Rib pain

Yesterday on the way home from our cardiologist appointment I started to have a sharp pain in my left chest. It was below my boob and next to my sternum. This pain worsened when I took a deep breathe or moved so I ruled out a heart attack, which was of course my first thought. I then thought it was due to my horrible back ache I had a few days ago but I had thought it had gotten better. My left neck and back were also kind of hurting at this time so I thought maybe the pain was just wrapping around my chest. Anna, who is a physical therapist, looked at my ribs, neck, back ect. and got me all realigned and palpated. The pain was still there but I thought after I slept it would go away.

Sadly this was not how it played out. I tried to go to bed early, 9:45, so I could get some sleep before Zane woke up and before Uncle Able arrived at 12:30ish. Zane woke up at midnight and I had yet to fall asleep because I was trying to find a position where I wasn't in a ton of pain. I tried heating the area but wasn't sure if putting a heating pad directly over your heart was a good idea. Finally, after feeding Zane I took a percoset which I had from after having a baby ( mind you I took about two of these total in the week after having Zane). This made me a little sleeping but didn't touch my rib pain.

By this time it had come back to me that this pain was a lot like the pain I had when I had separated my ribs, from coughing, during the ice storm of 2002 ( another story all together). We had no power, hence no heating pad, so I eventually just turned to NyQuil to try to sleep off the pain, and the ice storm. I have no idea how I would have separated or strained/pulled the rib area but I am now pretty miserable. It hurts to cough, laugh, breathe, lay down, hold my baby, you pretty much name it. Of course my fear as a nurse is that I will some how get pneumonia because I can't take deep breaths, that's totally rational, right? Good thing I probably couldn't hold my baby tomorrow if I tried with all the people who will be here ready to love on him. Here is hoping this resolves soon because when they all go home it is going to be a struggle hauling my chunky baby around!