"And So It Begins....." OR "Here Is My First Entry"

Hello and thank you for checking out my blog.  In the past I've never been one for blogging. I never felt the need, desire, nor reason to "speak" out to the vast ether of the never-ending world wide web; however it seems that blogging and micro blogging is the wave of the future to be able to inform and speak to not only the unknown persons searching and cruising around but also my family, friends, and potential new contacts/friends.  Coupled with the fact that I have started to read/follow a small series of blogs myself. So ... here we go with the first entry...

As I sit here thinking of how I want to organize the information in this first post I realize that I have a lot that I want to share, but I'm not exactly sure what to share; therefore these first entries may be sporadic and inconsistent until I "get my groove down" and find my writing voice (as the saying goes)

I supposed the first thing would be to share with you a condensed version of the last six months.

Previous History:
Over the last twenty years I have suffered from four separate and different auto accidents. Nothing too major but damage causing accidents none-the-less.
*Age 17:  I was driving with no passengers and stopped at a red light. Was rear-ended at approx 35 miles per hour causing whip-lash to me and moderate but repairable damage to the vehicle.
*Age 20:  I was the single passenger when the driver "bumped" the vehicle in front of us at approx 5-7 miles per hour while the front vehicle was traveling at approx 2-4 miles per hour.  No sustainable damage to the vehicle we hit, but extreme damage to our vehicle's bumper/hood/axle. Personal damage: a few cuts/scraps/minor lacerations but nothing serious.  A few Tylenol and bandages and we were on our way.
* Age 22:  I was the single passenger when the driver and I were rear-ended.  We were traveling at approx 20 miles per hour and the vehicle rear-ended us at approx 30-35 miles per hour.  Minor vehicle damage, and whiplash for both driver and passenger (myself)
* Age 33:  I was the single driver traveling at approx 27-30 miles per hour when I was rear-ended by a vehicle traveling 35-37 miles per hour.  Minimal/superficial damage to my vehicle and no visual damage to other vehicle.  I suffered whiplash yet again.
** After the three accidents that resulted in whiplash I sought Chiropractic Therapy and was back to normal life within 6-8 months after each accident

Current Life:
At the end of January 2011 I was suffering from extreme debilitating pain and soreness in my lower back.  So much so that I could not sit or stand to work and I sought Chiropractic therapy as I have been seeing him for regular maintenance for the last 6 years. After a week of visits and treatments my Chiropractor advised me to contact my primary doctor and schedule a MRI which we would review and take the appropriate steps from there.

The MRI resulted in minor to moderate disc degeneration in L4/L5 which was putting pressure on my spine, nerves and discs resulting in chronic debilitating pain 24/7.  The Chiropractor and I reached a plateau with my therapy and advised me to seek further treatment through my primary doctor/HMO (AKA Kaiser).  Through Kaiser I met with a "spinal specialist" who: 1) Sent me to my first round of physical therapy (which was a joke. A small series of breathing exercises that did not help one bit.) 2) Gave me minor cortisone injections which didn't really help. 3) Sent me to Aquatics Physical Therapy (which has help tremendously!) 4) Referred me for a Spinal Epidural injection of a steroid (results still pending recovery)

The injection was on August 2, 2011 and my first composition of this entry is on August 3, 2011; therefore I'm still in the first stage of recovering, but so far the first 24 hours seem to be going as expected and anticipated.

Before I started Aquatic PT about 6 weeks ago, day-to-day life was pretty much non-existent except for dealing with constant lower back pain making it damn near impossible to sit, walk, stand, move, well pretty much every little aspect of life except for laying on the floor with my feet elevated.  There were many times that Rebecca had to drive me to appointments and run the errands that I predominatly took care of.  Because of the debilitating pain my psyche to a few hits and really caused me to start looking at my life.

Some of the positive things that have resulted from this are:
*Time to surf the web and catch up on social networking
*Time to catch up on my Nexflix que
*Time spent with kitties
*Time to review my life and my journey on this spinning orb of matter
*Catch up on sleep


I will continue with Aquatic Physical Therapy until my referral has expired at which time I am hoping they will renew me for additional sessions.  My next appointment with my doctor is not until the 18th of this moth so I'm playing the waiting game.  From my last appointment in the beginning of July there was much hope and positive response to my recovery and progression thus far which is the light at the end of the tunnel and has given me that spark of hope for some sort of "normalcy" for the future of my "quality of life" as it has come to be referred to.

I feel that this is enough for the first entry.  As entry topics formulate in my head I'll be adding more.  Please feel free to submit comments/suggests/questions.

Thanks for reading!
Until later
Charley