I write this as I lay in my hospital bed. I have been here for almost two weeks, and today is my first access to Internet in such time. Nice.
Okay, so I fractured my C5 vertebrae while camping on the August long weekend at the start of the month. No, I don't really remember a specific incident that may have caused it, as I will detail over my next series of write ups.
But apparantly the vertebrae that I fractured is the same one that Christopher Reeves fractured/broke/whatever, and he's paralyzed and requires a respirator. I, on the other hand, have no noticeable effects, other than this ASPEN neck collar.
I woke up from a nap in the sun, with a stiff neck, took some Tylenol and continued the camping trip. The next day was leaving day some my friends and I packed up our gear into our vehicle and I climbed on my motorbike and rode (along with a passenger) the four hour trip home. Once home, I took one of those microwaveable heating pads and used it on my neck for the remaining four hours before I went to bed.
The next day I had more mobility back which only seemed to confirm my analysis that all I had done was jar my neck or sleep on it the wrong way. So I went to work. Just to be safe, I drove the car. On Wednesday I felt a little sore still but had most mobility back. So I drove my motorbike to work, and just to be safe, I made an appointment with my doctor for later in the afternoon. This was very unlike me as I rarely go to doctors. The doctor agreed with me that I simply had a stiff neck, but said just in case that he would order some x-rays be taken by the lab down the hall. Down the hall at the x-ray lab, the technician figured it would be a good idea to first take a picture of my neck from the side before moving it all over the place. Good idea. The next thing I know my neck was in a collar and I was taking an ambulance ride to the hospital.
Anyway, the details of my four day walk around with a broken neck have become somewhat of a legend around the hospital. Everywhere I go the nurses or doctors or techs are like:
"You aren't the guy who walked around for four days with a broken neck, are you?"
And when I confirm that I am, they typically respond with "I heard about you" as if I was a myth. It's weird... it's like I'm somewhat of a celebrity. Really, though, I'm just the same old dr only with a temporary neck brace.