Driving home from school one day along a straight, uphill mountain road...........sun's out, cold, dry asphalt, i see in the distance a truck slow down and stop at a stop sign. Elderly man i come to find out later needing to cross traffic and head in the direction i have just come from. Cool the truck stopped, i'm good i thought to myself as i got closer to him going eeeeh somewheres abouts 40-45ish mph?............o-k 47 tops, barely any traffic on this road EVER! i'm approaching the crest of this hill and probably oh i bet you less than 15 yards, maybe even less than 10, i'm talkin i'm just about there and he pulls out. i could cut it sharp left and possibly hit whatever is on the other side of the crest headed over 'NOT AN OPTION REALLY' orrrrr sharp right into the ditch. i chose the later of course remembering my father's voice telling me to ALWAYS slow down upon approaching a crest in the road because you never know what might be there just on the other side. Shut my eyes and cut the wheel, hit the side of the truck and landed in the ditch. Never been in a car wreck before. A man with an apron on flying out from his restaurant on the corner yelling at me 'are you alright?', i can't even remember if i responded to him or not, then asks me would i like a glass of water?, i do remember telling him yes to that one, turns and runs back into his establishment and apparently calls 911. A cop comes, (i realize my glasses are not on my face anymore and i'm looking for them, expensive little suckers), 'are you hurt?, are you in pain?, i'm like i e d u n n o o o o. i was feeling some pain nothing major, no blood anywhere. He tells me 'if you are not sure i recommend to go to the hospital and get checked out' so i'm like o-k.
The elderly man that pulled out in front of me was o-k the policeman told me, he had good insurance and i didn't need to worry. He was very sorry for what he had done and admitted to the cop is was his fault. He was on his way to see his wife who was in a home? hospital? ill and he just wasn't thinking.
i go get checked out, report how i was feeling, they ran some tests, i was instructed what to do and what not, and released. Called a cab, went to bed. Starting to feel crappier than earlier for sure. The next day OOOOH NELLIE, YOUSA, OOOOOH OUCH! where in the sam this all come from and at the same time exhausted. Well after numerous Dr visits and PT i was pretty o-k. i no longer had any natural curvature in my neck, it took months for the carpal tunnel pain to stop and years for my TMJ to heal.
Oh there was plenty of other injuries that happened that day. Those kinds of little internal boo boos that don't show up on medical tests, that don't let you know they are even there until years later. i was still pretty young then, mid twenties, strong. cruising around in my 80's Honda Accord with those flippin' pop up headlamps which i thought were the coolest thing on the whole car. Then time flies by and you start feeling those invisible boo boos that have always been there begin to let you know they exist little by little and you think to yourself huh?. Then huh? eventually becomes WTH! and one day it dawns on you when it all really began. Now you need to find yourself specialists because those little boo boos are barking at you like a rabid dog. The doctors throw at you everything in the kitchen sink from therapy AGAIN to surgery, 'surgery you said? go away from me' and you make a decision for yourself.
At this point in my life i am nearing retirement. i still work full time and my lower back is not my only ailment but a significant one, 4 blown discs and a fractured tail bone, osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. She is My Dirty _itch. She demands epidural steroid injections and pain killers otherwise i don't go to work. i am 2 years shy of retirement if i choose to and do NOT qualify for disability because I HAVE A JOB. unreal. i live in physical pain that is my reality. Sometimes it's not real bad sometimes it is unbearable.
i want you to think about my little story when you get hurt or when you don't feel well or you get that inner sense that something might be wrong. Take care of yourself and that magnificent, feeling, thinking work of perfect sculpture and art of a machine you have there, your body. Get help when you need it. Be good to it the best you can. Respect it. It is the only one you'll get. No substance abuse when you are operating machinery and put that flippin' phone down. It's simply not worth it.
The Dirty _itch requires one more thing to relieve pressure and pain The Donut. You see the donut..................ahhh never mind. Hopefully you will never know the purpose of donuts except to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Peace be to You And Yours,
Bernadette Back Butt