The Life and Times of Alann

Last Wednesday we had what is called an inversion, if you don't know what that is it is when all the cold air in the valley gets stuck underneath the warmer air higher up in the atmosphere. So any air pollutants that get stuck in the air stay there. It got so bad last week that you could not see the mountains and the sky was this yellow orangish color. Apparently i am fairly sensitive to the air quality around me, we have always lived in more rural type settings so i have never really had too much experience with smog and such...... Hold on Nikki just threw up. OK I'm back. So where was i, oh yes the yellow air. So, lately Becca has started to snore in her sleep (not her fault) which not only keeps me up, but wakes me up too, so my level of sleep right now is pretty low.

Then the in version rolls in and my sinuses start running like there is no tomorrow and it feels like someone is pouring Tabasco sauce down the back of my throat. Then at night everything backs up and i have to wake up to cough my airways clear so i can breath again. Well after a couple of nights like this i finally get a real cold, which funny enough is actually better than the inversion because there is less mucus and more breathing, but more coughing. Which leads to my next part the inversion has started to clear and I'm on day 3 of being sick (so far its 1.5 weeks total of the whole thing) and i start to cough so hard that i end up moving 2 of my lower ribs on my right side.

At first they just hurt like if you strained you back and pulled something, so i thought nothing of them. But then the next day i had a meeting i had to go to for school and somehow on the walk over to the building i moved them again and even worse. So for the entire half hour meeting i am sweating up a storm because of the pain I'm in and i seriously thought i would have to ask these complete strangers who i just met to call an ambulance for me. But the meeting ended and i was able to make it back down the stairs to the main hall. The problem now is that i have to get back to my office and get home with my backpack which contains everything valuable and personal in my life. By this point the pain is excruciating. Imagine that you have been hit in the back of the ribs with a baseball bat and have one of the deep, black/blue, swollen bruises now and every time you take a step or try to breath someone takes the rounded handle side of a broom and pushes on that bruise.

To get to my office i have to walk about 3 city blocks get on a train take it to the down town station and then walk another 6 blocks to get to my car and i have to do it all with out being able to take more than a 1/4 of a light breath. So i go over to the men's bathroom get in one of the stalls and take my belt off. Then i put it under my shirt and tighten it down to the smallest hole over my ribcage so that i have something to help me support my self and allow me to breath. I put my shirt down put on my coat and backpack and walked out of the building and started to walk to the train station. I got to the end of the parking lot and had to bend over so i could gasp for air. I had to do this about 2 more times while walking down this back walkway to get to the station. The whole time hoping that i wouldn't pass out in this no mans land from lack of air or pain and get mugged.

But i finally made it to the train where i got on and sat down using the backrest to support my ribs so i could breath. By now i have decided that there is no way i am going back to work and that i really need to see the chiropractor today, right now, instead of tomorrow at our normal time. I also don't know if i can make the even longer walk to my office to get my car and drive there myself. So i called up Becca to get the cell phone number to the doctors and told her between ragged gasps that she might have to meet me at the south train station and take me because i can't breath and don't know if i can walk to my car. So after just talking to Becca right now, she said that she wasn't concerned about me after i got off the phone with her, which i didn't know.

But either way i called my boss and let him know what was happening and he was like o.k, like i had just told him i landed on the moon and was having tea with little purple penguins. Then i called the doctors and set up an appointment for 5 which is his last time available. Then i look at my watch and realize that if i go to the south station i will never make it on time and i have to walk to my car and drive there to make it. So i undid the belt because it was making me sick and got off at the downtown stop and with my hand holding my ribs in place started to walk the 6 blocks to my car. By now the spams have lessened and i can take a 1/2 a light breath and the broom isn't jabbing me as hard. I made it to my car and raced over to the doctors and got there at 4:57 and sat down on a chair as best i could so i could breath.

A few minutes later Dr Dave (our secondary primary doctor) comes by and looks at me and are you OK? I tell him what is going on and he says that he will get a room ready and bring me back in a minute. After i get in there he tries to have me lay on my back which doesn't work because every time i try i spasm. Then we try the front where after a couple of tries we finally have some success. So he adjusts what he can and then tries to move my ribs to no avail. He then puts my on some electro-therapy and says that the muscles are too swollen to move with out first putting me on some suppressants and says all i can do is go home and put some ice on it to help the swelling to go down.

So what adjusting he could do helped me to be able to breath at about 1/2 a normal breath and the spasms have stopped except for when i breath too deeply. So i go home let the dogs out set the couch cushions up to give me some support and got my icepack out and sat down and started my ice down rotation for the night. Finally Becca comes home and we talk about our day and she tortures me by making me laugh which causes me pain, evil woman ;) and i continue to do ice therapy. Around bed time i told her i would have to sleep propped up on the couch so i could breath and could she please take the dogs with her into the bedroom for the night, which she did. Then i went and took some cough depressants and pain killers and luckily went to sleep. And surprisingly only woke up once when i felt light headed from being propped up for so long, so i moved the pillows and went back to sleep.

Then this morning we went back to the chiropractor where he was able to move the ribs back into place. Now i can breath 7/8 normal and only spasm when i try to breath deep enough to cough, which is not often or when Becca makes me laugh, evil woman :) That about wraps up may adventure for the week and I'm hoping next week won't be nearly as exciting.