I Injured My Spine
Back in 1996 when I was 19 I went to a ruined castle in england with friends... it was night and we were drinking and saw things that looked paranormal... think its haunted...
I came back a week later in the day time and was climbing the walls for fun with my cousin, we egged each other on and while about 9m high a stone came away as i pulled myself up on it... I realised I was going to fall and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Adrenaline kicks in very fast as everything then moved very slowly in my mind, I pushed myself away from the wall so i did not hit the lower parts, turned around and prepared to roll to break my fall. The falling didnt hurt but the landing still haunts me to this day. I landed on my feet with knees bent, the impact was so hard that I could do nothing to prevent my head from coming all the way down between my knees... then I rolled and started yelling. I wont repeat it but it rhymes with duck duck duck duck !
After a few seconds I realised that while I could feel my feet that I was unable to sit up, my cuz called an ambulance and we waited... it felt like forever... They moved me onto a board and carried me to the ambulance. On the way to hospital I laughed and joked about stopping for a beer on the way. This was a combination of nerves and adrenaline.
At the hospital I found I had fractured the lumbar area of my spine, I spent the next two weeks in bed in hospital... experiencing bed baths etc I was then given a aluminum brace to be worn when going to the bathroom. I was allowed home when I could climb stairs and spent the next 4 months in bed. I had to resit that year of college and experienced much boredom and pain.
After much physio I was able to start leading a normal life again, I returned to cycling and swimming. I met a girl fell in love and married in 1998. In 1999 I was involved in a minor car crash and sat in the emergency room for 5 hours waiting to be seen, I had a sore neck... finally after an x-ray I was told to lie down and restraints were placed around my neck.. I had to stay overnight, in the morning a bone specialist examined my x-ray. He said the bad news is you have a neck fracture, the good news is its an old injury!
I was surprised that this was not picked up originally but didnt think about it further as was ok. Then last october 2008 I started getting lots of chest pain, was tested for pleurisy but was negative... sent for x-rays.. but all is ok. The pain continued and got worse they send me for a ct scan... results suggest an mri.. I got referred to a specialist from our local doctor who organised the mri and a bone scan.
The good news is no tumors but I now have 6 prolapsed / protruding discs and 5 narrowed discs. The specialist suggested that operating is not a good Idea as they would have to fuse most of my spine to remedy it... and he said its not nice operations.. so I now await treatment to kill nerves in my spine to prevent pain. He suggests that it was the original accident that caused it.
I am 32 years old and am not expecting to get any better, which is frightening as what will it be like in 10 , 20 years time? I am not here to complain... it was self inflicted, just to share one of my more stupider moments in life and the consequences of this.
