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Dec 14, 2008

CRACKERS!


Well now everyone in the family is on the mend - it’s my turn!

That’s right folks, this is me, felled like a snapping twig and confined to bed from last Thursday, with pneumonia and three broken ribs! Caused, believe it or not - by coughing!!!!!!!

Have heard of ‘splitting your sides laughing’, but breaking your ribs coughing...? That's a new one on me. Mind you, it was and still is, a mighty powerful cough! Starting weakly at the bottom of the lungs and wheezing up with gathering force - with no respite to take breath - and ending in a rattling drawn out whoop, loud enough to shake windows from their panes and tiles from roofs. OWWW!
According to the lung specialist it is not uncommon to break ribs coughing and can even occur while sneezing…good grief!

Anyway, my diet of tomato soup, lemonade and ice lollies has now been added to with a combination of antibiotics, prednisolon, fluimucil, serotide, flixonase, paracetamol/codine and arthrotec (also a pain killer) and all of which I am very grateful and thankful for – but which is leaving me as high as a kite!

Don’t know which mischievous Christmas Elf popped the hat on during my nap – but I think it’s meant to cheer me up.

BAH - HUMBUG!!!

(No, don’t mean that. Very glad to still be here! Now pardon me while I blow me dose...)

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aaaaw! Poor Geri

Whatever about pneumonia, I know that broken ribs are incredibly painful. Even teeny tiny little movement hurts!

Nothing for it Geri, but to milk the situation. I'm sure I heard somewhere (wink, wink) that chocolate is brilliant for healing cracked ribs and a hot whiskey/port 3 times a day, is an essential part of the treatment for pneumonia. No washing-up is allowed for at least six months!

And from now on, Geri, whenever I think of you, I shall declare "What a cracker!"

GET WELL SOON!

Anonymous said...

Poor, poor Geri you don't need that.

I have heard of people slipping discs with sneezing but not cracking ribs.

Rest as much as you can and let everyone look after you for a change!

Big >----(((^_^)))----<

Anonymous said...

How awful for you Geri.

I have heard of cracked ribs from sneezing but not from coughing until now.

You take care and allow the world to run after you for now.

I love the hat!

Geri Atric said...

LOL! Thanks Steph! Judging from your comment I can see you know what it feels like! How did you break yours?
I LUVV your prescription and shall add it to my coffee table pharmacy. (I'm sleeping on the settee while I recover. Much cosier than being shut away in the bedroom and handier for visitors. I'll give one of them your prescription to fill)!

Cheers! And thanks for the well wishes.

Geri Atric said...

Hi Grannymar, thanks for your kind words!

Yes, the hat's a merry touch isn't it. (Trouble is, it made me laugh -ouch!).
When I first crawled out of the hospital lift last Wed., after being sent up from X-ray to lung poli' - and texted my family that I'd cracked a rib coughing, they laughed like drains! Tough people. But that was before the lung specialist told me about the other two breaks and underlying pneumonia. Since then I've been treated by my tribe like a true noble clan elder! Hee-hee. And as long as they don't decorate me with more than a hat... gulp! Think I just saw someone eyeing a bunch of tinsel...

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hi again, Geri

Nope, I've escaped that fate - thankfully!

But I nursed my own mother through cracked ribs some years ago and I well remember the agony she went through until they knitted back together again.

BTW I've left a little get-well package for you over at my place.

Geri Atric said...

Ah, your poor mum!

A package? I'll crawl on over...

Anonymous said...

Ouch! I broke four myself one Christmas Day. One of the sorest things imaginable. Milk it for all it's worth. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Ouch!

Sorry to hear you are unwell, Geri.

I cracked a rib once and I thought that was painful!

Glad to see you are braving a smile though and are still able to blog!

Get well very soon!

Geri Atric said...

Hi Grandad - Thanks! Am milking like crazy - heh heh.

But what about you! Four broken ribs on a Christmas day?!! I won't ask what you were doing at the time...but have just had a peek at your latest post - and hoping mightily that you didn't forget to include a bullet proof vest with your online shopping order this Christmas!

Cheers!

Geri Atric said...

Hi Declan ~ Thank you for your kind words and sorry to hear that yet another blog friend has suffered the pain of (a) broken rib(s)!

I keep experimenting with positions and have recently discovered that sitting up - or sort of hunching over for 10 mins. at a time (and catching up on sorely missed blogs), is less painful than laying half propped up on the settee all day - and risking having the family decorate me up like a Christmas tree! (I'm pretty sure they're not going to stop at one Santa hat with bells!)

Have a great Christmas - I'm off to take my meds. (La-la land, here I come)!

Anonymous said...

Oh, gosh, Geri, you poor soul! I have heard of people cracking ribs coughing - just seems to add insult to injury, doesn't it?

I hope your pneumonia goes away very soon - but the whoop! Are you sure it's not whooping cough??

You do look rather fetching in that hat, though, and it's good to see you haven't lost your sense of humour!

Geri Atric said...

Hi Jay ~ Thanks for the sympathetic words and I especially appreciate the 'fetching' bit, since it is not a photo you would want to show to sensitive souls! LOS! That's 'Laughing Out Silently'(to spare the ribs).

About the Whooping Cough. I too seriously wondered about that. It really did sound like it.
They did blood tests at the hospital but I have not yet heard all the results.
(Meanwhile, my GP is muttering something about 'bone density scans'). Ah well, that's for after Christmas.

Thanks again for popping in Jay and I hope your own shoulder is feeling a lot better. It looked so painful on the photo'!

Anonymous said...

Hello Geri,
I do hope you feel better very soon - broken ribs are horrendous but with a cough must be horrific and as the cough caused the whole scenario - its all a bit of a vicious circle isn't it?

Take it easy, take your drugs, take to drink - and take time to get well soon.

Nice hat!!

Geri Atric said...

Hi Kate ~ Welcome to A.U. and thank you very much for your well wishes.

Yes it is a vicious circle indeed! First the pain killers and then the fizzy stuff (fluimucil) meant to provoke the cough, to clear the lungs...oo-er!

Everyone is being very kind, but this experience has got me thinking about the importance of calcium. Apparently it is wise to start taking extra calcium in your twenties - and not wait until you reach senior citizen status and start snapping like a twig!

'Bit' late for me then (haha). Besides, milk and I have never agreed. Much prefer your suggestion Kate!

Cheers! Have a happy, healthy Christmas.

Anonymous said...

Get better soon Geri!
Drink lots of mulled wine .... it might help. Then again it might not. It's still worth a shot! :-)

Anonymous said...

Mmm I can't stand milk either so I'm probably destined for yet more problems- how come everything 'good for you' is horrid - when I was a kid I was force fed liver because I was anaemic, what with that and the dreaded cod liver oil followed by littles bottles of milk that had stood by the radiator at school and got warm,...... yeuk! Its a wonder I got this far!!! Mind you the malt wasn't bad (not the whiskey - the sticky stuff)!

Geri Atric said...

Hi Paddy ~ Thanks for the well wishes and cheery advice! I like the sound of it. These pain killers keep sending me off into some kind of mindless suspension.. A few good shots of mulled wine might at least provide a few merry dreams!!

Hi Kate ~ Oh gosh yes - that sticky malt and cod liver oil and warm school milk - eeeoouuww! The national health orange juice wasn't bad though.
But liver....shudder....

Quick, let's all have a shot of Paddy's mulled wine!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog via Steph, it's great!

Hope you're on the mend soon Geri. Eileen

Geri Atric said...

Hi Eileen ~ Thank you for dropping by A.U. (glad you like it!) and thanks too for your kind well wishes.

Have just read your very interesting article on the family dogs(!). They are amazing animals aren't they. My neighbour brought hers to visit me yesterday... and she (the dog) changed her behavior entirely, when she saw me laying here.
Hang on, I'll nip over and tell you about it...