Hurt ribs????

[lenii]

My DH (85) fell yesterday at 4 a.m. and hit his ribs. He can get up and down,get dressed,ect, but is in alot of pain when he coughs or moves wrong. I am just wondering if I should take him for XRays. I know they don't do anything for cracked or broken ribs, don't even wrap them anymore(for fear of pnemonia). I am giving him ibuprophen. I think I will get the heating pad out today,too.

Anything else I could be doing???He uses a walker and it's really hard to get him around normally, now I don't even know if I could get him in the car.

[jer]

If he did break a rib it could puncture his lung or another organ. I would take him in for x-rays. Call someone to help you get him into the car.

[EDDIE BUCK]

Your DH is sure in my prayers.I had bruised ribs one time,and the only pain I ever had that would match it,was kidney stones.When they xrayed mine,I was looking for all of them to be either broke or tore loose,with all that pain.

They put me on Demerol for a week,and for that week I was drunk and hurting the worst I ever had.The pain from the coughing was helped by putting ace bandages around the chest for support, plus, keeping a pillow close by to squeeze aganist the ribs when you felt a cough was coming.

The main thing that helps is time,but when you hurting that bad,time is in Grandma gear(no relation to you fast Grannys out there)Hope he soon stops hurting. Eddie Buck

[ronbre]

you might be able to "feel" and see if anything seems to be out of place..if it is just swollen it might be a separated rib or fracture but not broken out of place.

if you can't tell, take him in..at least he could get some pain meds for a couple of weeks

[lenii]

and sleeping. I don't think he slept much last nite. He was really confused... I hate to drag him out. The heating pad is really helping, he says and am giving him 600 mg ibuprophen now. The hospital is full of viruses and flu. I will take him to get Xrays at an urgent care in town or his Dr if we can get in tomorrow. Nothing feels broken or it isn't swollen or bruised on the outside. A trip to the hospital is about four hours of waiting, waiting and more waiting, for reports from xray, lab,R.T., and what have you.. Very uncomfortable table to lay on...trips to bathroom...torture.

Thanks all, for advise..

[pookshollow]

Get him to a doctor! An elderly friend of my parents fell and hurt his ribs, and he was dead of pneumonia a week later - and, yes, it was connected.

This is nothing to mess with, trust me.

[tiffnzacsmom]

Get him seen right away he could have seriously hurt himself.

[lenii]

They took an xray and one rib is fractured, but not separated. His lungs are good. They gave him some tylenol with codiene..

By afternoon, he seemed to be not hurting as much, so decided to go.

Thanks for the push, everyone.

[farmergirl]

IIRC, Lenii you are caring for your DH who has dementia? My heart goes out to you as I read of the trials that come up for you both. I went through something similar with my mom and it is the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life. I will hold you in my thoughts.

[lenii]

It was a trying weekend. He doesn't even remember falling. Thanks for caring. There are a few more trials going on in my life,too. But I have two great daughters, that are there to talk to. I need about a months vacation, but thats not happening. It's good to come here and get support..

[tamsam]

Being one that is in pain a lot, keep his pain meds on time. Once they get into your system it is easy to maintain them. If you go to long without them it seems to take forever for them to start working again. Good luck with the hurt ribs and remember to take care of yourself. {HUGGGSSSS} Sam

[Jenn]

Lenii they may have told you but I know how much you recall from an ER visit... The main goal is to keep him breathing normally by keeping him out of pain. Folks who get pneumonia after a rib fracture do so from not breathing deeply enough because they hurt when they do so that's how to prevent that.

[ejagno]

Lenii; Praying that DH recovers quickly from this fall.