Experience Rich
A traumatic mountain bike accident left me with a shattered neck and a severe spinal injury that required my neck to be fused from C3 to T2 with two titanium rods and sixteen screws. Prior to the accident I lived a very active life: surfing, running, hiking and of course, biking. After the accident, it took several days for the doctors to determine the full extent of my spinal injury with no indication of what the outcome would be for future physical ability. After any trauma, the road to recovery through physical therapy is different for everyone. This is my journey. My purpose is to share the physical and mental challenges that I had to push through to get me back on my feet, even completing a half-marathon, swimming and hiking again. It wasn’t an easy journey (and it’s far from over) but I’ve learned a lot about myself, fear, stress, gratitude and the tools I needed to make my comeback happen. I might even say that it took breaking my neck, to get my head screwed on straight. I hope these episodes help you in some way to overcome whatever physical or mental health challenge you are facing today.
Experience Rich
Learning through pain (mental and physical): Quitting pain meds 5 days after a massive surgery.
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Rich
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Season 1
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Episode 5
Tough situations in life appear for everybody. I’ve learned that taking the easy way out, escape-ism, may not teach, you never move forward. 5 days after my massive surgery I decided to quit all pain meds and learned so much to get my life back, through suffering. This was while dealing with mental trauma and not knowing if I’d ever walk again. The tough road taught me and gave me so much more, even though I suffered. There are ways to quit the pain meds and deal w/ pain. Here is how I bounced back and I'm getting the word out.