this condition.
About twice a year I end up ramming my knee into my desk at work, catching it right in the soft spot just underneath the kneecap.
I just did it and it hurts like @#$#%$#!!!
The knee is fine this morning. A little tender going up and down the stairs, but full mobility and no pain. No swelling either. I have a session with Bernard this afternoon (fortunately, we did lower body yesterday) and I will be asking him about ways of strengthening the muscles around my knee so that this does not happen again.
Well, we lost another softball game, but this time it was close. The final score was 20-17 and it was back and forth all the way. Our team played really hard and should be proud. I went 3-5 and played short the whole game. I had a four or five chances and made some decent plays, but the best play came when I held the tag on an over-slide for an out.
I also managed to hyper-extend my knee just getting up from the ground. I kid you not, my entire left knee-cap popped out of the socket for about 3/5ths of a second (during which time, I distinctly remember thinking to myself: How will this affect my workout tomorrow? And then it popped right back in. I took a few minutes, limping around, but the limp soon disappeared. I have full mobility and finished the game without trouble.
Right now, my knee is a little stiff and uncomfortable, but not in any pain and I still have full mobilty. I’m icing it and staying off of it for 12 hours to see how things are (which means I’m working from home in the morning).
Afterwards, some of us headed over to The Ugly Mug and celebrated our valient effort.
Two more games: one next Tuesday, the other next Thursday.
And I came home to discover that the Yanks had come back and beaten the Rangers after falling behind, thanks to a Giambi 9th inning homerun. (barmaidblog must be thrilled.)
Last Sunday, while eating an energy bar somewhere in the Upper East Side, I bit into the right side of my cheek and it hurt like hell! It was a pretty big gash too, and it took a while before I didn’t notice it anymore.
Just a few minutes ago, while chew some fresh, grape bubble gum in preparation for the softball game later this evening, I did it again. This time I think it was worse. My knees actually buckled.
WTF?
It’s a good thing I’m not playing softball again until a week from Tuesday. My throwing arm from my shoulder to my elbow is aching like crazy today and all I’m doing is typing. I think I really aggravated it on a throw from right-center to second the other day. I may need to go get some Advil (I ran out of it here at work) because it’s pretty bad right now. I’ll see how it is after lunch.
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