Stabbing Pain Under Left Shoulder Blade When Breathing Novels & Stories

"However, if you notice any increase in swelling, any difficulty breathing, any feeling like your throat is closing up, you need to tell someone immediately, understood?" "Understood," I said. He moved on to my ribs next, and his expression became more serious. "I'm going to need to lift your shirt to examine your ribs properly," he said. "Is that alright?" I nodded and he carefully lifted the hem of my shirt, exposing my ribs and stomach. I heard Tristan suck in a sharp breath and when I looked down, I saw why. The bruising on my ribs was extensive, dark purple and blue spreading across my entire right side.

My ankles swung slightly in the air, as my bare feet hit the cold floor. My feet still ached a lot more than I wanted to admit, although most of my pains came from my legs. I was used to pain, even though I hated it, but my shoulders hurt, especially over my left shoulder blade. And my ribs were sore…well, more sore than they usually would be. I assumed it was because I didn’t exercise properly recently.

Blair I could feel much needed warmth seeping through my aching body from the central heating of the office building and I involuntarily let out a sigh of relief that quickly turned into a grimace as a bolt of pain seared through my bruised ribs like a knife slice. I cringed and gritted my teeth, my hand coming to rest over my left side as I stifled a moan, breaths escaping my nostrils in small whistles as I struggled to breathe through the pain.

The pain sharpened, spreading through my shoulder, down my arm. My breathing stuttered. In. One, two. Out. One, two. Nothing changed. Nothing eased. My knees wobbled as I tried to steady myself. The world around me blurred. And the pain kept getting worse.

“What happened this time?” “Collision during relay handoff. Took an elbow to the ribs.” “Can you breathe normally?” “Mostly. Hurts when I breathe deep.” “Let me see.” He removes the ice pack and lifts his shirt. There’s already bruising spreading across his left side. I press gently along his ribs feeling for breaks or fractures. He hisses when I hit a particular spot. “Sorry,” I say. “Does this hurt?” “Yes.” I continue the examination. “I’m going to order X-rays to rule out fractures. But based on palpation it feels like deep tissue bruising. You’ll be sore for a week or two.”

“God—” My hand flew to my temple, fingers pressing hard like I could hold my head together, like it wasn’t about to split open. The movement tugged at something else, and a sharp, tearing ache ripped through my shoulder. “Holy shit!“ I cussed under my breath, gripping my shoulder. The ache slowly spread from my shoulder down my arm in a hot, throbbing wave, stealing the strength from my fingers. My arm sagged uselessly at my side, heavy and wrong.

I close my eyes, waiting for the inevitable hit but the second I do, I feel arms wrap around my body, my hand moving and hitting something. It’s the squelching sound I hear next that has me opening my eyes. Shock flashes through my body as I realize he’s now standing frozen, his body slanting closer to my body like he’s leaning towards me, his eyes wide in pain— and now, there’s a hand wrapped around mine, shoving my knife into his chest. I don’t move, I’m not even sure I can until I hear him whisper softly behind me, “Just between the 4th and 5th rib on the left side. Do you feel that? The way the knife slides in clean? That’s the lung,”

Pain shot through my shoulder, but I pushed myself up, panting. Silence.

Does everyone feel this way when they’re handfasted? A pain like I’ve never felt before rips through my chest so hard that I jerk and gasp. I choke on my own breath, fighting to get air back into my lungs. Frantically, I let go of the edge of the pool and tread water, running a hand over my bare chest. It feels like someone stabbed me, or punched me so hard they broke all of my ribs, but the pain passes nearly as quickly as it came.