Bruises

[susanreads]

I'm used to having a few small, transient bruises of unknown origin (perhaps when I bump into things?) that don't hurt except when prodded. The largest number of exceptions to this pattern, or Bruises of Note, that I can remember is the 3 I've got now.

The old one:
At the end of November I fell over in the street. Unlike the occasional thing where I trip and catch myself, I don't know how it happened: I was just walking, then I was falling, then I was on the deck. Later I had a massive, lurid bruise just below my left hip. It's mostly gone, or faded to the same pasty colour as the rest of me, but there's still a broken ring of purple, and a purple splodge at the end that was the last to stop being tender.

The minor one:
On Saturday I grazed my lower leg on a sharp corner in a shop. The bruise is a lot bigger than the actual abrasion, but at its darkest it couldn't compete with the remains of the big one.

The one people can see:
On Friday I had a tooth out. It's the one that had the root canal in whatever year it was, so when it broke the tooth didn't hurt, but wasn't worth trying to save. Because it was shattered, the dentist had to keep drilling away to get the bits out. When people remarked on it on Saturday, I thought they could see the swelling, but I got home and looked in a mirror and there's a lurid, well-defined bruise an inch or so across, from just below my lip to under my chin. Ow.

Speaking of Ow, Paracetamol note: if you know what Paracetamol tablets taste like, the soluble kind are so much better. The chemist didn't have the capulets (h/t spiralsheep), so I decided to give the effervescent ones a try, and it turns out that the taste of bubbles (carbonic acid?) overcomes the taste of the active ingredient. Try it! (if you need OTC painkillers that aren't aspirin, not for fun, obv.)

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Testimony to the hard edges of our days that one even contemplates effervescent paracetamol as amusing.

I also inventory the new mystery bruises every time I shower. I think I knew where That one came from, but how do I have a deep blue stripe across the base of my middle toe?

[gwendraith]

Bruises appear on me like magic. The worst ones are on the sides of my knees where I regularly knock them on the hard corners of my oak framed bed. I did slip on the hall floor a few months ago and had a beauty on my arse, but nothing like as bad as when I slipped at the top of the stairs and bumped down on my bum from top to bottom. That was spectacular. The latest really bad one was in October in South Korea when I didn't realise there was a small step going into the bathroom. I fell forward and whacked my arm on the wash basin. Splendid bright purple bruise all down the inside of my arm but the weird thing was that it faded really quickly.

The one you got from having a tooth drilled must be unusual. I've never heard of that before.