I remember thinking I really need to take the ITIL class because it was on my goals list for work, and I'd already missed two classes already. I felt "OK" I told them, though something in the front of my chest on the right side was bothering me. I left my car in Renton and Laura drove us the rest of the way. I knew I was amped up on adrenaline and I wondered if I would be sore later that day. The right side of my chest just to the right of center burned and hurt. I kept rubbing the side of my chest on the right side but I couldn't find a sore spot. It just hurt and burned.
About 30 minutes later we arrived at class, and about another 30 or so minutes later I started feeling like I should have gone to the emergency room with the paramedics. My whole spine felt "fragile". I don't know how else to explain it, my whole spine felt like it wanted to go out or "tweak" at any moment. I took handfuls of Advil throughout the day and tried to make it through the class. I know if I would have asked Laura she would have driven me to the ER, but I wasn't bleeding and I didn't have any bones poking out (that I knew of) so I stayed and kept popping Advil and sat in the hard plastic classroom chairs all day.
The burning in my chest continued, I was becoming more and more uncomfortable throughout the day but I made it to the end of class. My whole spine felt odd, like it wanted to go out at any minute. Laura dropped me off at my car in Renton, and I decided to stop at Valley Hospital on my way home to get checked out. The waiting room in at Valley Hospital was packed. Admitting said there was about a six hour wait. I just couldn't bear the thought of sitting in that waiting room as uncomfortable as I was for six hours so I left and decided to call my regular doctor. I called Dr. Adatia on my way down HWY 167, they were full and could not get me in. I then thought to call my Chiropractor Borg Chiropractic, and they said to come right in and they would take X-rays.
The X-rays showed exactly what I was feeling. My spine looked like it was all crooked and ready to go out. Borg said I needed a bunch of Chiropractic and Massage at three times per week for X amount of months (I think it was for 3 + months or more, I don't remember exactly). He told me to use ice every 15 minutes, then heat for the discomfort. I forgot to mention to Borg about the burning in my chest. That night I got home and I started taking Advil and doing the ice and heat thing. The accident occurred on a Wednesday, by Friday of that same week I was in so much pain I stopped by St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way (The city I work in) to get pain meds and muscle relaxers. I was sore everywhere. My head felt fuzzy and confused. My whole back was a mess and hurt. My low back hurt, my neck hurt and everywhere in-between felt a mess. And my head seemed to fall to the right side (if you remember my head had been turned to the right when I was hit, causing the left side to hyper-extend out and whip back when I got hit). The left side of my neck, the muscles were all "stretched out" is all I could figure, so my head flopped right. I had whiplash per the ER. They gave me vicoden and muscle relaxers and it helped some but everyting in my body hurt. St. Francis wouldn't take an MRI because it didn't seem emergent to them, they said to schedule one through my primary care doctor. Though they did note that my blood pressure on the left arm was 30 points different than on my right arm. My body was what I can only call "spasming" all over all the time. I had nerve damage in my neck and back and my whole body was tweaking. The muscle spasms were so bad that they spasmed all the way around to my stomach muscles. Thank God for muscle relaxers! The constant muscle spasms went on for months, I still have muscle spasms to date, though not as constant, and it's been three years since the accident! My mind didn't seem to be working right either. I was more forgetful than usual and my thinking was fuzzy. I'm still having spasms but not as often. It took +++ months for the confused forgetful feeling to get better. My back has been so bad that I couldn’t stand up from a sitting position without using my arms to support my weight, I’ve got burning in my neck and back, my limbs feel heavy. I also had post-traumatic stress, I was depressed about the constant pain, tense, jumpy, weepy and anxious for a long time after the accident. All in all the experience is\was\has been miserable
By day three I finally found out why the right side of my chest hurt. I had popped a rib out of my sternum during the accident! I felt it pop back in by day three and it was VERY painful when it did! I felt around the sternum and sure enough I found the sore spot. The rib that had popped out was VERY painful where the joint was in my sternum. I gave it some thought and the reason the rib had hurt further to the right in my chest at the time of the accident is because that is where the stress point was on the rib! Now I also had soreness in my sternum too!
More later.....
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