Well I had herniated discs at L4-5 & L5-s1, had to get the shots. I asked the doc if I could still ski. He said sure and my chances of ending up on the operating table were very high. To top it off I also blew my knee out in the service. Doing night patrol during a war game and I stepped off an area where the ground ends and the air begins. End over end down the side of a mountain. The moon wasn’t out and for obvious reason, no flashlights. I could barely ski with my bad knee before my back problems.
I have to be very careful what I lift and do. They almost decided to cut me to begin with but I wanted to at least try the shots. I guess it is just a matter of time before I go under the knife. Damn I just turned 33. I got my back injury from sleeping in the back of a van and my buddy falling a sleep with the cruise control on 75 MPH. Lets just say we hit a guard rail at a 45 mph angle. I was long ways and my head hit the back of the seat first then my whole body compacted like an accordion and my legs flipped over the seat and I was just about to go through the windshield feet first when the van then slammed sideways into the guard rail. I was upside down in the air and shot over to the sliding door, I bowed the whole door out and fell down in the step. They couldn’t figure out how I didn’t brake my neck or shatter my hip.
Anybody familiar with Arizona and the Queen Creek area, the accident happened on a bridge going over the river or wash and the van impacted about a foot after where the guard rail starts. When this accident happened, the river was overflowing due to the heavy rains. If he had drifted any sooner we would have missed guardrail and would have went straight into the river, which was freezing and fast moving. I suspect I wouldn’t be here if he had drifted off about a foot sooner. Interesting the difference a length of a foot made in my life. Of course I was young and not in the insurance biz so I didn’t know that I could file a claim against him. I gave up about $300K by not knowing.
I had just got out of the service and I think the reason why I wasn’t injured any more than I was, was due to the shape I was in. After the accident, it has been all downhill…… can't wait to see what I will be like when I hit 40
