Dumb Injuries

[bigpern23]

Upset of the year is that none of these stories have begun with the poster saying, "Hey, watch this!"

 

[JackReacher]

Broke my leg when I was in 4th grade during a party at a roller skating rink. My skate hit the wall and somehow twisted and I suffered a spiral break on whatever bone is the one on the lower part of my leg. First thing I noticed when I hit the deck? That the water in my ear from that morning's shower had unclogged. Weird. My mom thought it was just a sprain, but I informed her that I heard the break and that she should probably get me to a hospital immediately. No surgery. Had a hard cast for a couple months. Out of school for a few weeks. Worst pain I've ever felt was when they had to set the bone in the ER. Pretty sure I peed a little when they did that. Maybe a lot.

Good luck, sostartled.

 

[sostartled]

I hate reviving old threads, but it sounds like you guys have had some experience with pain, and therefore I imagine pain meds.

It's been a month since I had surgery on my ankle. I'm getting better, but the incisions are still tender, the plate they put in causes some discomfort, and my leg gets achy and my ankle swollen after walking (in my boot) for extended periods of time. I elevate and ice, but my question is whether I should still reasonably be on pain meds after a month. I started with a prescription for Oxycodone and Naproxen. I stopped the Naproxen after about 10 days, but I've been taking 4 or 5 oxys a day (2 around 8am, 1 around 4pm, and 2 around 10pm; the 4pm depends on how much I was on my feet during the day). I also, in consultation with my doctor, take Ibuprofen here and there, in the middle of the day when I'm at work (instead of taking an oxy at the office). Finally, at the direction of my doctor, I take 2 aspirin a day. The oxys in the morning and at night make me feel a lot better. When I don't take one, like I haven't today, there's a huge difference in my quality of life.

At some point should I just be dealing with the pain solely using OTC drugs, like Ibuprofen? I guess my main concern is that I'm not sure I know where the line is between dealing with pain and wanting to feel better. Does that make sense? Thanks very much.

Edit: I ended up with 2 plates and 15 screws. Two incisions on each side of my ankle about 5 inches a piece. They look pretty good, but the plate on the inside of my ankle is what's bothering me.

 

[AshyLarry]

I hate reviving old threads, but it sounds like you guys have had some experience with pain, and therefore I imagine pain meds.

It's been a month since I had surgery on my ankle. I'm getting better, but the incisions are still tender, the plate they put in causes some discomfort, and my leg gets achy and my ankle swollen after walking (in my boot) for extended periods of time. I elevate and ice, but my question is whether I should still reasonably be on pain meds after a month. I started with a prescription for Oxycodone and Naproxen. I stopped the Naproxen after about 10 days, but I've been taking 4 or 5 oxys a day (2 around 8am, 1 around 4pm, and 2 around 10pm; the 4pm depends on how much I was on my feet during the day). I also, in consultation with my doctor, take Ibuprofen here and there, in the middle of the day when I'm at work (instead of taking an oxy at the office). Finally, at the direction of my doctor, I take 2 aspirin a day. The oxys in the morning and at night make me feel a lot better. When I don't take one, like I haven't today, there's a huge difference in my quality of life.

At some point should I just be dealing with the pain solely using OTC drugs, like Ibuprofen? I guess my main concern is that I'm not sure I know where the line is between dealing with pain and wanting to feel better. Does that make sense? Thanks very much.

Edit: I ended up with 2 plates and 15 screws. Two incisions on each side of my ankle about 5 inches a piece. They look pretty good, but the plate on the inside of my ankle is what's bothering me.

How many milligrams are the oxys? If you're taking 4-5 a day I assume it's probably a low dose, like 5 milligrams.
A month is a long time, you may want to consider cutting back. It's a short step from taking pain meds to deal with pain, to taking them to feel "good".

 

[sostartled]

Yup, 5mg. That's what I'm worried about too. But the past week or so I've only taken them when I felt that I needed to, not on some regular schedule like I did the first week or two. I'll give my doctor a call in the AM.

 

[User 1019]

My cousin and I were racing jet skis on Labor Day when I hit a wave too hard. One wave, two waves, wreck. Jet ski went right and I went left. I hit the hull on the left side as I was ejected.

Two days later, I had a massive, disgusting, football-sized and football-shaped bruise on my left ass cheek. Didn't go away for two months and still hurts. Went to the doctor, who referred me to a chiropractor. I've been five times and it's no better. Doesn't hurt during normal activities. Just when I'm on my back exercising or when I rub it.

 

[amraeder]

Yup, 5mg. That's what I'm worried about too. But the past week or so I've only taken them when I felt that I needed to, not on some regular schedule like I did the first week or two. I'll give my doctor a call in the AM.

When you're taking them as needed are you still taking 2? Or 1?
Just curious if 1 is doing the job of dealing with the pain or not.

 

[sostartled]

It depends. Usually two, because then the pain is better all day (8-9 hours), while one will make the pain better for a couple hours (3-4). I didn't take any last night, and I'll just take one this AM to see how it goes.

 

[amraeder]

Gotcha. When you call your Dr definitely let him know what you need to manage your pain. It might be that your current meds are still your best bet.
I know when I had some serious pain but didn't like how out of it Percoset and Vicodin made me feel, I was given Tramadol (, which seemed to help and wasn't as strong. I don't know if your pain could be managed by it - and, obviously, I'm not a Dr so always make sure you follow your Dr's advice, but it might be something to ask about.

 

[swingline]

I had Vicodin after surgery to straighten my maze-like septum, but they didn't do anything for me, good or bad -- just nothing. The anti-nausea pills I had a prescription for, however, were the real deal. Like swimming.

 

[swingline]

As for dumb injuries, I've hit myself in the shin with a 22-oz framing hammer. Pissed off and a full swing trying to take apart the bottom plate of a wall I was building. Nearly 30 years later, I still have the scar below my knee.

While using a nail gun to attach a stud, the nail hit a knot, curved upward and split my thumb open.

 

[Bronco77]

I've generally been free from injuries (dumb or otherwise), but two do stand out.

When I was a college freshman, two other guys and I were walking back to the dorm after a night downtown at the bars (it was about a half-mile walk). Somehow I misstepped and sprained my ankle. It didn't hurt much at the time in my inebriated state, but it was unbelievably painful the next morning.

And eight or nine years ago, I forgot about a 1-foot-high gate we'd put up to keep our small dogs from getting outside, tripped and fell, and fractured my left elbow. Foolishly, I went into work that night and toughed it out, but the pain was excruciating and I went to see the doctor the next morning. It was a relatively minor fracture, but he put my arm in a sling and told me to take the next two days off. Called the boss and she said, "Are you sure you can't work? You seemed fine last night." I almost felt like I needed to present her with a note from my doctor.

 

[DeskMonkey1]

I can't say my dumbest because it would out me (I've shared it plenty of times).

However, when I was a kid, my genius friend decided he was going to hit the side of my deck with a baseball bat. Not out of malice just being an idiot. Well, part of the side, the support beams, fell off. He tried to put it back up and the rest of the side of the deck fell off. An old, rusty nail lacerated the side of his head. It was bad. To this day I wonder if that's why he's an idiot.

 

[Vombatus]

I had Vicodin after surgery to straighten my maze-like septum, but they didn't do anything for me, good or bad -- just nothing. The anti-nausea pills I had a prescription for, however, were the real deal. Like swimming.

I'm recuperating from nasal surgery right now. Had it done two Thursdays ago. I'm not 100% yet, getting mild headaches, suture sites sore, dissolvable sutures are backing out and feeling like boogers flapping in the breeze.

22 years ago I had the same surgery done, and I didn't realize there were loose sutures in there. So, the flapping in the breeze boogers drove me nuts, to the point that I got a pair of tweezers and grabbed hold of one of them and pulled and tugged, thinking it was just a booger scab, and then suddenly there was a snap, and immediate nosebleed. At this point, I figured I should probably look in the mirror to see what the **** I had done. Well, there was an inch long suture sticking out of my bloody nose, and the far side of the suture was still attached in there. It was like I had a tampon string sticking out of my face.

So, I got some scissors and snipped it off. I had forgotten all about this episode from 22 years ago, until last week when I started having these flapping booger feelings again, and then, just as I went to get some tweezers, I thought, hey, deja vu. I think I am about to do something stupid that I have done before.

I am now in a multi-week effort of trying to establish some self-control. Just stay away from the tweezers man!

So, I go back to the ENT two times a week and let him work on it. And the great thing about that is that he has a really HOT receptionist / admin assistant. I mean, she should be a model. *******.

 

[swingline]

After my surgery, I could feel the tip of a booger in my right nostril, but I could never blow it out or, you know, pick it out. It nearly drove me mad trying to get it out. The sort of tickling sensation and the feeling of it just being out of reach occupied my thoughts. Watching Law & Order reruns from the couch as I recuperated, I would suddenly realize I hadn't paid attention to the story for 10 minutes because my mind was on the booger. Wen on for days.

Finally -- finally after about a week -- with one huge honk it came flying out. Holy cow, I could breathe, really breathe, through my nose for the first time since forever.

It was a good 2.5 inches long, 3/4 inch wide and probably 1/4 inch deep, the single nastiest thing to ever come out of my nose. Of course, i took a picture and emailed that to friends and relatives, with no hint of what they were going to see. That's been three years ago, and some of them still talk about it to this day.

 

[swingline]

I don't know how I forgot this because the injury affects me to this day.

Last fall, I was using a log splitter at my father-in-law's house to help them prepare for the winter. I'm merrily splitting wood, taking the big logs and splitting them into smaller and smaller pieces. Pull the lever, split, toss over and over again.

I put the log on the splitter, pulled the lever -- and as the splitting wedge started pushing the log I realized too late that my hand was between the log and the splitting backstop. The pain was immediate, intense, my left hand being crushed. For a split second I tried to yank my hand free as the splitter pushed harder before I threw the lever into reverse.

I yanked my hand away from the splitter, scared ****less that I had mangled my hand beyond repair, visions of crushed bones and blood and destruction. I hopped around a few seconds, cursing, cursing the pain and my stupidity. I pulled the glove off, my middle and ring finger already swelled up like sausages trying to split their casing.

I shut off the splitter.

I was in shock.

I walked into the house and said, "I need some ice." My wife, daughter and in-laws looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language. "I need some ice," I said again, "for my hand. I crushed it in the log splitter." They got me some ice, and I wrapped my hand in it. My mother-in-law got me a scotch, no ice. I downed that one. poured another and got a beer back.

I went and sat on the couch, my nerves buzzing and jangling as I slowly came down. My fingers hurt for a good two months, and today was the first day my ring finger's knuckle finally became less swollen, and I was able to take off my ring.

 

[old_tony]

After my surgery, I could feel the tip of a booger in my right nostril, but I could never blow it out or, you know, pick it out. It nearly drove me mad trying to get it out. The sort of tickling sensation and the feeling of it just being out of reach occupied my thoughts. Watching Law & Order reruns from the couch as I recuperated, I would suddenly realize I hadn't paid attention to the story for 10 minutes because my mind was on the booger. Wen on for days.

Finally -- finally after about a week -- with one huge honk it came flying out. Holy cow, I could breathe, really breathe, through my nose for the first time since forever.

It was a good 2.5 inches long, 3/4 inch wide and probably 1/4 inch deep, the single nastiest thing to ever come out of my nose. Of course, i took a picture and emailed that to friends and relatives, with no hint of what they were going to see. That's been three years ago, and some of them still talk about it to this day.

Had surgery to correct my deviated septum 20 years ago. Worst thing ever was the first 24 hours with the cotton packings way the hell up there. And the following week of scab boogers wasn't much fun, either. I don't recall any sutures at all.

 

[sostartled]

Facial surgery scares the hell out of me. I assume it's general anesthesia?

 

[Vombatus]

Facial surgery scares the hell out of me. I assume it's general anesthesia?

Oh yeah. I was out over three hours in the OR, not counting how long it took me in recovery to wake up. All told, I was out 4 hours. Nasal surgery, particularly deviated septum realignment, is tedious.

I didn't realize it was going to be three hours until the day before. I almost asked the OR staff to fix my receding hairline and enlarge my **** too while they had me under. They hit me with the anesthesia before I could make my request.

 

[swingline]

My anesthesia knocked me for a loop. I was going to be all tough and walk out of the recovery room, but just standing up was a chore. When I got to my car, I kind of slid in all slumped over and ****, and I stayed that way while my wife got my meds and drove me home. Getting up two flights of stairs in our split-level was about all I could do. I hit the couch and was out.