An unexpected journey

     I am obviously too tall to be a Hobbit but much like Bilbo I began my very own unexpected journey on July 27th. I had just started my week of vacation and decided to stop over my cousin's house which is just over a mile from mine. I was only moments into my trip when a young man lost control of his vehicle and hit me head on at a high rate of speed. I was in my pickup truck and once I was able to get the drivers door open I went to check on the 4 young men who were in the other vehicle. Surprisingly three of them were able to get out and walk around but the one in the right rear passenger seat was entrapped.

     My adrenalin allowed me to jump into action and do what I could to keep everyone calm, It was almost 20 minutes from the time of the 911 call until the first of the responders showed up and I had climbed into the car to assist the entrapped passenger during the wait. One of the most frustrating things I was dealing with was the fact that I could see my house this whole time. Once I exited the other vehicle I was no longer focused on taking care of someone else and my body seemed to just shut down.

This was the vehicle that hit me, he also bounced off a tree so there was damage all the way around.

     Rebecca had walked down to the accident scene to check on me and was there when they loaded me into the ambulance. My blood pressure was going through the roof and I was having serious difficulty breathing along with wrist, foot and back pain. EMS didn't realize how much damage was done to the truck so I was never really a concern till I was on my hands and knees asking for help. The truck did hold up quite well but it wasn't until Rebecca took me to get my belongings out of the truck that I was able to see the entire front clip was pushed back between 6 - 12 inches. I can only imagine what would have happened if I was in our small sedan that night.

     I spent the night in the hospital while they medicated, poked, prodded, scanned and took X-Rays of my body. I found myself getting upset that I would spend my week of vacation in pain and that most of our plans (including our anniversary plans) would end up being cancelled. The highlight of the first week was that we finally got our new floors installed which made the house feel warm and cozy.

     I expected to be sore but after a week had passed I was still experiencing major pain in my lower back all the way down to my toes. It was at this point that I started going to all the Dr.s to try and figure out what was wrong. I had CT Scans, X-Rays and an MRI performed and my primary physician recommended me to an area Orthopedic/Neurosurgeon. The surgeon had me try different treatments which included Injections into my spine and several weeks of physical therapy but they failed to relieve the pain and numbness I was having in my back and legs. I continued to have more issues with involuntary spasms and during my follow up appointment we made the decision to proceed with surgery.

     The plan was to fuse multiple vertebrae but the surgeon decided he would work on one disk at a time and assess the others as he moved forward. The surgery was scheduled for Monday, November 4th, 2013 and if it is a success it will be the best Birthday present I have ever received.  I spent 4 days in the hospital recovering from the surgery and came home yesterday. During my research and conversations I have found it's very hard to find anyone who has good things about back surgery. It is my desire to document my recovery from start to finish and hopefully my story will be a beacon of hope for anyone that ends up going on their own unexpected journey.