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  1. #1
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    2 ribs scapula punctured lung recovery time?

    Misjudged a jump on my mtb and ate shit. My right should took the hit.

    Any tips for speedy recovery? It was a long shitty winter here in Minnesota and I was looking forward to spending the summer outside playing.

    Thanks!
    Livin the moon time.

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by powderfinger View Post
    Misjudged a jump on my mtb and ate shit. My right should took the hit.

    Any tips for speedy recovery? It was a long shitty winter here in Minnesota and I was looking forward to spending the summer outside playing.

    Thanks!
    Might wanna have a conversation with inspectorgadget, he had a similar experience the other day.

    Anyways, I don't have any tips, but ++++++++++vibes++++++++++
    Quote Originally Posted by Divebomber View Post
    OR sign it with a fake sig, then later they say "we have your sig!" NO you dont!

  3. #3
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    Well that sucks. No idea how long a lung takes to heal, but I hope not too long.

    Good luck healing up quickly.

  4. #4
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    The lung is feeling much better and I was told 8-10 days. Tomorrow will be #7.

    I am more concerned with the scapula and range of motion and how fast I can get back.

    Thanks for the vibe and well wishes.
    Livin the moon time.

  5. #5
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    My ribs & lung thing was almost 100% in 1 month. I don't know anything about scapula injuries.
    SLOWER TRAFFIC
    KEEP RIGHT
    http://shifter102.blogspot.com/

  6. #6
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    Not the same thing, but I shattered my clavicle and scapula each into 7 pieces and smashed three ribs, one of which lacerated my heart. I was out for 10 weeks.

    I boiled my thermometer, and sure enough, this spot, which purported to be two thousand feet higher than the locality of the hotel, turned out to be nine thousand feet LOWER. Thus the fact was clearly demonstrated that, ABOVE A CERTAIN POINT, THE HIGHER A POINT SEEMS TO BE, THE LOWER IT ACTUALLY IS. Our ascent itself was a great achievement, but this contribution to science was an inconceivably greater matter.

    --MT--

  7. #7
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    Smashed my scapula clean across the joint surface. 2 months on the bag splint post pinning op then further 4 with weights etc until full ROM and strength.

  8. #8
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    we can talk pain meds... Percocet & Muscle Relaxers make for some nice melty time.

  9. #9
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    i had a big mountain bike crash a few years back on my left side.

    broke my clavicle, came close to dislocating shoulder, broke 5 ribs and almost broke my hip on that side.

    Clean break to the clavicle. into a normal sling. took about 3 weeks for the clavicle to knit, broke it a couple of times by accident/in bed in those 3 weeks. all part of the game.

    I used 4 ibuprofen tablets in the first 2 days but nothing after that. 'let pain be your guide' n all that.

    Able to weight bear after about 6 weeks. light weights after about 8-9 weeks.

    i didn't fully get back on it in the gym until about 16 weeks in to make sure i didn't break it again.

    i was back on my bike after 3 and half months. Don't push it but do do exercise. swimming helps a lot.

    make sure your sling keeps your arm and shoulder in the right place. i checked it every day after putting the sling on. If you get this wrong, you get one shoulder way higher or lower than the other.

    ribs will fix fine, they only really start to hurt when they start to knit and you keep breaking them while breathing.


    no lung damage for me but that should repair quicker than your bones anyway.

    4 years later, shoulder works fine. A few clicks but i know getting into the gym and doing loads of shoulder stretches helped a ton.

    clavicle still has a decent sized lump on it. This can be a bit annoying as backpack straps sit right on it. I make sure my packs have very padded straps.
    Last edited by wildstyle; 05-29-2008 at 10:41 AM.
    Semper in Pulveris .... Only the depth varies

  10. #10
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    so dumbass me is cutting trea branch about a foot over head , branch ihight about 15 feet up. Fuckin thing globbers me in the forehead and pushes me off the latter, land on my back on the concrete walkway below. 2.5 CM detachment / partial lung collapse. did that on sunday, I'm assuming the saturday 13 days out I'll be fine for an important team tennis match based on what I'm reading here, anyone firsthand experience ? (with either the lung collapse or dumbass tree trimming)
    "Can't you see..."

  11. #11
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    Glad you're not dead or paralyzed. I'd write off the tennis: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...specially-ribs

  12. #12
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    Yeah all things considered i was pretty damn lucky, they did multiple chest xrays head/neck/chest CTs and the only thing was the lung, a hlellva nock on mah forehead and my back is sore from the fall. I was boarderline on the inflation but after watchin for 36 hrs they decided to let it heal on it's own. Again nothing broken so the lung is the only thing, saw that thread but mine wasn't nearly as bad - vibes - so I hope not to write off....cheers MT
    "Can't you see..."

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    so dumbass me is cutting trea branch about a foot over head , branch ihight about 15 feet up. Fuckin thing globbers me in the forehead and pushes me off the latter, land on my back on the concrete walkway below. 2.5 CM detachment / partial lung collapse. did that on sunday, I'm assuming the saturday 13 days out I'll be fine for an important team tennis match based on what I'm reading here, anyone firsthand experience ? (with either the lung collapse or dumbass tree trimming)
    So my buddy had a punctured lung and surgery. With valve put in he was out 6-8 weeks and told to limit activity and protect injury. He was pretty good within a month and I told him to follow doctors orders and ensure full recovery.

    I had broken ribs and chiropractor would have helped me with later issues if I had gone 8-10 weeks after injury instead of 8-10 years.

    Hope it helps


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums
    I need to go to Utah.
    Utah?
    Yeah, Utah. It's wedged in between Wyoming and Nevada. You've seen pictures of it, right?

    So after 15 years we finally made it to Utah.....


    Thanks BCSAR and POWMOW Ski Patrol for rescues

    8, 17, 13, 18, 16, 18, 20, 19, 16, 24, 32, 35

    2021/2022 (13/15)

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    so dumbass me is cutting trea branch about a foot over head , branch ihight about 15 feet up. Fuckin thing globbers me in the forehead and pushes me off the latter, land on my back on the concrete walkway below. 2.5 CM detachment / partial lung collapse. did that on sunday, I'm assuming the saturday 13 days out I'll be fine for an important team tennis match based on what I'm reading here, anyone firsthand experience ? (with either the lung collapse or dumbass tree trimming)

    I collapsed a lung in early June riding MTB. documented in the thread linked above. It took a couple months before I could do anything athletic. Two months afterwards, I was still getting very lightheaded just doing super mild hiking and walking up stairs. But I broke 6 ribs and my clavicle and scapula. They told me a year to normal lung activity. I'm 4 months out now and I don't think about it anymore, but if I really try and take a deep breath, I can still tell it's not back to full capacity.

  15. #15
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    Schralp had a lung collapse, didn't realize it was so long ago but it looks like it took him most of a year before getting back to skinning
    https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...d.php?t=195561

  16. #16
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    A few years back in a bike crash I had a lung collapse along with rib and comminuted clavicle fracture that required surgery. Docs delayed surgery for 2 or 3 weeks to let the lung heal. I did not ask about playing tennis.

  17. #17
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    Lung two weeks,
    Ribs can take over a month
    Scapula depends, surgery or not, displacement or not, how quickly you grow bone etc.
    I'm told the midget port in the padded room will help grow bone, but Splat is no doctor.
    Quote Originally Posted by hortence View Post
    When I did twice the work for half the control, I was a whiny little bitch

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    so dumbass me is cutting trea branch about a foot over head , branch ihight about 15 feet up. Fuckin thing globbers me in the forehead and pushes me off the latter, land on my back on the concrete walkway below. 2.5 CM detachment / partial lung collapse. did that on sunday, I'm assuming the saturday 13 days out I'll be fine for an important team tennis match based on what I'm reading here, anyone firsthand experience ? (with either the lung collapse or dumbass tree trimming)
    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    Yeah all things considered i was pretty damn lucky, they did multiple chest xrays head/neck/chest CTs and the only thing was the lung, a hlellva nock on mah forehead and my back is sore from the fall. I was boarderline on the inflation but after watchin for 36 hrs they decided to let it heal on it's own. Again nothing broken so the lung is the only thing, saw that thread but mine wasn't nearly as bad - vibes - so I hope not to write off....cheers MT
    So no rib fx. 2.5cm pneumothorax--lung edge is that far from the chest wall. Managed without a tube. Do I have that correct? I'd want to see the lung completely expanded on xray for a couple of days at least before any strenuous activity. The thing that really heals punctured lungs is being up against the pleura--the lining of the inside of the chest. Once the hole in the lung touches the pleura it will stick and the lung is unlikely to collapse again. Until then the closure of the hole is tenuous.
    I've never had a collapsed lung myself, but I've treated enough of them.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    so dumbass me is cutting trea branch about a foot over head , branch ihight about 15 feet up. Fuckin thing globbers me in the forehead and pushes me off the latter, land on my back on the concrete walkway below. 2.5 CM detachment / partial lung collapse. did that on sunday, I'm assuming the saturday 13 days out I'll be fine for an important team tennis match based on what I'm reading here, anyone firsthand experience ? (with either the lung collapse or dumbass tree trimming)
    Well your mind is damn effing sharp! Resurrecting a 12 year old thread for an injury today is some serious work! I’d have just done a fresh thread.

    I hav e no advice on enhancing your recovery beyond I hope you are playing tennis soon and have the gas for skiing.

    Damn, what a Mind and memory....


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    Using Tapatalk

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by blackalps View Post
    I collapsed a lung in early June riding MTB. documented in the thread linked above. It took a couple months before I could do anything athletic. Two months afterwards, I was still getting very lightheaded just doing super mild hiking and walking up stairs. But I broke 6 ribs and my clavicle and scapula. They told me a year to normal lung activity. I'm 4 months out now and I don't think about it anymore, but if I really try and take a deep breath, I can still tell it's not back to full capacity.
    Sounds about right. We had almost the same injuries. You’ll get the breath back but the pain is yours for life.


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  21. #21
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    Oct 2004
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    Google Dr. Andreo Spina Controlled Articular Rotations CARS

  22. #22
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    OG I appreciate your thoughts. As best I can recall, i drove myself to closest hospital (non-trauma center) about 16 hours after the fall 8 AM monday. abut 9:30 am they did the first x ray and pronounced the collapsed lung. I think they initially indicated 2.5cm but at that point i was getting morphine. CTs followed and at 12:30 The cardiothorasic consult initially asked me if I wanted the surgery which I thought was odd. I remember saying I thought he was way smarter than me and I'd let him make the call. So he launches into a diatribe about how I was not at a trauma center and they were talking about moving me to one and did i want to move? Again i thought it odd he keeps asking me so I said you're way smarter than me i trust your judgement. He seemed to want to do the surgery but was saying the ER heirarchy was making the call and they said no. So I stay overnight for observation.,

    6:00 AM they do another xray and different doc says the hole is now 3.0 and he disagrees with the radiologist comments that's its small, and he says surgery likely. Doc #1 shows up about 8:30 again asks me if i want the surgery and I say I want to do what heals the fastest. So he goes and starts bringing in the equipment to do the balloon in my room. 20m later he stops by says again ER management overrules, thinks the perspective of the xray is causing the increase in size and at 12 they'll do another. I think after that xray set he says the hole now 2.0 and they are gonna let me go home and heal on it's own. CAn definitely breath deeper now than i could say tuesday, but am having consistent pain that "feels" on my back/side and kicks in when I try to sit/lay back, or reach for something, particularly reaching down to the ground. If anything broke they at least did not share it with me. That's what I can remember, wonder why the ER was so dead set against the ballon?

    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    So no rib fx. 2.5cm pneumothorax--lung edge is that far from the chest wall. Managed without a tube. Do I have that correct? I'd want to see the lung completely expanded on xray for a couple of days at least before any strenuous activity. The thing that really heals punctured lungs is being up against the pleura--the lining of the inside of the chest. Once the hole in the lung touches the pleura it will stick and the lung is unlikely to collapse again. Until then the closure of the hole is tenuous.
    I've never had a collapsed lung myself, but I've treated enough of them.
    "Can't you see..."

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Marshall Tucker View Post
    OG I appreciate your thoughts. As best I can recall, i drove myself to closest hospital (non-trauma center) about 16 hours after the fall 8 AM monday. abut 9:30 am they did the first x ray and pronounced the collapsed lung. I think they initially indicated 2.5cm but at that point i was getting morphine. CTs followed and at 12:30 The cardiothorasic consult initially asked me if I wanted the surgery which I thought was odd. I remember saying I thought he was way smarter than me and I'd let him make the call. So he launches into a diatribe about how I was not at a trauma center and they were talking about moving me to one and did i want to move? Again i thought it odd he keeps asking me so I said you're way smarter than me i trust your judgement. He seemed to want to do the surgery but was saying the ER heirarchy was making the call and they said no. So I stay overnight for observation.,

    6:00 AM they do another xray and different doc says the hole is now 3.0 and he disagrees with the radiologist comments that's its small, and he says surgery likely. Doc #1 shows up about 8:30 again asks me if i want the surgery and I say I want to do what heals the fastest. So he goes and starts bringing in the equipment to do the balloon in my room. 20m later he stops by says again ER management overrules, thinks the perspective of the xray is causing the increase in size and at 12 they'll do another. I think after that xray set he says the hole now 2.0 and they are gonna let me go home and heal on it's own. CAn definitely breath deeper now than i could say tuesday, but am having consistent pain that "feels" on my back/side and kicks in when I try to sit/lay back, or reach for something, particularly reaching down to the ground. If anything broke they at least did not share it with me. That's what I can remember, wonder why the ER was so dead set against the ballon?
    Sorry to hear you got the run around. Try a different hospital next time for sure. The surgeon should have given you options but owed you an explanation of the pros and cons of each and their opinion as to which was best.

    Regarding the pain--I suspect there is a fractured rib that didn't show up on xray. Very common. We diagnose rib fractures based on the pain and point tenderness--if someone pokes a spot on your chest and it hurts a lot that is presumed to be a fracture. Not important from a treatment standpoint to see it on xray. It does make a difference in how long it will hurt--at least 6 weeks. If it is broken I doubt you will be much use playing tennis.



    As far as the pneumothorax (collapsed lung*), it's fine to treat them by observing them to make sure they don't grow and eventually go away. Yours is a little larger than I might have treated without a tube to expand the lung but I don't think it was wrong to do it that way. At this point the important thing is to have a follow up xray to make sure it isn't getting worse and that it is getting better. So definitely get follow up. A lung that doesn't expand after a pneumothorax can become trapped, which needs a big operation to fix.

    What happens with a pneumothorax is that there is a small hole in the lung (which can't be seen on an xray) and air leaks out of the lung and collects between the lungs and the chest wall. The goal in treatment is to eliminate this air so the lung is touching the chest wall (the ribs and muscles and lining of the chest--the pleura). With a small pneumothorax (we like to abbreviate as "ptx"--the body can absorb the air on its own.

    The procedure to treat a pneumothorax is to place a small tube into the chest with a one way valve on the end. When you breath out or cough the pressure in your chest pushes the air out the tube. When you breathe in the valve prevents air from going into the chest through the tube. So eventually all the air between the lung and the chest is eliminated and the lung is fully expanded and is in contact with the chest wall. In a case where the pneumothorax is very large or if the lung isn't expanding, we put a larger tube in the chest and suck the air out.

    *In describing this to a doctor, better to use the term "pneumothorax". "Collapsed lung" can mean two things--pneumothorax, that is air between the lung and the chest wall, or a lung or part of a lung that has lost a lot of its air because the bronchus (branch of the wind pipe) is plugged with mucus or something else.

    * pronounced new--mow--THOR--axe

    So make sure you get follow up with an xray, and go to a different hospital next time.

  24. #24
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    Ah fuckkety, makes sense.
    Dammit.
    Still gonna give it a shot. Really do appreciate you man. I just simply cannot imagine doing what you do, the stakes involved.. I mean, I fuck up, company may owe 10 million.

    Nobody dies.

    Quote Originally Posted by old goat View Post
    I suspect there is a fractured rib that didn't show up on xray. Very common.
    "Can't you see..."

  25. #25
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    Quote Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn View Post
    Sounds about right. We had almost the same injuries. You’ll get the breath back but the pain is yours for life.


    Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

    yeh. those two chest tube holes are the culprit, I think. Everything else is mostly back to normal. Although I went running yesterday and it steels feels like I have a solid wall in my rib cage on that side that my lungs just can't expand past. Gets to a certain point and the elasticity is just gone. I imagine it's what it would feel like to try to breathe in deep with a tightly tied corset on.

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