I was taking the trash out late at night but because I was also carrying an armful of folded up cardboard, I lost my balance and fell down the concrete steps, landing flat on my back. I have no memory of how that happened, because a day later, it became obvious that I had to have taken the brunt on my right side, but oh well.
Despite the agonizing pain, all they prescribed at the ER was Tylenol, not even a muscle relaxer. Obviously, I was an elderly drug seeker! “Why do you prescribe Tylenol for pain when it doesn’t work?” I said.
“It works for pain when you take it every four hours,” the P.A. said.
“No it doesn’t,” I said. I stand by that.
Things went downhill from there. The pain is so bad, it takes twenty agonizing minutes to get out of bed. (What a way to start the day.)
Do I sound cranky? Yes, I am. The only time I’m not in agony is when I’m sitting down with a heating pad against my lower back, which you’re not supposed to do for more than 20 minutes. Hah.
I was hopeful that a sturdy-looking back brace from Amazon would help, but only a little bit.
Ouch! Damn tripping! This summer, I tripped on one of my trekking poles (they’re not supposed to do that), did a classic faceplant. Ended up with two black eyes (from my glasses smashing into them), and eight stitches in my chin.
Oh no. Are you better now?
Oh I am doing fine. Just really wary of those trekking poles! It took 2½ weeks for my black eyes to not look like black eyes. And you can hardly tell I had eight stitches on my chin. I only went to the walk-in clinic to have someone clean out my bloody chin. I figured it might have grime in it. But since I am so squicked out by blood and guts, I couldn’t even look at it in the mirror. So it was difficult for me to wash it out. But when the PA cleaned it up, he said it was going to need stitches. What??! That’s not why I came over here!
Arnica gel is great for black eyes or any bruises. Clears it up in a day or two!