the essence

Worse than labor pains???

So, the never-ending cough from when I became sick THREE WEEKS ago finally pulled it's final number on me last Thursday. I pulled the intercostal muscles on my right side. You know, all of the little muscles between your ribs which support them. The left sides a bit damaged as well, but it's so minor compared to the right that I hardly notice them. It started off as a bit of an annoyance and by Friday evening/Saturday morning I was in excruciating pain.

I've never been in such pain in my life. For me, it is so much worse than labor. Not because labor was easy or painless by any means, but merely because labor had an end in sight. Plus, breaks between the contractions. This has no near end nor does it have any breaks.

I still have to breathe. I still have a slight cough. I still have kids who need to be held & changed and family that needs to be fed. I must look quite the sight whenever I feel the need to sneeze, cough, or sit up - I clutch my ribs, bend to the side & press as hard as I can to try to ease some of the pressure, which usually means I'm contorting my body into some odd shape. I don't care, whatever works, right? I never knew that something like this would hurt so much. Sleeping is rough, too, because I keep waking up from the sharp pains.

It was so bad over the weekend that Ray insisted that I stay home from church Sunday morning. I've been caving every day & popping a couple ibuprofen which works just enough to take the edge off so that I can function. I feel like such a baby, but I have a hard time just getting out of bed with this!

I know it's a bit silly, but the worst part for me is that most everything I'm reading says that it can take about 6 weeks to heal. We're leaving for our vacation in just over two weeks & I'm so disappointed that I may not be up to par for the trip! On the up side, I think it may already feeling a bit better today, I've only taken pain killers once today & I'm tolerating the pain.

So, if you see me lately, I'm probably looking a bit like the Hunchback of Notre Dame from sitting all slouched down to ease the pain between my ribs. Does anyone know of anything that might help???

I did still manage some "school time" with the kids yesterday.





Addison gets so excited & is insistent that she & Kate have their chairs right next to each other. I just love this time!