CPR Pain

Sorry for the bad news

by Theknotguy - 2015-03-29 12:03:49

Sorry for the bad news. I went through a similar situation with one broken rib, collapsed lung, two cracked ribs and, as we found out 17 months later, another cracked rib. Did I mention the chest tube in there somewhere too?

It took seven months for the major pain to go away. I'm 17 months out and still having a problem with one rib. It's not the cracked part, it's the bone bruise that goes along with it. Twisted the wrong way this AM and was going ouch, ouch, ouch, with all the ribs hurting. So residual pain lasts longer than 17 months. Sorry 'bout that.

What I have found is, 1) keep moving. Doesn't have to be any special exercise but I'm a firm believer in walking. That seems to help. The dogs don't complain as they get to be out longer. 2) Although some members on the forum disagree with me, a licensed massage therapist has been a great help. Key words are licensed and therapist. My therapist studied her instructional books and talked with her instructors before working on me. Also got a prescription for the therapy. 3) Warm compresses. For the first seven months I was carrying around a pillow. Used it as a brace when I coughed. Anything warm so the muscles wouldn't get stiff. 4) Drink plenty of water. I was (and still try) to drink 1/2 liter per 33 pounds of body weight per day. Keeping hydrated seems to help. 5) Calcium and magnesium supplements seem to help too. But that's a long shot with some people saying it really helps and others saying It's just a way to sell supplements.

My last session with my massage therapist ended with her working on the one remaining sore spot on my back. She was digging around back there and it felt good until she moved over onto the rib. That really hurt which was when we determined it was another cracked rib (or possibly a bad bone bruise) we hadn't found yet. The muscles next to the rib were all kinked up from the pain. After this last session it was the first time since October, 2013 I hadn't hurt all the time.

Prior to the seven month period, I couldn't go back to the woodshop and do anything. I hurt too much. Started seeing the massage therapist then. At first it was twitching frog legs. She'd touch a spot and I'd jump. As we worked further into the sessions the spots became smaller and smaller. Now she's down to two - an old shoulder injury and the one rib in the back.

At the woodshop I could only work two hours at first. Then worked up to three hours at a time. I'd start to hurt so bad I'd have to quit. Talked to my EP and he said I was doing better than 90% of his patients so work for three hours and quit.

After this last massage therapy session I was finally able to put two and two together and determine a lot of the pain was due to the one rib in my back plus the really tense muscles in the area was causing 90% of the pain. I can do five hours at a stretch now and longer if I really have to. But since I'm a volunteer and not paid, I work until I hurt, then quit. The pay is the same if I work three hours or twelve.

Sorry I can't give you better news. But like I said, I keep moving, keep warm, take tylenol when needed, hydrate, take my supplements, then sneer at the pain. Being alive is so much better than being dead. It's better to be seen than viewed. Oh, and I forgot to mention, at 17 months I'm probably at 99% pre broken rib(s) level. Just don't have as much stamina. Ah well.

Feel free to contact me personally if you have specific questions.

Hang in there. Life does get better.