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Is pain different when you get older?

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    • Is pain different when you get older?

      Tonight was well, a time to be together... Deanna and I have been thru a lot. We had a great time with her coworkers at a party, and we came home separately. Deanna was attempting to reach for our new Jack Russel (Belle) over a crate fence we have installed. She lost her balance, fell backwards and used her left hand to break her fall, shattering her wrist. Broke it in three places. Talk about pain. WOW.

      Well I drove her to the hospital, iced it up prior to leaving...

      Some key differences as we have both had some mishaps early on. Although there was no shock, she repeated herself over and over again. Her BP soared. Then she forgot key pieces of conversation. She kept discussing how she needed to be at work this morning. After we left the hospital and FYI all they did was mobilize, and ice it up, and Xray. She had one Percocet for two hours and they gave her three more in a envelope. Deanna misplaced the envelope, upon arrival at home... we just spent an hour to no avail. Lucky I had a back up bottle of Codine. She didn't hit her head... but there is a significant difference when you get hurt as you get older. I was a little shocked. And she has to work tomorrow... So I will be getting up early to dress her and cook a decent breakfast and drive her in.

      It leads me to think what if - this happened on the trail? Its just a wrist...she would not have been able to walk out. Maybe I could have. Kind of a wake up call. She is in a lot of pain. I did not think she was going to sleep but she made it...

      Just sharing... bit bummed - and FYI the Owl turned 54 tonight. Happy B. to me.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:

    • Sorry to hear about her wrist and happy b-day.

      You stated she wouldn't have been able to walk out of the woods... Reminds me of a time my wife and I were out hiking. We were on our way up to a local fire tower. They allow atv and motocross trail riding on the mountain. On our way down we found a teenager very upset about his friend. He stated he was back up the trail and had hit a tree. My wife being a nurse jumped into action. We found the teenager on the side of the trail. He had broken his collar bone and refused to move. My wife told him that when EMS showed up they would have him walk out. (Years back she worked for EMS) he refused to walk with us. EMS finally made it up the mountain, checked him out and told him the plans to get back to the trailhead. ... If he hadn't gottn up and started walking I assume they would have carried him. But they told him nothing could be done in the woods and that he would have to walk out with all of us. It took a while but he finally got up and walked out with us.

      Hoping for a fast recovery for Deana and her wrist!!!

    • Happy Birthday WOO! And I hope Deana heals quickly. Being in the over 50 gang I've noticed that if I bang or bruise something it seems like it takes twice as long to heel as when I was in my 20s and 30s- or maybe I just ignored it better or maybe my memory is shot????
      "Dazed and Confused"
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    • Best wishes to Deanna for a speedy recovery. FOOSH (Fall On OutStretched Hand) fractures are nasty. My wife got one by tripping over a dustpan that the cats had kicked into the walkway. They couldn't get her back to more than about 80% range of motion in the wrist, and the wrist will always be crooked.

      Warning for others: Learn good falling technique. Landing on an outstretched hand is just as likely to break a wrist as to break a fall. Much better to bend your knees, tuck, roll, and take the impact on shoulder and backpack. A lot of martial arts training is hogwash (well, not exactly, but no better than any other form of exercise and worse than some), but learning how to fall can really save you injury. Obviously, practice on a firm gym mat first.
      I'm not lost. I know where I am. I'm right here.

    • As I get older pains seem to come and go for no apparent reason.
      Usually it's a short term thing but a few weeks ago I had an unexplained pain that was sooooo bad it sent me to the emergency room. I was sure there was something serious wrong internally, but no.
      I went to my doctor the next day feeling about half the pain.
      He looked at the results of the hospital's tests, did some poking, prodding, bending and twisting and declared that I had strained, sprained, or in some way injured a large hip flexure muscle. Since I didn't do anything (that I can remember) to injure anything I'm going with the theory that it was a muscle cramp. After all, how could an injury bad enough to cause that much pain be healed, and undetectable by me, 5 days later?
      So let me say that getting old isn't as easy and graceful as some would want you to believe.

    • Happy belated birthday WOO. Hope Deanna fairs well after healing. I know what you mean about age and pain. A week ago yesterday I took a flying ass, side leg buster on the carport. flip flops in the rain. I went numb from the waist down and thought I broke my leg cause nothing would move. I pulled myself by my hands for what seemed like an eternity to the back door to bang on it where Shellie could hear me. I was too proud or embarrassed or whatever you want to call it to cry our for fear the neighbors would see me in a weakened and helpless state. it's taking what seems like forever to get back to normal. I told Shellie when I was young I would have jumped right up and said "lets go". Not anymore. Getting old sucks even though I do a lot of things to stay young it seems inevitable that I'm just not gonna heal like I used to.
      Changes Daily→ ♪♫♪♫♪♫♪♫ ♪♫♪♫♪♫ ← Don't blame me. It's That Lonesome Guitar.

    • milkman wrote:

      Happy belated birthday WOO. Hope Deanna fairs well after healing. I know what you mean about age and pain. A week ago yesterday I took a flying ass, side leg buster on the carport. flip flops in the rain. I went numb from the waist down and thought I broke my leg cause nothing would move. I pulled myself by my hands for what seemed like an eternity to the back door to bang on it where Shellie could hear me. I was too proud or embarrassed or whatever you want to call it to cry our for fear the neighbors would see me in a weakened and helpless state. it's taking what seems like forever to get back to normal. I told Shellie when I was young I would have jumped right up and said "lets go". Not anymore. Getting old sucks even though I do a lot of things to stay young it seems inevitable that I'm just not gonna heal like I used to.
      ouch.... sorry to hear this....
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:

    • Foresight wrote:

      Although there was no shock, she repeated herself over and over again. Her BP soared. Then she forgot key pieces of conversation.
      Did you happen to mention anything about this? (not so much the BP as that was pain related)
      Yea - it was odd and she is still doing it... she never hit her head,,, its a carpeted floor.... hence the conversation here.
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup:

    • After the operation Deanna slept off and on for several days.. Some "nights" exceeded 13 hours on percocet. She is doing well and is back to work... cant take a shower just yet... have to wrap stuff in plastic... new type of cast.


      Thanks for all your well wishes I did share this with her....
      :thumbsup:
      Be wise enough to walk away from the nonsense around you! :thumbup: