Traumatic Time was had by me this week.

Okay, no one laugh, come on I wan't your assurances that you will control your sniggers and not laugh too much at the following story, which relates to my misfortune.

In the hope that you will honour your promise I will carry on.

Before I go into the whole story, I’m going to have to give you a bit of background over a major character in it. Before I had my car accident I snapped my anterior cruciate ligament and ended up in the Rehabilitation Home run by the Police for physiotherapy etc. Whilst there I met up with a girl, who I will call M throughout.

The Background!

M had been involved in a car accident arising by her driver responding to a 999 call and taking a corner by St Paul’s Cathedral in London too fast, which resulted in them, ended up smashing through a bus stop. M was the only one injured, and ultimately she got a compression injury in her spine, which developed into a twisting of her spine in the thoracic area. She also suffered from muscle spasms, so severe that they gave her the shakes etc, and these were brought on by her not managing her capabilities properly.

M was as action girl, a real gym addict and as you can imagine her injury was meant to prevent her from carrying on in her attendance. However she went against medical advice and continued to go to the gym etc. This meant her spasms got worse meaning her friends etc were left to pick up the pieces after wards. I can’t begin to count the amount of times she has got herself taken to hospital by ambulance because of her stupidity and mismanagement of her condition.

As most of you know I have back problems but I know my limitations. I know and so does she, when you do too much you can end up in a right state which means you have to be dependent on others, which in my mind isn’t on. I don’t think its fair, when it can be avoided; to have others forced to care for you. I recognise this, she doesn’t, and as such I often perceive her as really selfish. I appreciate she’s got a shit hand in life now, but still. Am I being too harsh in my opinion?

Whenever I would go and visit her, she’d do too much either before I got there or whilst I was there, which would mean the time I was there would be spent nursing her as it were. I’d do anything for my friends but in all honesty I kind of felt I was being taken advantage of. When you asked her to take it easy, she’d rebel, she wouldn’t use things to assist, say a motorised wheelchair as it was too indicative of being disabled, and instead she’d insist on self wheeling (when she had a need for a chair) which in turn meant she’d spasm in an hour and I or others would be left to pick up after her.

M is also the woman who despite having had a throacic spine fused with titanuim bits (way too complicated and dull for me to relate) and who wears a spinal brace, when board kiting, got lifted up by the wind, thrown in the air, fractured her skull and went unconcious and as you can imagine this didn't help the back at all! And still expected people to run around for her! I hated the fact our overstretched health service was picking up after her due to her lack of self restraint!

The Story relating to my trauma

M sent me a text message and said, “Fancy popping round and going out for lunch”. I naively thought “hey, sounds good” and replied with a positive, arriving at her home just before midday.

M says we’ll drive into the local village and have a pub lunch and as it was okay weather we’ll eat outside so we can take her German shepherd, but before sitting down we will give him a quick run around the field. M mentions it may be muddy and so lends me her lodger’s welly boots, (slightly too big for me). I go with, though I wasn’t up for dog walking, my back wasn’t in the best shape, and I had a busy evening to attend to, namely Stoolball umpiring, but heck it was going to be a quick dash round a field and then a pub lunch easy! Only it wasn’t!

We enter the field and this transpires into a walk into a wood, ultimately it could have been pleasant if I hadn’t of been sliding all over the place in a quagmire! Not good to have sudden slips when you’re back isn’t the most stable! Neither was it much fun wading through mud, struggling with the possibility of losing the wellies as they were too big. I know it’s a funny image, but I have to say I wasn’t laughing; my sense of humour had totally disappeared. And when I expressed this calmly (yes truly calmly ~ though I wanted to have a major temper tantrum and throw my toys a far distance from the pram so to say) I was cast aside. M just kept on.

M has only recently moved to the outskirts of this village so didn’t really have a good idea where we were, neither did we have maps etc. We end up climbing steep banks and I express I want to go back, as I’ve had enough, a quick stroll round a field has now turned into an hour and it was more like a hike, and I only came for lunch! Again, I was ignored and she carried on. By now I’d had it, my back was screaming, I was totally pissed off, so I tried to be sensible and said I think we should head back the way we came. M said do what you like and just walked off and left me, how caring how considerate. This from the woman whom, I've dog sat for, (though the little bugger bit me), run errands for, sat with her through the night when's she's been really bad, having been stupid by over exerting herself, my god was I feeling bitter and angry at that moment (yes)! Fab!

So I turned around and entered the woods again. Ahem… as I’d spent so much time watching my footing, I kind of lost my way, there were loads of paths crisscrossing the woods and I had no idea which one I needed. Ultimately I got out the woods and hiked across a couple of fields, before stumbling into a farm, where I sought directions. By this time I’d been walking nigh on 2 hours, and not nice level walking. I was in a bit of a state and it’s taken a good couple of days for me to get my back into a manageable level again.

As you can imagine M and I are no longer talking, and to be honest I feel kind of relieved.

Hope you’ve managed to get the picture of me wallowing in the mud out of your mind now! I’m beginning to find the situation slightly amusing, only slightly mind!