Who's rib is it?

So I believe we may have a mystery on our hands. I'm starting to get the idea that the rib I boiled and scrubbed and plucked at all day yesterday (with my bare hands) is not mine. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am. I have a decent understanding of anatomy, and coupled with pictures and explanations from the internet, I may be holding a right rib. My left one was removed. I'm serious. Really. I need to talk to my doctor's office today anyway, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry. If this rib belongs to who I think it does, I don't think she kept hers... meaning the one that really belongs to me would be gone. We'll get to that later, let me point out the evidence so you all don't think I'm crazy.

So here's normal rib anatomy. I'll just point out the basics. Really, every single bone in your body has mutliple grooves, knobs (tubercles) turns (necks) and facets. Every single one of them has a name. The first picture is from instantanatomy.com- very in depth. The second picture is from Gray's Anatomy (no, not the show).

A couple things to point out. There is the head of the rib, which is the rounder side, that from my understanding connects to your spine. This is really important, so if some one can tell me otherwise, please do. The flat portion of the rib (the opposite side from the head) is the part the connects to the sternum (or breastbone). Another important note is that the bottom side of the rib is very smooth and doesn't have all the grooves and stuff that the upper side has. Here's a picture of where the rib meets the sternum:

So if you look on this person's left, below the attachment of the clavicle is the first rib attaching to the cartilage. Notice how it's flat without any protuberances or knobs. This is not the head. The head is on the back, attached to the spine.

Let's take a closer look at my rib... or rather the one in my possession.

First of all, here it is in all it's glory... so if it is indeed mine, I'm proud of it. That's pretty much it's full size, minus a portion of the head. The back is harder to clip during surgery because they go through my chest and make no incisions on my back. So basically he stuck some clippers in there and clipped where he could. So notice the nice flat portion closer to my wrist. That's not the head. The side closer to my fingertips is the head. This is the upper view of the rib as you would see looking down on it. Now picture this. If you're looking down in this rib and the flat part is the front and the round part is the back... and my nose is pointing towards my wrist in this picture- is this a right rib or a left? Let's look closer, shall we?

Here again is the upper surface of the rib. Where my fingertips are is the inside of the rib closer to my neck. Where my thumb is is the outside of the rib, closer to my shoulder. The little round part at the end is a portion of the head... which would be where it meets with the spine. Now of course, if this was the underside of the rib, it would be a left rib. Why do I think this is not the underside of the rib? Because the underside is smoother. Let's look at that.

Notice how this side of the rib does not have the little divits or grooves that the other side has. The underside doesn't have these because muscles attach to the top of it, and the grooves on the top are where the vein and artery pass through. This is definately the underside of the rib. I'm 99.9% sure of it and I'm almost done with an entire cup of coffee, so it's not like I'm totally out of it. So again, if this is the bottom of the rib, and the yellowish (not really sure why it's yellow) is the back, is this a right rib or a left?

So am I totally crazy? There was another girl at the hospital who had her rib removed around the same time I did. I want to say her surgery must have been a day or two after mine because she took over my room when I was sent to a private room (the day Candace got there). I can't imagine they just moved her from another room, she had to have come straight from surgery. So I would have to imagine that when my rib was removed during surgery, it was placed in a container, labeled, and sent to the pathology lab (it's routine). So the mix up must've been in the lab. Either that or it sat around in the hospital for a few days, unlabeled, and some one came along and labeled it. I don't see that happening though. I think it was the lab.

Hmm.

And no, it is not possible they removed my right rib. The scar is on my left side and all my pain was on my left side. Anyone who has broken a rib can tell you that the pain is pretty bad and there's no mistaking where it's coming from. Not only that, but when I lay on my left side, my chest caves in a little under my left collar bone. It's pretty obvious they removed the correct rib on me.