Rib popping good

[side_show]

I was awoken this morning with sudden squeezing pain in my chest.  It was a feeling I'd never had before, and I was instantly terrified.  Heart Attack I thought?  Never felt pain like that, all localize in the left side of my chest. 

Went to the hospital and was admitted right away.  Blood work and EKG done immediately.  Waited a few hours on the EKG for collected data results.  Three hours of laying on an emergency room gurney is stressful times, watching the time tick away, trying to rope in my imagination.

The emergency doc came and went through the results - healthy heart (EKG great, blood work great), healthy blood pressure, good vitamin count, cholesterol perfect, a bunch of other things also perfect - all tests were text book perfection.  He said "I only wish I was as healthy as you." 

So what happened?  Apparently my rib popped out of the socket in my sternum, then popped itself back into place, hence the terrible squeezing type of pain in my chest as the rib slipped out and back into place.  I basically had no idea that that was possible, but apparently this happens on occasion.  My ribs had been through a lot due to a sever cause of bronchitis near pneumonia that lasted Nov through Jan where I was hacking up a lung most days.  That took until two weeks ago to clear up, which may have contributed.  Doc says I'll likely be tender in the chest for a couple weeks or so, but otherwise fine.  He mentioned that most skeletons you see are inaccurate because they show the ribs and sternum as solidly connected.  I certainly thought that was actually how the ribs worked until today.  No idea it was possible to dislocate one.

I left the hospital feeling blissed out - that three hour wait on the gurney in the emergency room, I was taking some serious stock of my life.  I've never been so happy to have a weird medical thingy happen to me.  Nothing like fearing that the ticker is broken only to learn that it's working great.    Still going to use this as another reason to take good care of myself though.

[theinevitable]

This used to happen to me a lot, and every single time I would freak out and think there was something seriously wrong with me. And then for some reason I never, ever told anyone about it.

[pmcd9]

I've had that thing that Inev. mentioned, but I too had no idea one could dislocate their rib.  I know that broken ribs are fuck*ng painful as hell. I hope this is less painful for you than that Smells.

[jay-ell]

So glad you're OK, Smells. I think you win the "weird medical conditions" contest for the year.

[theinevitable]

just for the year?

I was hoping based on the title that your rib problems were related to the best sex ever. Or something.

[wombat]

What the fuck. Ribs are supposed to stay where they belong.

[side_show]

Thanks for your concern all.  After that post, I had to take a nap for a couple hours.  Damn scary and stressful experience.

Inev and Paul - yeah that sounds like an unpleasant condition.  Bodies behave weirdly apparently.

Wombat: agreed.  I like my ribs either properly attached to the sternum, or slow cooked with a sticky sauce.

Funny side notes:

1) after it happened, I panicked, but didn't wake the husband up.  I went ahead and watched an episode of "No Reservations" while having an internal argument over whether or not to go to the hospital. 

2) got to see a guy have a hissy fit in triage because he couldn't park in the ambulance drop off area while waiting for someone to see him about his dislocated knee.  Who goes to emergency for a dislocated knee?  Isn't that a walk-in-clinic type thing?

3) after leaving the hospital, my husband took me to Dairy Queen where I had poutine, a cheese burger and a Skor Blizzard.  Hooray for heart health!  Ha ha.

[Doc]

That is freaky as hell. Kudos on the dairy queen stat though.

[miles]

I had something very similar happen a few years ago. The pain was pretty intense but didn't last too long. I didn't go to the hospital, probably foolishly given my weight and cholesterol issues. My mom was in town and she wasn't happy about that. I think part of me thought "well, if mom's freaking out, there's a good chance it's nothing." I did go to my physician soon after for a check-up and EKG, and the results were fine. I don't really know what was. But hooray for normal EKG results.

[Nabubrush]

I have something like that happen periodically to my ribs, but generally on the outer extreme (to my side). It first happened during a freak wrestling accident, and now it happens sometimes if I'm not being careful. Once it happened when I was leaning over the bench seat in my truck to get something out of the back seat. It hurts for several weeks and then goes away. My doc said things are sort of weakened there and there is scarring so it will probably continue. I don't like it.

[jaydub]

This used to happen to me a lot, and every single time I would freak out and think there was something seriously wrong with me. And then for some reason I never, ever told anyone about it.

Wow.  I used to get that all the time.  I called it a "rib cramp" and my friends came to expect that explanation when I'd wince and dig at my side.

[wombat]

a freak wrestling accident,

is that what you kids today are calling it

[side_show]

Funny enough, I'm fairly certain hoisting the dead weight of my sleeping husband off me due to him being too hot could be what triggered this.  Dude just rolls over me while in deep sleep, all snoring in my ear and clammy skinned.  He travels away from home just enough that his asleep-self forgets there is sometimes another person in the bed.  I guarantee that if I check in the bedroom right now, he's likely in the middle of the bed, all star-giraffeed out.

[Nabubrush]

is that what you kids today are calling it

It's funny because I recently explained this to my new chiropractor, and he said "how long did you wrestle for" and I had to admit that while I was on the wrestling team for a year, it had actually happened during a wrestling match with the (ex) wife. So you got it in one.

[Carlos del Vaca]

Well, shit.  I saw this topic title and thought it was going to be about barbecue.