Monday, June 24, 2013

Bouncin' outta the tack, Part 3

Ri's been known to buck under saddle...
Recall that Riley and I parted ways last Thursday, and (at my request) I was carted off in an ambulance; see Part 2 for background, but here the story continues...

Waiting for X-rays
The Emergency Services  at the hospital were in overflow, and the wait for x-rays was longer than usual. I was placed in the "psych room" normally reserved for the mentally derailed -- and in my state,  this was arguably appropriate. Lying flat and with only the ceiling lights in view, I panicked quietly. Was my hip broken? Some kind of hairline thing? Or just bruising/trauma?  I recalled a fellow boarder who fell from her young horse several  years ago. She cracked her pelvis and was flat on her back for six weeks. No work. No riding. No going to the bathroom without assistance.

Occasionally I'd attempt to move. Yep. Still hurts.

I called Bob at work. He works an hour away, second shift, and was in the middle of a lab test. I texted a friend, who assured me she could come to the hospital right after work -- so I called Bob back and told him to stay put.

X-rays
After about forty minutes,  I was wheeled off for diagnostics. Several X-rays later -- hip, spine, ribs, I was relieved to hear nothing was broken.  My left side, hip and back, still hurt like the devil, but knowing nothing was broken made it easier to work through the discomfort.  Still, the first few times I sat up I felt dizzy,  like I was going to black out. I did not have a head injury, so this might just be part of getting knocked around a bit.

I was handed a prescription for percoset, warned that the next few days would be worse, and sent on my way. Hoo. Ray!


12 comments:

  1. YIKES!!!!! I hope you feel better quickly and that Riley is VERY apologetic.

    ReplyDelete
  2. OMG..glad you are ok!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank heavens! What a scare. But those bumps and bruises certainly can hurt, regardless. Just try to take it easy until you feel better.

    Can someone get Riley out to lunge for you while you are healing? I would think some exercise would be good for him at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am glad nothing is broke! I had the same thing happen. I kept getting better and then stopped. I went for physical therapy and my hip was tilted in and one leg was shorter than the other. After therapy I made a complete recovery. I asked the therapist why they didn't let me know at the hospital that there was a problem and he said they just look for breaks.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Youch!! Glad nothing was broken though. Hopefully you aren't in too much pain.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love percochet - they only ever given me vicodin, which sucks.

    Sorry you got thrown. It sucks. At least in my case I don't bounce as well as I did when I was in my 20's.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sorry about your injury! I second the recommendation that you go to PT or someone to help you recover if you find that the recovery takes longer to heal than just bruises. Last June I badly sprained my back - and even with PT exercises, it took 6 months before I could ride longer than 15 minutes at a time, or consecutive days. My injury was bad enough that it took me 2 weeks to reliably be able to walk without falling, and about 2 months to even be able to stand from a chair easily. My sciatic nerve was part of the injured area, and it took re-training myself to use the left leg, including for work on the horse.
    Just give yourself time, patience, and the outside medical help you need if recovery isn't as simply as it is from most falls. I was very frustrated and hated the time off riding, but even though my first few months back riding regularly were full of me trying to re-learn things, my horse is a world ahead of where he was a year ago.

    In the meantime, I always recommend all the core exercise you can do comfortably given the injury - my horse BUCKS, usually with warning but sometimes not so much, and it takes tons of core strength to keep the seat in the saddle through repeated bucks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks all. Riley bucks maybe one of every three rides, but when you're already moving it is not such a big deal. This happened when I was walking on a long rein, and the acceleration and my "relaxed state" I think were the reason I fell off. It was a big buck, but...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Glad you are not broken, sorry you are going to be in major discomfort for the next few days. Percocet is your friend (it does not work for me. Neither does Vicodin or its stronger cousin Norco). Don't push it--pain is God's way of telling you to slow down.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh thank goodness! Nothing's broken. Hopefully no hidden sprains. Strains and bruises in certain places can take awhile too (I strained intercostal muscles coughing from a bad cold and was in unbearable, asphyxiating pain for six months). They can't really detect strains, but you can certainly FEEL them!

    Do you have a good chiropractor? I don't know how any horseback rider lives without a chiropractor tethered to her wrist. The therapies and TENS will help a LOT. Of course, it's your choice, and you have to do what you feel is best for you with unconditional support from everybody. I'm just saying I personally know a ton of people that have had great results (like my husband, who had a badly bulging disc remedied without surgery due to chiropractic). :)

    No more advice/suggestions for now. I'm sure you'll hear enough of that. Just feel better, Stacey, and enjoy the buoyant, glazed feeling of pain control!

    ReplyDelete
  11. You might well still have a head injury - you don't need to hit your head to have your brain bounce around inside your skull. Keep resting! Glad nothing is broken, though.

    ReplyDelete
  12. So this is the second time in a couple of weeks? No doubt you are examining every aspect very, very carefully- hang in there. It's scary, but no doubt a fixable problem.

    ReplyDelete

Hi Guys, Your comments are valued and appreciated -- until recently I never rejected a post. Please note that I reserve the right to reject an anonymous post.