Relax - 1

CHAPTER 1

It really didn't hurt when we got hit. We were speeding along the interstate on our way to Mike's grandparent's cabin. It was going to be the weekend we both desperately needed. I was just finalizing my divorce and school was driving Mike crazy. I just wanted to chill out and do a little fishing. As we rounded the bend, just north of the city the traffic suddenly came to a halt. I stepped on the brakes and stopped only a foot or two short of the Honda in front of me. Just then, Mike said, "We're gonna get hit." Sure enough, a full-size Chevy pick-up slammed into my little Ford Escort. Mike and I watched as five other cars piled up behind us and one rolled onto its driver's side.

Mike was training to be a cop and he put his training to use in making sure everyone was all right. Fortunately, most of us were uninjured. The Highway Patrol and the paramedics arrived and checked everyone out. By this time, Mike was coming out of his adrenaline shock and noticed the pain in his neck and back. He had injured his back two years earlier in a motorcycle accident. The paramedics loaded him into the ambulance as I looked around for a ride to the hospital. The girl in the car ahead of me offered me a lift and we were off.

I spent the next five hours in a downtown hospital listening to drunks, junkies and gang-bangers come and go. They had Mike strapped to a backboard and his neck was restrained in a hard collar. After all the x-rays and tests, the doctor decided that Mike was all right to go home. Our trip to the cabin now a wipe out, we called my brother to come and pick us up.

The next few weeks would find Mike spending many hours with a Chiropractor and me trying to get insurance companies to fix my poor car.

Over six months later, I was playing my weekly basketball game. A fiery and feisty big man I was in a tough guy mood that day and was wrestling hard for every shot and rebound. On one particular rebound I went up strong and stole the ball away from the other team's big man. I quickly turned to find my point guard streaking out on the fast break. I laid a perfect overhead pass into his hands. He dribbled once and laid it in.

I began to move back into position for defense and found an odd stiffness in my back. I tried to stretch it out a bit and razor-sharp pain originated just above the small of my back and shot like a dart up to the base of my skull and down my left leg to my knee. I almost collapsed, but regained my balance and tried to "walk it off." This time my back showed me how serious it was. My feet barely made it off the floor. It was as though they were unable to fulfil the orders my brain was sending them.

I asked for a sub and went straight to my car. I went home and took a hot shower, hoping to loosen things up. It helped a little, and I made it through the rest of the day. The next day would find me barely able to sit up in bed.

My girlfriend came over and insisted that I see her doctor. I argued that I had only started my new job six weeks earlier and I did not yet have insurance. I knew that there was no way I could afford any kind of treatment, let alone x-rays, CT scans and the like. Natasha said that the doctor was a friend of her family and had done a lot of work on her family members. He had done a Harrington Rod insertion to treat her sister for Scoliosis and he had fused three of her father's vertebrae to correct a herniated disk. I argued that even if I could afford it, I would end up in some God awful steel and leather contraption that would make me look like I had a stick up my butt and keep me from doing anything I enjoyed. Natasha's retort would put a stop to all of my arguments. First, she said, "I don't think you'll be doing much of anything in this condition." O-kay, she had a point, but to punctuate her point she reminded me that Scoliosis runs in her family and that she had spent four years in a Milwaukee Brace to stop her curve. She made it clear that she knew all about "steel and leather contraptions". Needless to say, I caved in and she called the doctor.

As a special favor, the doctor said he would see us during his lunch hour while the office was closed to regular patients. We showed up at 12:30 as instructed and he asked me to take off my shirt while he poked, pushed and x-rayed my aching back. When the x-rays came back it was obvious. Even with my untrained eyes, I could see the cracks in two of my vertebrae. My heart sunk as he confirmed my fears and we reconstructed the events that caused my break. We figured that the car accident cracked the vertebrae and the basketball caused them to slip a little causing the pain and the lack of muscle control. I had come dangerously close to severing my spinal chord.

I wanted to die as the doctor told me that I would be out of commission for at least a month, possibly as much as three months! No insurance, a new job, no family nearby to help out, how would I survive this one?

The Doctor James asked Natasha to leave us alone for a minute and she went out to the lobby. The plan that the doctor outlined seemed odd to say the least, but something inside me said it would be my ONLY chance to get well. He told me that he was in the process of doing research and needed subjects. My treatment would require me to spend three days in traction, two more months in a brace and six months of physical therapy. He proposed that following my stint in the brace I would be his subject in the researching of new brace technology and other "alternative" treatments. I agreed, with a great deal of fear.

I was then told that my condition would require what he called "Halo-Femoral Traction." I said o-kay, not having a clue what that meant. I found out fast enough when he asked if I wanted a local or general anesthetic. Without thinking I replied, "local." Doctor James walked to a drawer and withdrew a needle and syringe. He then brought out a small vial and filled the syringe. I was told to lay back on the table. He told me that this would likely hurt and that he wanted to restrain my hands and feet. I felt I had to agree and did. He then wrapped the leather cuffs around both wrists and both ankles and buckled them snugly.

He then left the room and returned with a metal ring in his hand and a sealed, black, plastic bag. He told me that he had asked Natasha to go home for an hour or two. I was really wondering what was in store, now. Doctor James asked me to lift my head off the table and he slid the metal ring around my head and marked four spots on my head. He then told me to relax as he slid the needle into my scalp near each spot and injected the fluid. I was then told that while the drug took effect, he would shave the areas. Being overly attached to my hair, I was not pleased with the prospect of four bald spots. Little did I know was to happen to those bald spots.

When he was through shaving, he poked the four spots and asked if I could feel it. I said no and he said, "Good, now lay back a relax. You'll feel some pressure." Another strap was attached to the table and wrapped around my skull, firmly securing it to the table. The next sight about made me pass out.

The doctor withdrew what looked like a craftsman drill. "Relax" he demanded. He then brought the drill bit down to my skull and began to drill. I couldn't feel any pain, but I felt the pressure and the vibration was nerve rattling. This was repeated on each of the remaining three spots. Each time the drill bit was left in my skull. Next he brought back the metal ring and slid it onto the pins. He told me that the "Halo" part was ready and now it was time for the femoral part.

I was still too shocked and scared to even asked what that was. Then I realized that the femur is the bone in the thigh. The needle was brought out again and inserted into my left thigh and again in my right leg. After a short wait, a scalpel was used to make small incisions into both sides of each thigh. The drill was brought in again, this time with a long bit. He inserted the bit into my leg and began drilling through my bone. This was done to both legs. He reached into the black bag and brought out two metal rods. One was threaded through each leg and secured on each side.

This is when I noticed the pulleys on the walls. Ropes were attached to each leg and two more to the ring around my skull. These were threaded through pulleys on opposite walls and inserted into what looked like a winch. Doctor James then slowly turned a knob and the slack was taken out of the ropes. I felt it begin to tug on my head and legs. Soon, it felt as though the top of my head would pop off, then it stopped. Doctor James then began to poke and prod at my mid section and my back. As he did I felt a couple of pops in my spine and tingling through my legs and arms. He told me that my spine was now properly aligned and that I would stay right here, like this for three days.

Without being told, I knew that being immobilized like that meant using the bathroom would take "assistance." Sure enough, the catheters came next; just before Natasha returned. How embarrassing! There I was, in my boxers, with tubes coming out both ends, pins in my head and legs all tied to the wall. She kissed my cheek and tried to reassure me that I would be all right. Doctor James then said that he had to attend to other patients. He left the room and Natasha informed me that she had to run off to work. I was alone with my ropes and metal attachments.