Every day, after Alma’s been riding, she takes Askur’s saddle off at the house and one of us rides him bareback to his field by the lake. She usually lets me do it; it’s an enjoyable little trip of about half a kilometre. When you round the bend at the place in the photograph above, the road starts to rise and he begins to trot. Yesterday when this happened, the centrifugal force made me lose my balance. I’d like to say I’d been thrown, it’s more dramatic, but it was more that I slithered down his left side, as if I was a dripping pocketwatch in a Salvador Dali painting. I hit the ground heavily with my shoulder and I watched as Askur trotted on without me. I was winded and it really hurt. It was in my ribs. I got up and walked in a circle going Ow! for about half a minute. Then I followed Askur. He was waiting at the gate to his field and he looked slightly unsettled. I patted his withers as if to say that I didn’t blame him for my stupidity. Without a saddle there’s not much to hold on to, but there is the mane. The thing is, I forgot. Askur responded by putting his chin on my shoulder and clasping me to him with his head and neck. I think he was relieved; I imagine some of the small girls at the riding school where we bought him used to get angry when they fell off, even though he’s the kindest horse. I led him into his field, took the bridle off him and gave him another pat. This morning my ribs still hurt. 
-
Follow
Following
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
A Bad Guide 
If there is a particular spot that hurts, you might try icing it. I’m thinking of ICE, the acronym for athletic injuries. It stands for ice-compression-elevation. Some add NSAIDs to the list–non-steroidal anti-inflammatories. Ribs are hard, you can’t really elevate them like a sprained foot. Whatever you do, don’t try to wrap it. I had something once that might have been a rib fracture, I was never exactly clear on the x-ray interpretation, but I had wrapped an ace bandage around my rib cage because it hurt so much to breathe. Bad idea. The bandage actually restricted my breathing so I got even worse pain from a secondary infection from my lungs not being able to expand. NSAIDs are a god-send, currently I use OTC naproxen sodium, but there are several others. The only thing to watch out for it that here at least, the dosage listed on the bottle is for pain and not inflammation. The inflammation dosage is three or four times higher–which I would have to pay a hundred bucks or so out of my own pocket (not having health insurance) to have a doctor write a script for.
Thanks, Nij, I didn’t know that.
And of course your imaginary friends are sending good wishes your way, if that helps any.
If you want some distraction, I have just discovered La Femme Nikita online.
http://www.fanpop.com/external/54091
It was done by the same people as 24, and it is just as dark, but mesmerizing, at least for me. They played reruns of it when I was in Jordan, and Jordanians would call me Nikita on the street–I guess they thought I looked like Peta Wilson, bless their hearts.
Get well soon. If you think there’s a chance of broken ribs, you might want an X-ray; you don’t want to puncture your lungs.
Thanks, dearie; I’m sure I’m ok. What I really don’t want is to spend two hours in a waiting room.
The NHS offers a service whereby you can spend 3 hours and 59 minutes in a waiting room and then be bundled home in a taxi without ever getting an X-ray.
This discussion of ‘socialised medicine’ requires me to post a link to a discussion of the same topic on The Daily Show recently.
http://bit.ly/19bhYT
A wonderful piece of reportage — not that your vivid prose justifies the pain you had to suffer for it, but I wanted to let you know I appreciated it. Get well soonest.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Hopefully you’ll soon be as frisky as Askur in that last shot.
Thanks, Steve; that means a lot.
Taxis? The NHS never used taxis in my day, we used to roll home.
I hope never to be as frisky as Asker in that last shot.
Nurse Mab votes for an X-ray, even if the wait is long and even if there is nothing wrong. (You can turn that into a song.) Because you might have cracked a rib, and the nice medical people will wrap it properly, show you how to avoid damaging it further, and give you some lovely narcotic-added pain relievers.
But I love the image of Asker clasping you to him in apology. And the photo of him rolling around in the dirt. Makes me want to rub his belly.
Over here, they only give you double-strength paracetamol. I think it’s because they’re Lutherans.
Sheesh. Suffer and duke it out? Nothing like codeine tylenol, I always say…:)
Lutherans are like that? The Catholics here are worse; if you say you have pain, they won’t treat you at all. I went to the local sliding scale clinic after a spring gardening knee exacerbation and they refused to treat me but insisted on billing me $25. Fortunately one of my students who was only licensed in Mexico took pity on me and got me something that knocked it out. I was similarly lucky with students in Jordan. I just happened to have a midwife/obstetrician English class at the same time as a cold sore manifested, and I was recommended something at the pharmacy for less than $5. The same affliction here cost several hundred dollars at a private pay 24-hour clinic.
Codeine can be lovely, but do you ever want to shit again as long as you live? In the 70’s I had tylenol #3 (with codeine) after tooth extractions at the local dental school, but in the 90’s dental surgery came with either naproxen sodium (Aleve) or etodolac (Lodeine) (and yes, they are strong enough). Now if only there was something strong enough for my chondromalacia).