Pulling muscles from a shell

Sorry if the following is a little confused, but I'm doped to the eyeballs. Earlier today, just after I finished blogging in fact, I coughed and felt/heard a crack or a pop in my left lower ribcage, where my pulled muscle is. Immediately the pain became excruciating and when it didn't subside after a few minutes, if anything it got worse, I decided on my flatmate Chelsea's advice to go to the clinic. Thank God they're open 7 days a week. I could barely walk, couldn't breathe very well and kept crying. I made it to the clinic with Chelsea's help and got seen by a doctor who confirmed that it sounded like either a severe strain, a small tear in my intercostal muscle or a cracked rib. The treatment is the same, whichever, so we decided not to do an x-ray. He gave me an injection of Demerol, which is pethidine to us Brits. He then gave me a prescription for Percocet, as well as a very strong muscle relaxant and an asthma inhaler.

So now I know what opiates feel like, having been giving them to women for years. Very very spacey, and I barely remember the events of the early evening. I wouldn't say it took the pain away exactly, just made me care about it less really. Apparently I repeated myself a lot. I couldn't remember whether I ate dinner (I did; thanks Chelsea). I'm in a lot of pain when moving or coughing now, and still feel woosy, but it's wearing off, so I've just taken the Percocet and muscle relaxant and, while the others have popped off to the pub, I'm off to bed. I better clean my teeth quickly before they kick in and I pass out.....

I expected to injure myself skiing at some point, but I never thought I would manage to injure myself while talking to Silas on MSN. Very embarrassing.