I visited the chiropractor for the first time yesterday. At first it felt really good. Throughout the night every old injury was re-awakened and led to agony. Then my friends took me to see Twilight, which was a really really bad movie.

I'm kinda better today but I just woke up. We're going shoe-shopping later (75% sale at Sportie LA) and seeing a chinese play. The chiropractor warned me I'd feel a lot worse though so I'm hoping I was just feeling bad a day early.

http://pinguino.livejournal.com/330412.html

^^ soo my accident was a month ago, aug 29

im finally getting my car back in like 10 mins

wheeeee

i got rearended last night on the 101 over by union station. you know, where theres erratic stop and go traffic? The car pushed me into another car. I was so insanely panicked and scared. Paul eventually tracked me down and 911 sent cops but the other cars had immediately ran off. My car got towed to North Hollywood with a loose muffler, bumper, and minor damage in the front. I got dropped off over at the hospital in burbank. Earle waited with me while i got xrayed and poked at, and the doctor said that my back was ok but i had the normal soft tissue damage you normally get in a car acccident. Then i got sent home with soma and vicodin. totally forgot how out of it i got on that stuff. 

bleh at least its not totalled or anything. i slept a lot today. played with binary. remy's on his way over to build legos with me. took more meds.

I went to my doctor yesterday and he said that i'm all better from the accident now, and my spine's fused. hooray! back's still achey sometimes but he said back-strengthening exercises will fix that. and i have a cheesy little booklet of exercises now.

i went to my neurosurgeron this morning and my vertebrae hasnt slipped anymore so im really really really happy. Im growing bone and you can see it doing that in the x-ray. The screws are a little loose. I still can't run/jump/bend/carry my cat though. The best part is that after about a week I won't be on vicodin anymore, just like advil and stuff. yay! I am a very happy penguin.

I've been at Remy's house since wednesday, and extremely happy that i'm here :) tacitus drove me here (2.5 hr drive in rush hour) cuz the train/bus shakes too much and involves too much walking. I love being here though, and Remy is taking really good care of the recouperating penguin. Even brought my favorite donuts yesterday! (chocolate iced cream filled krispy kreme). Last night we ate yummy pizza and watched Elizabethtown.

during the day I've mostly been playing eq2, messing with my pdafone, and watching anime. I finished Wild Arms and I watched a really awesome anime about bread called Yakitate. Also been watching a show about girl ninjas called 2x2 i think? its almost as silly as exel saga. Oh and Remy lives in a gigantic apartment complex- i walked down a flight of stairs and all the way to the entrance, and back up the stairs yesterday. which is more intensive walking than any i've done since i got out of the hospital. today i want to try to walk to rite aid, which is about 2 blocks away. that might be pushing it though. or i could go to starbucks i guess and get a cupcake.

i finally fixed my phone and pulled the pics off it. check it out.
yeah im feeling a little better if i can lay on my side and mess with photoshop :) no tablet yet though

(click for full view)

so i guess instead of links you prolly want an update on how im doing. im a huge amount better today. i even ate a whole burger (inn&out) at lunch when some friends from work came to visit

checked into the hospital last wed at 7a. 6 hrs later was in a recovery area. saw my
parents at 4 and remy and alicia at 5p. had a morphone drip with a button to hit every 10 mins for more.

the first day i could barely move and each day did get better and better. little things like going to the bathroom were pretty big problems. i couldnt eat much at all. i couldnt reach anything past a 6in radius. if the fone rang and they moved it across the room or too far back from my reaching radius i could just watch the light light up.

the pain wavered between annoying to almost unbearable, especially after they pulled me off the morphine (i was hurting so bad i didnt think the morphine was helping.. felt the best when i had morphine and vicodin). if youve read this for a bit you know i hate needles.. i got blood drawn every morning as my wakeup call, and just stabbed by needles waay too many times out there. but remy got me a really fuzzy stuffed penguin named pasha that i could hold onto and that helped.

remy brought me some 0-day anime that was so freshly released it wasnt subtitled yet so i just watched pictures :) but really the best was when he was laying next to me and we napped (i still dunno how we both fit and it was super comfortable.. nurses didnt yell about it).. it was the best sleep ive had all week. he was with me all weekend and it was so wonderful having him there

his dad sent flowers, and scott and alicia brought flowers too and a spirograph book :) they definately livened up the room. friday dedredhead from deviantart came to visit and we watched my favorite cartoon. my parents brought me to the hospital and stayed til they had to leave and visiting hours were over and they brought remy home. and paul and his wife (who i was happy to finally meet) visited sunday, bringing a stuffed cat. i saw alicia, scott, and paul on monday too i think. some of the week is sorta blurry.

i had vivid crazy nightmares while i was there.. more pain than id ever want to go through again.. couldnt walk for a while, got half-carried, used a walker.. there was a physical therapist and i developed a habit of putting on a furry aviator hat before i went on a walk, so im still doing that :)

and i got home tuesday. i can walk sorta, my cat thinks shes a nurse and is waking me every 4 hrs almost exactly for my medicine. that monday a nurse came in to give me a sponge bath and was mad i wasnt given one all weekend by the nurse on duty (nice lady but could barely speak english), so the night i got home alicia helped make sure i didnt fall in the shower, and she spent quite a bit of time detangling my hair (i didnt brush it for a week). she and scott helped move things around the apartment so i could reach them better. and the first day back, scott telecommuted from my living room to make sure i was ok.

last night i got my webcam set up and could see remy.. it was awesome. i left it on and fell asleep, so he got the "sleeping penguin" channel all night. both our cams have mics so it was awesome just talking to each other and seeing each other :)

im home. im tired, and i have staples in my back

estimated hospital bill: $5,000 (including insurance deductible, room, neurosurgeon, anastegeoligist)

got more xrays done too

i survived donating blood to myself, thanks to comixremy and lemonmoon (mary)!! the hospital screwed up and gave me a 4:30 appt when their office closes at 4, so mary picked me up from work and took me to the hospital at 3:30 instead. sorta cutting it close.. we got lost trying to find the parking lot, so she dropped me off and i dashed around looking for the blood place. found it, was sent elsewhere for paperwork. did that and was stressing about the place closing on me. had to wait a bit and got pulled into a separate room. The nurse jabbed my finger for an iron test, and reflexes kicked in, i jerked my hand away really hard. was totally freaking out. i signed some more papers and eventually got put in a chair. mary came over to distract me, asking questions about things i was looking forward to, so i rambled about the cruise me and remy are going on. i think i calmed down a lot. imagined remy hugging me too, that helped.

it seemed like forever, but eventually i was drinking OJ and eating bean pancakes that my coworker had gotten me. i felt really icky though, and had physical therapy next. we stopped by my po box on the way, where i had a webcam waiting for me (im in the middle of setting it up now, remy got it for me, yay!). Physical therapy sucked cuz my foot was hurting and i was dizzy and overall not feeling good, so i only did like half the exercises i normally do. stopped by my house real quick, then mary was awesome enough to drive me down to union station so i could catch a train to remy's house. when i got over there, remy suprised me with presents!! cute red shirt that said coca-cola in japanese (he got a a&w one in a similar style), and a cute belt =) yay! we wandered target and ralphs a bit, then went back to his house where i laid on the couch watching buffy the vampire slayer episodes and remy made me reallly really yummy jambalaya *drool* and took very good care of a sick penguin :) he's the awesomest!

i really hope i dont ever have to donate blood again though. eghh. at least i know what its like now, but it still HURT. even with the stickers and purple bandages!!

coherant enough to write.. medicine was goin crazy combined with indian food last night. or stress. or both :P basically, im gonna be 100% better in time for the pirate adventure cruise with remy, im still totally freaked out about the surgery which is happening april 6, and i have to take a month off work it looks like. im looking into applying for short term disability. i have to get a pint of blood drawn to donate to myself- i hate needles.. never donated blood before.. also need to get more xrays and labwork done before the operation. i dont know how this will impact the canadian art show, and i definately cant throw a crazy party for my bday or anything like that this may :/ i should be able to start ninja training again in october/november. eventually ill be able to kick head-high again. the doctor said if i was in another accident i could break anything in my body except for the part that he's fixing.

the screws and stuff that are goin into my back are pretty scary looking. sharp, pointy, long :(

How will you be doing the operation?
- Involves fusion, 4 titanium screws, a spacer made of a plastic cage with fake bone protein

How long will I need to heal?
- 2-3 weeks, 3 to be safe

How long til I get completely ninja-level better?
- 6 months to begin training, ninja-level badassness for the holidays!

How long will I be in the hospital?
- 3-4 days

How long is the surgery?
- 2 1/2 to 3 hours

Will it be to my advantage to have anyone stay with me during recovery?
- not necessary, but beneficial (Remy's the man!)

What days do you operate, and can I have it done on a Friday?
- Tues & Thurs ...

How long after the surgery can I go back to sitting in a chair for 8 hours a day?
- About 3 weeks, maybe a month

What happens if my body rejects the metal holding the vertebrae together? Does that ever happen?
- Nope... doesn't do that

What is your success rate?
- 15-17 years, twice a week, very common surgery. Occasionally an older patient presents issues.

Have you ever paralyzed someone?
- No

Have you every forgotten any items inside a person after an operation? And vice versa - have you ever forgotten to put something back?
- No

How long will I be on medication after the surgery?
- about a month

Will there be any scarring from the Surgery? How big and how noticeable will they be?
- 6 inch scar (a teeny tiny Wolverine spot)


Dancing in 2 months...
###

(as told to TTocs by a happily medicated pinquino)

i love my cat so much. i was hurting really bad last night, super super bad.. went to lay down and she came up to sit next to me, on my arm, watching over me. as soon as my medicine starting kicking in and i relaxed a little, she moved over to by my feet. she does stuff like that a lot, can totally tell whats goin on with me. and is very patient when my meds are strong and i just want to pet her a lot. i had a lot of stuff i wanted to do last night but ended up just falling asleep, til my alarm went off at 6:15. woke up feeling completely refreshed... amazingly not hurting at all.. i'd also fallen asleep on my heating pad (not supposed to do that).

been doin all the stuff i was supposed to get done last night ;) startng to not feel good again though. but i rested some with binary and im doin better now..

i found out last night that its really looking like im getting surgery. my head was pretty messed up about it last night. im doing better now. neurosurgeon really has the final say though, and i see him on the 9th. still wanna go get a second opinion.

i was told that since my neurosurgeon has been not rushing into the surgery its a really good sign. but also that the therapy im doin just strengthens the muscles so that i can live w/ the pain levels i have currently.. it cant move the bone back into place. something like chiropractics would be really dangerous. the bone situation ive got is fragile.. more so than i realized.. and especially since its not just from the accident, theres also a birth defect in that bone, this situation is different than others. a lot of people panic when i talk about this stuff and are like "dont let them do surgery on you!" .. but i dont think i have much of a choice. im really scared of it. but it has to happen so i can get better and do all the things that would make my life back to normal =)

man. this was supposed to be a post about how awesome my cat was. my cat is still awesome.
im gonna go do things that dont have anything to do w/ thinking bout my back ;) this weekend is gonna be awesome. remy's coming over today, we're going to a really insanely cool wedding reception, and my parents and sister (who i havent seen in 3 yrs) are coming over tomorrow! im making a crazy wedding card now.

So I met my neurosurgeon today, who is probably the first doctor to really over-explain things to me. He even taught me how to use the MRI program to look at my back, since I thought it was kinda cool. He said that I was born with Spondylo Lethesis. Normally your spine locks all your vertebrae in place but one of mine has a fracture/gap so it doesn't do it that well. It got aggravated by the accident so that one of my vertebrae slipped really bad. He thinks it can be fixed with physical therapy so I have to do that. Except the therapist I got referred to isnt in the blue cross network so they wanted $750 from me.. so I have to find someone easy to get to who is in my network. I'll be going three times a week. And I'm getting an x-ray of me bending over. If the vertebrae slips further while I'm bent over, basically I have to get surgery to fuse two of my vertebrae together. He says I'll have full mobility.

Don't know when I get to go back to karate or anything.. couldn't get any estimates.

this is what's wrong with me:
http://www.penguinpalace.com/stuff/back1.jpg

so my insurance company is paying off my car and giving me $2500 (i think next week).. finally!

haven't seen MRI results yet and still on too much medication to be driving :/

http://www.chineseherbsdirect.com/the-great-mender-jin-gu-die-shang-wan-p-48.html

this is really cool. like. im taking "jin gu die shang wan" to help get better, so i was sorta curious about what it actually did. since it tastes like dirt and looks like rabbit poop. they're tea pills. gotta take 9 at a time.

its just cool that this site says what each herb in the pills does.

i like this: removes sludge in the blood

im also on soma, vicodin, ibuprofen.. and sumbry told me to sleep on the floor (instead of the couch-bed with no padding) so im doing that too. and using heat pads. and occassionally getting poked with needles.

i think im getting better. its hard to tell sometimes.

here are some pics of my car
http://perfent.com/images/sadbug

it doesn't look *that* bad considering how fast i was going.

but we wanted to turn it on to get the CDs out and it wouldnt. though when i got out of it originally it was still running.

first of all, im okay. really.

Saturday night I almost died, pretty much. It was 3:30a, and I was driving on the 405. The 405 freeway is a pretty huge like 5lane or something freeway. My car started spinning. I don't know why. I almost hit a 18-wheeler, like, really close, and I had no control. I crashed into the concrete divider instead.

Techno still blaring, dust from the airbags floating around.. my memory has blanks where the actual crash happened. I opened the door and leaped out, straps from my pants catching on the car and ripping. I stared at the car for a second, seeing steam rise from it and fluid leaking beneath. I saw the 18wheeler barrelling down the freeway but it didn't look like I hit it at all. I was kinda afraid at that point my car might catch on fire or something and that I needed to turn it off. I couldn't get the key out, and realized it was still in drive, just wasn't going anywhere. Got it turned off and jumped out again. I was all alone.

I couldn't find my cellphone. It was on the front passenger seat last I saw it, and it wasn't there anymore. A few cars passed as I tried to wave them down. I went back inside to look for the cell, then hopped out. Someone across the street was waving at me, so I ran across the freeway. He asked if I was okay and if I needed help, and I told him to call 911. He called out to his friends from across the way to call the cops, and around then I started shaking uncontrollably.. sat down in some iceplant. I think his name was carlos. The cops came and I dashed across the freeway and told them i didnt know what happened. My back was hurting. they put me on a stretcher and took me to long beach memorial hospital.

The boards the stretchers have are the most uncomfortable thigns on the planet. they make hurt backs and necks feel like a billion trillion times worse. I was on that board for at least four hours, and combined with panic attacks from not being able to deal with everything happening, I just ended up completely screaming from the pain. They told me not to move, cuz if i moved the wrong way I might get paralyzed.. they needed to X-ray me first. It took SO freaking long til I got xrayed- got my lowerback first, then a ct scan on my neck, then another xray on my shin.

my chin was numb when i got out of the car, and they put some goop on it in the ambulance. it was still numb til this morning.. now it just hurts.

Since my cell was in the car, and I also realized my house keys were in the cop's possession (on the ring with the car keys), I really didn't have a way to get ahold of anyone. Nobody knew where I was. I was pretty far from home. i tried calling dedredhead off a business card in my wallet but just got voicemail. Luckily they grabbed the wrong bag and let me keep it- it had my rent app inside, and my friend chris nelson's number scrawled on it. So i called him around 7, got ahold of him, and he showed up at the hospital to bring me home. I got released at 11a.

They didn't leave me with any paperwork about the car or accident, so Chris called around for me to hunt down my car. It was in Gardena, but the impound lot was closed and they werent gonna give me my stuff. Chris ended up getting the personal cell of some high-up CHP person, who yelled at the impound lot. We drove over and I got my cell, charger, house keys, and wacom tablet.

Then we went home and ate ice cream. Later Remy came up from OC to take care of me all night. Took codiene at dinner and was flipping out w/ a panic attack, and he half-carried me home.

And I'm at work right now so things can't be too bad right?