I remember the exact date.  August 2nd, 2004.  I woke up very early with extreme pain in my back, on the left side. It was the first day of a new job and I remember thinking to myself, “I hope my health insurance starts right away.”  I got my heating pad and went back to sleep until my alarm went off.

Over the next nearly 8 months I had pain off and on.  Nothing really seemed to make it better or worse but it was never very bad so I didn’t think much of it. I assumed that I had pulled a muscle, as I had helped my mom move the weekend before the pain started.  March 19th, 2005 I headed back to Iowa to visit my mom.

I stopped at the I-80 truckstop to get gas.  I had been driving without my coat on and so got out of the car without it.  I filled my car and got back on the road when the pain hit.  I hurt so bad that I couldn’t even take in a full breath of air.  I tried adjusting the way I was sitting, I tried adjusting the temperature of the car but nothing helped.  It was one of the most intense pains I’d ever had in my life and I knew there was no way I could make it home. I called my mom in tears and she told me to pull over.  I’d made it to Coralville by then, and parked in the Kohl’s lot.  I laid back my seat and waited, and my little sister and mom soon arrived.  I know they moved me into the backseat of a car, but I don’t remember what car I was in or who was driving it.  I only remember the pain.

When we arrived at The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics I remember being helped out of the car and could only get out a few words at a time as they asked for all my information.  I don’t know how long it took to get me back to a room, but it seemed like forever.  The rest of my time there is also a blur.  I know they took some blood and urine and also did some chest x-rays, thinking that it might be a pulmonary embolism but they didn’t find a thing.  They gave me some vicodin and I could finally breathe in all the way.  They gave me a prescription for more, told me to rest for a few days and sent me on my way, with the instruction to visit my primary care physician when I returned to Illinois.

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