Dumb Things to Do

-

I cracked a rib last week and it hurts like heck. No, don't feel sorry for me. I don't deserve it. It's really stupid how I did it. I was sitting on the deck in one of the plastic wicker chairs and I dropped an appointment card I found in my coat pocket. It landed on the deck beside my chair. Did I get up and bend over to pick it up like a smart person? No, I didn't. I leaned over the arm of the chair and reached as far as I could with my left hand. With my fingers still six inches away from the card, reaching became painful. Did I get up and pick up the card like a normal person. Oh, no I didn't. I pushed past the point of pain and stretched until I heard something snap. Then I got up and picked up the card like anyone else would have.

Since I'm an old hand at breaking ribs, I didn't bother going to the hospital. Unless the rib is puncturing a lung, there isn't much they can do, except maybe give me painkillers, which don't work for me. I already have ibuprofen, which only helps a little bit, but works better than most prescription pills.

Having already injured myself, I went out and dug a 30 foot long trench for planting potatoes. That kind of activity should be reserved for people without broken bones, but I wasn't feeling too bad, so I went right to work. That evening I was in even more pain than when I originally hurt myself. For the better part of a week, I've been struggling with the discomfort of putting on my coat, taking off my coat, showering, drying off, getting into bed, getting out of bed, rolling over, staying still, picking things up, putting things down, etc.


Today I was feeling better, so I went out, planted some potatoes, dug another 30 foot trench, planted some more potatoes, covered the potatoes, and then I had to cook dinner. I was making chicken stir fry. Cutting up the chicken was really, really painful. My injured rib is on the left side and I'm right handed, so cutting on one side was causing sharp pains on the other. The exertion of all that work really aggravated my injury.

Have I learned anything? Yes, but I won't remember it.

Stephen P.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It's Been Awhile

-
Sorry, it's been a long time since my last post. I've been overwhelmingly busy starting and ending a new career and finishing my latest novel. I won't even go into the career, but I spent months taking classes and getting licensed before finding it just wasn't for me. The novel, on the other hand, I've likely referred to in previous blogs as Murphy, Sean Murphy and Serving Murphy. The current title and most likely for the novel to be published under is The Last Alias. I will wait a few weeks before rereading it and doing final revisions and rewrites. After that I will publish it on Amazon.com. My next novel, Eaters II, is already in the works and will likely be finished sometime next spring. In my last post, I promised to comment on all the television shows on my viewing list for the summer season. So much for that. If you've been paying attention, you probably know that most summer shows have already had their season finales, so I'll just provide a
Read more

Fast Lane Blues

-
The world seems to be changing fast these days. Or maybe it's just me getting old. This planet has always seen bursts of rapid development, from hunter-gatherer to agrarian--okay, maybe not that, but aviation between 1914 and 1919, for instance. So many things have happened since World War II. Television has gone from limited availability analog black-and-white broadcast to unlimited high definition digital satellite-direct, interactive. Computers have gone from massive mechanical devices, to analog vacuum tube monstrosities, to analog transistor monstrosities, to digital microchip handheld devices. One iPhone now has more computing power than all of the computers in existence in 1968 combined. Sadly, human space travel hasn't gone very far in the last forty years, but unmanned exploration has discovered amazing things--few answers, but lots of new questions. Many "advancements" in chemistry and biology have been ill-advised and potentially disastrous, but the w
Read more

Days of Future Past

-
I grew up during the space race, watching the progress of civilization on a small black and white television. Radio stations had their own news departments providing news and weather updates at the top of every hour. Reading was still the major source of information, from daily newspapers to weekly reviews. Magazines like Popular Mechanics and Science Digest predicted a utopian future with flying cars, robotic homes and tourists in space. And best of all, it was a golden age of science fiction with new paperbacks showing up at the dime store or the newsstand every week. Oh, and everybody wrote and received lots of letters, making writing a major means of communication. While a nostalgia for that time influences my work, the excitement of the years since has not escaped me. I enjoy Punk Rock and Seattle Grunge; I watch commercial space travel with excitement and interest; I have traded in my old typewriter for a computer keyboard and my postage stamps for an email accoun
Read more