Thinking of changing my name to Mrs ER

[Skierchickie]

Well, my dear, dear, DH got home from mountain biking with a friend a little while ago. They went to some harder trails about 40 miles north of here. When he got home, he said he thought he'd broken a rib. He just left for the ER. I didn't go with him - he'd driven the 40 miles home, and really there isn't anything I can do. The ER is 5 miles from here. (OK, torn between feeling like I should go with him, and knowing I would be useless and he isn't any danger, and I have to go to work in the morning).

This is only the latest in a long line of ER visits. 2 broken collar bones (2 separate incidents - 2 separate sides of his body), 2 dislocated shoulders (I believe the left was from falling off the 2-story roof while shoveling it on Christmas Eve a few years ago, the right was cross country skiing a year later), various sprained ankles that swelled way up and turned black, a number of attacks of some mysterious intestinal tract thing that they can't track down, and I can't even remember the rest. Is this normal, or is he fragile? Maybe I'm just overly cautious and so I don't get hurt, but wow! This is the 3rd or 4th trip in the past 6 months (okay, most of them were for the intestinal thing). By comparison, I'm quite sturdy.

The weird thing is that the friend he was riding with is an ER doctor and anaesthesiologist. He checked it out, seemed to think it was more than a bruise, and later said "yeah, I broke a rib once - it hurt!". Never said "maybe you should go in" or anything like that. I seem to recall that they can't really do anything for a broken rib, but it should be checked out to see what is wrong, and he's in a lot of pain, and probably needs a prescription.

Okay, the really weird thing is that anybody could tip over on their bike (couldn't get unclipped), and break a rib on a tree that was 6-8 feet away to begin with!

[Mr. Bloom]

Hi Mrs ER!

I think you made the right decision by not going...men are like elephants...they like to crawl off and die alone

[singletrackmind]

I think you made the right decision by not going...men are like elephants...they like to crawl off and die alone

*chuckle chuckle chuckle*



Oh, he's just getting it all out of the way now.

[sundial]

Hi Mrs ER!

I think you made the right decision by not going...men are like elephants...they like to crawl off and die alone

LOL! My husband had his ankle blown in martial arts by someone using poor technique. He also fractured a rib and told me not to worry, he'll make it home.

[smurfalicious]

Well, you may have the ER frequency down, but I think my mom has you beat for damage done. She's cut her fingers off and nearly off on the table saw, twice. The first time I was living with her and her GF started screaming at me to come downstairs. It was before she built the shop and was working in the garage. Bloody ickiness from the garage to the kitchen. Hello, there's a bathroom just inside the hall.

Second time she didn't even realize she did it until she brought her hand back and saw the blood. She walked in the house, took some pain killers, iced and wrapped it and then - DROVE HERSELF like it was no big deal to the ER. Everyone was baffled that she was so calm about it. She just laughed and said she had experience.

[mimitabby]

He doesn't sound fragile to me, he sounds a bit reckless. I'm surprised he went to ER for a rib, they can't do anything about it anyway; except x ray it and say "yep, it's broke"
People who take more chances hurt themselves more often.
I can't IMAGINE not slowing down after 2 collarbone fractures though!!!

[singletrackmind]

I can't IMAGINE not slowing down after 2 collarbone fractures though!!!

I can!

[Skierchickie]

Well, this time he was barely moving, if at all. He toppled over when he couldn't unclip. Overall, he never moves as fast as he did back in the collarbone days (that was almost 20 years ago). He's more likely to go out and do some gruelling event he is far too undertrained for (e.g. last weekend he did a 1/2 ironman - he's barely run this season, and has swum, oh, maybe 4 times so far). He does take more chances than I do, but he isn't going off jumps or anything. However, he does like it when he hits 52mph on a particular hill on his road bike. I'm not sure I could handle 52 - not unless I knew there was a perfectly smooth, straight runout (which that hill does NOT have). 45 seems like enough (I may have hit 47 once, I don't recall).

He did learn from one of the collarbones I think - the first one was in a road race - somebody crashed in front of him. The second one was the funny one. He was riding with a friend, and they always sprinted for city limit signs. He'd discovered this really cool way of accelerating, which involved yanking up on one pedal at the same time as jumping on the other. As it happens, if you get really good at this technique, you can actually lift your rear wheel off the pavement while already going 20 or so. I wasn't there, but apparently it's a really good way to ensure that you slam into the pavement at some point soon after.

Smurf - your Mom!
Singletrackmind - sounds like you speak from experience?!
Mimi - that's pretty much what I said, about the ER, but he thought he should have it checked out. They didn't find anything on the x-ray, so they think it's a hairline fracture. Still hurts like heck.

[silver]

I'm not saying that it's always necessary, but a reason to go to the hospital with a potential broken rib is that there could be a lung injury caused by a broken rib. A lung injury could lead to a collapsed lung which would need to be monitored. The lung injury shows up on the x-ray. Or at least this was my experience.

[sundial]

Hi Silver, I miss your posts.

[Lifesgreat]

One of the most memorable phone calls from DH: "Dear, does this hospital near us take our insurance?"

just a few stitches

[smurfalicious]

One of the most memorable phone calls from DH: "Dear, does this hospital near us take our insurance?"

Ha ha! Reminds me of when my older brother rode motocross. The track was just outside of Sandy where we lived, and the closest hospital was the one my dad worked at in Gresham. Can't tell you how many times some nurse would call our house and say, "Hey Dave, just wanted to let you know your son is here, again."