Bad Day

Let's start at the beginning.  I woke up at 7 whimpering in pain.  The rib issue I've been suffering from came to a raging head and I contorted this way and that until I finally found a marginally acceptable way to lay so that I could breathe easily.  So I fell back to sleep and woke up well after the desperate ringing of my alarm clock and, yes, I was immediately enveloped in pain just as before.  It hurt to breathe too deep, hurt to laugh, hurt to complain about how much it was hurting, hurt to walk, to sit, to lay, to do anything.  Not in a stabbing way, but in a very heavy way.  Like a wire wrapped about my rib slowly and persistently snapping it back from the cage.  Needless to say it sucked.  Still sucks.  Because I still feel the pain.

I called work and whimpered and whined and let them know that I wouldn't make it in today and that I would be going to the doctors.  Before I left the house for my appointment, we had a bit of news.  My Aunt Nancy lives in an assisted living community and after much persuasion they permitted her little dog, Taffy, to live there with her.  Taffy is an older gal and she's kind of particular about who she likes and while she loves most everyone, there are a few she doesn't.  Well, she one such person tried to pick her up and got bit, now the home had given Nancy an ultimatum and little Taffy has to be removed.  She will either be going to live with my Cousin in the Silver Valley or with someone up here.  Long story short, Nancy's upset and now threatening to move out of the home.  Next bit of news has to deal with another aunt, Aunt Sandy.  Her husband was flown in to Kootenai today and probably won't last the night.  My mom has gone to be with her during this rough time, meanwhile another Aunt is doing what she can to soothe Nancy.

Back to me now: my regular doctor was not in today so I saw someone else.  She was nice enough, sure, but she didn't laugh at my silly little jokes (which I still managed to make through the pain) and when all was said and done she was fairly useless.  She said for me to keep taking Ibuprofen and to put an ice pack or a heating pad on the rib that is strained.   That's fine, but it fucking hurts!  Where's a little muscle relaxer so I can get through work tomorrow?  Where's a prescription for Ibuprofen 800s?  These are the things that my regular doctor would have done to help me be able to return to work tomorrow and not just curl up in a ball and sob.  But that's fine.  I'm happy to know that it's not an organ issue and just a skeletal one.  I can handle that, that's fine.  So I return home.  And start my period.  Now, I don't have those nice happy, light flow, mild cramping things.  No.  I have contractions that are damn near as bad as those of childbirth.  I hurt and I bleed and I cry and I dope myself up with anything I can find and then pass out until the first wave of attack is over.  Yes.  I now have a throbbing rib cage and a convulsing uterus.

I picked up Ellie when I got home and hugged her. She purred nice and loud and that helped.  Hannah and I are curled up in the bedroom semi watching a horror flick while I sit here with an ice pack up under my left breast and a heat pad on my tummy.  I think the stress of the past few days, plus the suddenly aching rib sort of brought on the old Red Dragon a pinch earlier than usual.