Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Subluxation


Yesterday morning I was getting breakfast together for Nico and myself. I had a half-gallon of organic milk for Nico's cereal in one hand and a gallon of regular for mine in the other, and when I turned to set both on the counter, I felt a weird and sudden pop in my back. At first I thought I just tweaked a muscle, but then it started to feel more like something had locked up on me. Doing a few tentative twists to try to stretch out the offended spot resulted in a very distinct WHOOP WHOOP WARNING! kind of feeling. The part of me that doesn't like to make a fuss was thinking I'd just let it ride and try to stretch it out again later. Luckily the more sensible part decided screw it, I'm calling the chiropractor just in case.

Turns out it's a good thing I listened to that part, because even though I hauled my 25-pound kid around all morning without too much trouble (other than this one time when I wasn't careful enough getting into the car and the whole side of my back seized up so suddenly that I found myself hissing goddamn and being grateful Nico doesn't yet repeat what he hears), well...it turns out that I had dislocated a rib. Apparently this can be very painful if you don't get it taken care of promptly.

The chiropractor was able to pop it back in with minimal suffering on my part, and Nico didn't notice when the chiropractor's dog stole the squashed plastic party cup he'd scored out of the bank's prize basket. (We set aside some of our tax return to put into Nico's savings account, and the bank lets kids pick out a toy when they make a deposit. Most of the toys were for older kids, but Nico saw a stack of cheap plastic St. Patricks Day cups and flipped out. He pointed and said, "Puh! Puh! Puh!" which is how he says "cup," and how could I deny him? He happily squashed the cup and chewed on it for the next hour and a half until he chucked it on the floor at the chiro's and her terrier swooped in and snatched it.)

After a few more errands, we went home and took a nap while I put a hot pack on my embarrassingly lame injury. I guess this post kind of went nowhere fast but, you guys...I dislocated my rib getting milk out of the fridge. I couldn't let something that stupid go by without comment.


Reading:  The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki

Playing:  Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons


7 comments:

  1. Oh man, my back is cringing just reading about yours. Thank goodness you went to the chiro!

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  2. I hate being the kind of person that says I can beat that but -- I can totally beat that (only in stupidity of the cause of injury). Sometimes I get this sharp pain in my chest and I take a deep breath and the pain crests and disappears. A few months ago this happened and the pain didn't go away. I suffered through a night then went to my chiropractor and she said my rib head had popped out. I dislocated my rib -- BY BREATHING. In other words -- I SO hear ya.

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  3. I shouldn't laugh at your pain, but...I totally laughed at your pain. Sorry, dude.

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  4. Hi Biblio, fancy meeting you here.

    Let me ante up. I once put my back out changing the kitty litter. Seriously.

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  5. So two Al(l)isons and a velocibadgergirl walk into a bar...

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  6. And probably injure themselves in really creative ways before they even have a chance to order ;)

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