My winter of mid-week skiing with my Seniors ski pass came to a halt when I made a sloppy move at the top of the highest piste. I landed hard on my hip on the icy surface atop Mount Lincoln in Sugar Bowl, my favorite ski resort near Lake Tahoe, CA. Sliding headfirst down the hill, I grabbed my right ski to drop down and lower my skis. I gently experimented with what would and would not move. I asked my ski buddy, Harold, to call the ski patrol and tell them I need help.
The ski patrol came and checked me: “what day is it, what’s your name, did you hit your head, where does it hurt” and so on. I told them that I couldn’t move and that my right hip and leg hurt.
What skill and courage those guys have! My location was pretty steep, and there wasn’t enough loose snow to plant a pole, let alone get a foothold to load myself onto the sleigh’s bunk. But they did and I kept the leg and hip in place. They tied me up, covered me up and we left. My ski partner told me later that he couldn’t keep up with us. What a ride that was!
Shaking and shaking, I was admitted to the resort clinic and laid on a bed. Because it was the middle of the week and they did not have a doctor present, they were unable to take an x-ray to define my injury. I couldn’t put weight on the leg and didn’t want to move it. They loaded me into my SUV and Harold drove me to Truckee to the hospital.
They admitted me to the ER. More questions. “No, I don’t have any insurance.” She expected a strained muscle and low cost. The X-ray was inconclusive, so I had a CT scan and they confirmed that I had fractured the neck of my right femur, the place where the leg bone meets the pelvic bone. The doctor told me that there is no alternative; I must have it repaired immediately. This is the point where I collapsed and hid my face in my hands.
“Is there an alternative, doctor?” I asked him, just in case.
“No. You need surgery tonight,” he replied.
About six hours after the fall, I was prepped for surgery. They told me it would take about twenty minutes and that I could choose to be awake with a spinal block or general anesthesia. I woke up and they were done, cleaning up, sending me out of the OR to a room for the night. I was happy to have finished it.
Postoperative patients receive the best nursing care. In this case it meant a lot of attention from a handsome young nurse, a lot of company from the staff. As many blankets as you would like. More painkillers. Excellent! Then the day nurse came in. That was a different story. It was time to take my head off and start walking. The occupational therapist came, the physical therapist came. Time to get out of bed.
The painkillers made me nauseous when I got up. They brought crutches and made sure they were the right height. The occupational therapist helped me limp to the bathroom, so I thought it was okay. He tried to get me to shower, but he didn’t interest me. He just wanted me to lie down and sleep again. I didn’t realize these were little “life skills” tests one must take to get a good report on the medical chart leading to discharge.
The physical therapy technician worked with me to teach me the proper use of crutches. Don’t hang by your armpits on top of the crutch, hold on with your hands. I was assigned two sessions that day, and if I didn’t pass the ladder test, I would have to stay another night. That thought sent dollar signs whizzing through my brain with images of even higher hospital bills. Mindful of the fact that I don’t have insurance, I had to get out of there!
Through the haze of the medication I had a thought. The meds are making me sick, change my pain med, so I can get up and walk on crutches, up and down the stairs, and out of Dodge! That worked well enough and in time for my second physical therapy session. Limping down the hall to the therapy stairs, still feeling bad, I passed the stair exercise test and called my friend to take me home.
Thank you to my ski buddy for being my 24/7 caregiver after surgery. If it hadn’t been for his patience and generosity, I would have been at home, in the snow, alone and unable to drive. My sister also came a week later to stay for several days. If she wasn’t for those two, she would have been in the proverbial creek.
About ten days after surgery, feeling pretty good and on crutches just fine, my sister and I went out for a burger. I started to feel a little pain on the left side of my ribs, under my left arm. When we got home, I needed either a cold pack or a hot pack, so I tried the cold one first. That didn’t ease the pain, which was now affecting my breathing. I tried a hot pack and immediately felt an increase in pain and shortness of breath. The pain it caused was enormous. I don’t think the fracture has caused as much pain as this. Breathing shallowly to avoid causing more pain, I limped to bed to lie down and find a position I could tolerate. I thought I had a broken rib or my lung had collapsed! I have never experienced those conditions, but I thought something like this must be the cause. I was relieved to know what would happen when Peggi recalled his experience with the same type of pain two years earlier from a broken leg.
“I remember being put on crutches after I broke my leg. Within a week I was getting up off the couch and couldn’t take a deep breath. I wondered if I was injured elsewhere. The pain was barely manageable and I spent the rest of the day in the sofa gasping for breath and taking aspirin. It was an uncomfortable night and the next day I moved very carefully.” peggi said,
“I found out a few days later that it had caused my left upper back to spasm due to overuse of my muscles, it had also misaligned the rib heads in the chest area and I was relieved when my physical therapist, who knew what had Last time he adjusted my back. I still had to be careful for the next few days. Funny no one in the medical field mentioned this could be a problem. Surely I’m not the first!
Trying to use my crutches correctly, I put pressure on the crutch on my ribcage, which resulted in tenderness and tightness in the muscles that caused muscle spasms. The instructions for using crutches did not mention this side effect. I’m so glad my sister was with me and knew what the problem was. She had to breathe shallowly, not move much, and wait. I was in bed for 18 hours before I was able to get up and move. It took a week before the pain in the rib muscles disappeared.
I called the doctor’s office a week later to inquire about another matter and asked if they had any patients with my rib pain and shortness of breath. The nurse sounded alarmed and said she should have gone in, it could have been something serious like a heart attack. I had not heard of other patients with this problem. I thought this was strange, as my sister and I had experienced it. Later, I searched online for similar experiences, but could not find anything similar to our chest rib pain.
Researching my injury, I learned:
ยท Cases of leg injuries (due to skiing accidents) have decreased remarkably. “The overall injury rate in the last four decades has been reduced by 50%, and broken legs have been reduced by 95% since the early 1970s. 1
The femur, or thigh bone, is the largest and strongest bone in the human body. It is surrounded by a lot of tissue such as the quadriceps muscles and a large “femural” artery that carries a lot of blood. Because of this, it takes a lot of force to fracture a femur, and it is also very dangerous. 2
Four weeks after surgery, I use a crutch, walk up and down stairs, and drive. I feel better every day. There is pain with overuse and movement is restricted. I intend to be on the golf course in a few months!
Due to being unemployed, I have been developing two businesses that I promote online. My work is done from home. I was unable to think effectively during the time I was on pain meds, nor was I able to sit at my computer for long periods of time. I expect to take about six weeks to recover enough to return to my work at home full time.
Hospital and doctor bills exceed $33,000. The hospital has a financial assistance program and I have applied for it.
I wrote this article to share my experience with others who have suffered injuries that require the use of crutches. I would like to know if other people have had this experience of chest and rib pain, how they handled it, and what their doctors and professionals said. My contact information is in the resource box below.