Doctors, MRIs and Airbags

Note:  This post was actually written on January 4th of 2014 but I'm just getting it posted today:

Today I began a new challenge, to write 500 or more words a day.  Most likely, I'll not post something on the blog every day.  However, as I keep up this challenge, I should have much more to post in the days ahead.  Perhaps you don't care much about that but that was just a side note to the story that I"m telling here on the blog.

After seeing the doctor that dismissed my symptoms, I began to ask for references for other doctors.  I needed to find someone who would take me seriously and try to find out what was going on.  Our small group leaders from church had a doctor that they recommended.  They said  he was the kind of doctor who would not give up until he figured it out.  I felt like I needed this kind of a doctor and got in with him fairly quickly.

When I saw this doctor, I was limping a great deal and my pain was increasing.  Even things like taking a shower were getting difficult for me.  I'd have such a spasm or tightness in my  right side and my leg that I could barely stand in the shower.  Again, because it seemed to be my worst time when exposed to heat or steam I kept thinking this must be something like MS.  When I closed my eyes I was losing my balance and I dreaded having to take showers.  It was getting harder and harder to care for myself.  I couldn't put on a pair of pants without leaning against the wall to keep my balance.  I was getting more and more scared.

When I saw Dr. Kumar, he reviewed my blood work again.  He checked my reflexes and my strength in each leg.  He checked my stomach and abdomen as I kept thinking that my right side was bulging.  Did I have a tumor?   Like my first doctor he said that he could not palpate anything like a tumor and he checked for pain in my back and sciatic area.  I didn't have much pain but rather excessive numbness.  When he laid me down on the table, I did have a sharp pain in my middle back. ( I now know I should have been paying more attention to that.....)

Dr. Kumar ordered an MRI that ended up being scheduled the second week in November.  I thought it was an MRI of my whole spine but it ended up being only of my lumbar area as the focus was on my lower back.

About 3 hours after my MRI, I was preparing to leave to pick up my son and we would then sign the lease on a new single story home.  I could not handle the stairs anymore.  My wife, Caryl, was scared she would come home and find me laying at the bottom of the stairs.  Our landlord tried to give us a hard time about breaking our lease, but in the end the investors agreed to allow us to do so.  We had to pay through December and lose our deposit but we would be able to move to a house that was safe for me.

But - I would not make it to pick up my son or sign the lease that day.  As I was leaving our neighborhood that afternoon at about 4:30 PM, I rounded a turn and was headed directly into the setting sun.  I was blinded for a moment and did not see the truck that was coming right toward me.  I was only going about 15-20 MPG but our left front corners collided.  My airbag deployed and I was dazed with "smoke" filling the car from the airbag.  My door was hard to open but I pushed my way out,  I would then spend the next few hours working with insurance, tow trucks, police, ambulance personnel, etc.

Little did I know how this accident would change my life.  Perhaps it would even save my life.  I would soon see many more doctors. I would have many more MRIs.  Things would get worse before they would get better. I still did not know what my diagnosis would be.  More to come.