# Big Incident



## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

kudos for you getting back on when i was in 3rd grade i had broke my arm but i still insisted on riding cast and all :] 
glad to hear you both are alright though!


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

thanks barrel...I just knew it would eat at me the whole time if I didn't do it, and now I can rest and get better with this good experience to think on...got some great new pain meds today which have stopped the indescribably horrible back spasms I was having...sometimes it's good to have something like this just to know how freakin' good just taking a nice deep breath without agony is


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

By the way folks--the helmet saved my life! If you don't have one, get one!


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## BarrelracingArabian (Mar 31, 2010)

yeah i understand 
I almost always wear my helmet unless on the rare occasion i had forgotten to put it on but i almost always have it so its very rare that i dont have it on


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

I'm glad to hear you weren't hurt more seriously! I wish you a fast recovery!  Do you know what spooked Sassy?
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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

So sorry to hear about your accident, and glad that you are doing well, and great job for getting right back on again. 

I have had broken ribs and a collapsed lung, the lung was ok after I got through the reinflating part, I hope you didn't have to go through that and it reinflated without the needle. 
My ribs were broken for me in surgery, but the recovery was a PITA, everything hurts, moving, laughing, coughing, sneezing - there is not a **** thing that you can do without it hurting! Didn't even realize I bent a little to wipe my rear until I had broken ribs! Talk about sucking!


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

AlexS said:


> Didn't even realize I bent a little to wipe my rear until I had broken ribs!


 :lol: :rofl:
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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

^^^ those are the moments when you find out your pain tolerance.... do you call for help from a loved one, or deal with it and find new ways of stretching your arm and bending your knees!


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

Wow that sounds like quite the wreck!!! Good on you for getting back up...sometimes the longer you have to wait, the harder it can be!!! Hope you heal quickly!!!


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

It was weird. A wild wind came up suddenly through the trees and made one of the strangest sounds I have ever heard--like a thousand snakes in a barrel. I felt her go instantly, and I made for an emergency stop, but she already had bolted like wild off the trail and into the trees and in a split second the branch had knocked me off. (And this girl usually goes along as dreamily and slow as the parson's mare.) It took me so long to recover my breath I actually wondered if I had died and that this was what it was like. Then I got a breath and Sassy came back. I was so completely in shock that I didn't feel pain for a while, and I stood up and walked under my own power to the barn, though I knew I had broken ribs (heard them go when I hit). I did end up going to the hosptial in an ambulance, but I was on my feet when they got there. Drugs and my wife are my biggest aids at the moment, though it is interesting how you learn to twist and turn "around" the ribs to avoid torment. I have a choice on Monday: teach in agonizing pain or bombed out of my mind. It's literature, so maybe bombed out of my mind won't even be noticed too much. ; ) The new meds are really kicking in now, and man, they ought to put this stuff in six packs!


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Ouch.  As far as teaching, I vote for bombed. Sometimes I think my literature teacher is stoned out of her mind and those make for very interesting Hamlet discussions. :lol: AlexS--I can just imagine my boyfriend's face if I called him into the bathroom. :lol:
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## outnabout (Jul 23, 2010)

Glad you are OK and hope you have a speedy recovery! From one teacher to another... take a couple of days until you can reduce the pain meds dosage. You can always reinjure yourself on pain meds (stairs, etc) which is why in hospitals they won't let you walk without assistance when you are on them. Also, your body is in shock still from the trauma and needs a little time before you can get back to regular routine.


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## littrella (Aug 28, 2010)

> The new meds are really kicking in now, and man, they ought to put this stuff in six packs


! 

****!!! I know the feeling!!! Any pain meds knock me on my butt


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## mom2pride (May 5, 2009)

I'm the opposite...it takes a pretty high dosage to do anything for me even of strong stuff...I don't take alot of pain meds either...*sigh*


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

I am going to try to do the best I can tomorrow night teaching. I do evening classes at a local college, and a long stretch from 5pm-10pm with a half an hour break in between. Sunny, I think you are right--I am going in full of meds...Most lit and art teachers are stoned half the time anyway. ; ) On Saturday morning, I woke up with such a full-on, agonizing supersonic back spasm that I was literally paralyzed in bed, screaming in pain and a cough was like being shot with a rusty arrow. I don't need any more of that. I am allergic to narcotics (even codeine to me is what I would imagine a bad acid trip would be like), and so, if you can believe it, the hospital sent me home with just extra strength ibuprofin. I had had Tagatol in IV, but they said it didn't come in pill form. On Sat., after the back spasms continued, my wife took me to the local health care clinic, where--da dum!--I was told that Tagatol DOES come in pill form, and they gave me that and three other non-narcotic pain meds, and I am up and about. Thanks for the support, you all. That's good medicine too.


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

Toratol, not Tagtol, is the name of the drug, actually, I believe. Whatever it is, thank Jesus, Buddha and Marilyn Monroe that someone invented it.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

Do what you think is best.....however Nurse Ratchet here....as my friends affectionately call me...You probably should give yourself a couple days. Pushing yourself too soon will most likely bring back the spasms, which I am sure you don't want. I will also warn you , as I am sure you know-you SHOULD NOT DRIVE with those drugs. Just NOT a good idea. and unfortunately, even have to leave yourself a couple hours extra after the last dose to be ok driving....legally. is it really worth teaching that class right now?


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

In regard to the driving, fortunately, I live two blocks from my workplace and can walk, or I will get a neighbor to drive me. And yes, you are right, I should give myself a couple of days. I probably won't. I will listen and let tomorrow tell me. I do very much appreciate your concern and would give the same advise to any sane person. The problem is that we are a bunch of people who jump on the backs of 1,300 pound prey animals and try to keep them between us and the ground--how can you expect people like that to take good advise? ; ) Thanks--I really will think it over tomorrow. I have to have this drain tube out, and I will see how traumatic that is.


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## Azale1 (Jul 5, 2010)

happy to hear you are on the road to recovery and you didn't get hurt more seriously. Even happier to hear that you got back on. Hope you recover quickly with no more complications.


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## Lonestar22 (May 22, 2009)

DSJ46 said:


> I have a choice on Monday: teach in agonizing pain or bombed out of my mind. It's literature, so maybe bombed out of my mind won't even be noticed too much.


 
****!!!! It think you'll be ok to teach. The students will be entertained in the least.


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## cakemom (Jul 4, 2010)

Teach some Edgar Allen Poe, they'll never know ur on meds, and you'll understand it as you never have.
Sorry you got banged up so bad, but proud
to see you got back on and gave her the ride she needed to
be confident in your relationship.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

Wanted to thank everyone for the encouragement and good advice on this post. As it turned out, the school forbad me to return to work until a doc cleared me and the doc wouldn't clear me until the drain tube was out--all the legality anymore won't even let you be a tough guy! So I sat around and listened to Willie Nelson, the theme from the Magnificent Seven, lots of Johnny Cash and read about Red Pollard to keep my spirits up. I got the tube out yesterday and have been cleared to return to teaching on Monday.

It's funny you mention Poe, Cakemom. I do, in fact, teach some of his poetry and his story "Cask Of Amontillado" in one of my courses!

Fortunately, while the ribs still hurt--it was clean breaks, not just fractures--I have been able to tool back a lot on my pain medication, and I am clear of mind again and while getting the toddler out of bed in the morning involves a "rider up" trick we invented together, I am able to do some light housework and put on a shirt and pants without screaming. The hellish back spasms at night--truly a thing of the damned--I would have to scream at my wife to move me, as the pain was literally paralyzing--are gone now. One thing from all this, you learn how precious "normal" is. Thanks again for all the support. I have been getting lots of it from all kinds of directions.


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

Glad to hear you're doing better! 
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## DSJ46 (Aug 11, 2010)

thank you, Sunny...didn't you have a similar accident in which you ended up in some barbed wire or something? I guess if the best jockeys in the world are going to crack up sometimes, we are all going to come away with some scars...


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## AlexS (Aug 9, 2010)

Glad to hear you are improving and the tube is out! Wishing you a speedy recovery.


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## JustPaint (Sep 27, 2010)

Oh my goodness, I am so glad that you ok, what a horrible experience to go through. It amazes me that when I read about equine related incidents and how a rider may not even know something is broken until they get back into their routine. 

I agree with everyone great job for getting back on, I would have been a nervous wreck, it was really sweet reading the part when she came back to you. =)


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## Sunny (Mar 26, 2010)

DSJ46 said:


> thank you, Sunny...didn't you have a similar accident in which you ended up in some barbed wire or something? I guess if the best jockeys in the world are going to crack up sometimes, we are all going to come away with some scars...


 Oh, yes. :lol: Nothing was broken, but I still have some pretty awesome scars. :wink:
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