On Jan. 5 I slipped and fell on ice, falling hard on my side. I definitely felt it, but it wasn't terribly painful. I got up and continued on home, a few blocks away.
For the first few days I didn't seem to feel much of anything, but about a week into it, I did begin to feel more discomfort around the rib cage, and intermittently in the back nearby. Admittedly, probably unwisely, I did do some snow shoveling. I had to get my truck out to go buy food. Also, I have had a pretty bad cold which turned into bronchitis, so there's been some coughing. I'm much better in that respect now, with little to no coughing.
In the following days and weeks it varied from noticeably uncomfortable to feeling almost nothing at all. It's been very snowy here and yesterday, on a day I was feeling little to nothing and like everything was close to healing, I did shovel my walkway and side walk. This morning I'm feeling the discomfort much more than I have in some days, when breathing and some odd movements.
None of this seems to me to have risen to a level I'd call "painful", just uncomfortable when it happens. I'm not anywhere near "agony", just worried, and disappointed that it's interfering with my running and other physical activity. I can walk very easily and can run across cross walks. I can turn in bed without any problem.
I've read of 6 weeks as a usual healing time for bruised ribs, which will fall Feb. 18 for me, so if I don't feel noticeable improvement by then, as much as I hate to----I'm very iatrophobic---I may see a doctor about it.
From somebody who's experience bruised ribs, is the relative lack of pain encouraging? If you went to a doctor, how much did it cost to treat your ribs, start to finish. I'm very low income on Obamacare.
Please don't preach about seeing a doctor. I'll make that decision myself. I'm just interested in the experiences of anybody who've had a similar injury.
Thanks.
