Question: I'm very familiar with medicine, having been married to a Harvard Med grad who is double-board certified in general surgery and colo-rectal surgery. I've never misdiagnosed any of the situations with my 7 kids, including a brain hemorrhage in one and a bone tumor (eosinophilic granular) in my daughter, appendicitis in 4, and so on, despite my physician husband arguing my diagnoses.
However, I'm not so great at diagnosing myself.
So, three days ago I mistakenly threw something into a deep trash collection bin, which landed on the bottom of the deep wheeled bin. I leaned in to retrieve and couldn't reach it, so tried to reach deeper. I still couldn't reach it. It was then the I realized I was stuck on the sharp plastic edge of the trash bin, directly on my lower 2-3 ribs, feet off the ground, hanging on the edge by my ribcage and nothing else.
I now have the classic symptoms of (a)(some) fractured ribs but just on the left side (left side past sternum): pain on deep breathing, pain on coughing, pain on moving or twisting or bending over, pain on pushing for a bowel movement.
I had a large open surgery ASD repair 15 years ago, with eight wires still in my sternum.
Is there anything that I need to do, other than treat my injury symptomatically? Any worries about sequelae to my ribs and their alignment this long after my heart repair? Thank you for your help.