This Just In: $19,386.08

I spent 22-hours in the hospital last weekend

Saturday evening while on our family’s weekly FaceTime call, I moved wrong and fell over on the couch. There was shooting pain across my entire low back and I could not put any weight on my legs. It was bad.

You see people on TV shows complaining about getting old when they inexplicably hurt themselves simply by living. Well, I guess I’ve reached that age.

In January, my wife and I were in our car, stopped at a red light. Another car refused to stop at the light, rear-ended us, and took off. The lady was never caught. The damage to the car was fixed, but Carla and I have been receiving chiropractic treatment since. Turns out, the extent of my injuries were greater than anticipated.

When I moved wrong on Saturday night, a bulge and annular tear in my L5-S1 disc pressed into the nerves causing the pain and immobility. I, of course, learned all this after taking an ambulance ride to the hospital, an incredible amount of drugs, and a 4:00 am MRI.

When you’re a little kid, the idea of riding in an ambulance is exciting. It’s a big truck that makes loud noises and is full of possibilities. The reality, when you’re strapped to a very uncomfortable table and every bump and jolt sends shards of hot pain through your back, is much less appealing.

After the early morning MRI, I spent another 12-hours in the hospital under “observation” while the swelling in my back went down and I regained the ability to walk without assistance.

The good news is, relatively speaking, I’m fine. Bulging discs and annular tears don’t heal, per se, but they are treatable. The prescribed drugs have kept the inflammation and pain down and I’ve increased my movement each day this week.

The really good news is my new company’s health insurance kicked in 36-hours before I had to call 911. Had this happened just a day sooner, I would have been in serious trouble.

I don’t yet have the itemized bill, but the initial insurance claim from the hospital is $19,386.08. This may or may not include the ambulance since that was the City of Orlando Fire Department and not the hospital itself. Regardless, the bill is insane.