SPECULATION

Always SOMETHING. Based on the location and nature of the discomfort I am experiencing from yesterday's fall (mid-chest on the left, and difficulty in both deep breathing and in rotating my trunk), and also based on my memory of the feeling from a fall while running in late May 2006 when I broke a rib, I am going under the assumption that I have done the same now. I was told by the doctor at that time that the only way to be 100% positive was to get an x-ray, but that if money was a factor (as it is now), they would recommend against it, since there is no way they can treat a broken rib—you just have to be patient and wait for it to heal. So now, I am putting my riding on hold for the foreseeable future, and practicing my "gift of patience," as Michelle calls it.