Chronic Pain: A Life Changer

Chronic Pain: A Life Changer My Story  
{Part 1}
This is my story, my accident, my personal struggle. I agree about how positive thinking can affect a person's mentality, but telling someone to always think positive when they might not know the nitty-gritty of it all can be very frustrating for the sufferer of pain, disease or illness. I hope that my own personal account of suffering with Chronic Pain will shed light and bring awareness to people. Help Me to get the word out there to the world!!!!


CRASH BOOM BANG CRUNCH!!!
All I see is two cars coming towards me. I can only think 'I'm gonna get hit, I'm gonna get hit'. My entire body went into complete shock mode. I gripped that steering wheel like there was no tomorrow. My next thought was 'Oh God what do I do?!?' I all of a sudden remembered what my Dad thought me about accidents, and tried my best to follow that.
Both cars were flying towards me. I felt so powerless to stop everything from happening. One car spun out and ended at the nose of my car parallel to me. The other car came barrelling towards me....towards my door, I knew right then that it was going to hit me directly...I was so terrified...It managed to skim right beside my door and hit the back passenger side, right by the gas tank, the car then went directly between my car and the car behind me (destroying the front end of the car behind me) and ripping my back bumper completely off. She ended up on the shoulder of the road.
The next thing I remember is looking around and I couldn't believe what just happened. Debris was everywhere, glass, metal , my bumper....
My first accident, Never thought it would happen to me. I've always been such a careful driver. But it did, it happened and it has changed my life forever.
I called my mom to tell her what happened, I called my amazing friend Jenn (who luckily happened to live just down the road) and told me to get to her house and have my mom pick me up from her house. She is such a great friend, once I got to her house and was telling her everything that happened, I was talking a mile a minute but she picked up on everything and was able to get me to calm down a bit. I was still extremely shaken up and freaking out but I was able to get a bit more calm, due to her. I owe a lot to her!!!

It has been 4 years 5 months and 13 days since it happened and it has been such a huge struggle to make it through. I have never experienced this kind excruciating pain before in my life.

My neck was stuck straight, I could not move it at all, it even hurt to think and blink. I could not move my arms from my body, I had to use my right hand to hold my left arm up and place me hand on the wall just to get dressed and put deodorant on. My back was in so much pain everywhere, it wasn't in just in one spot it was EVERYWHERE!!!. My lower back, middle of back, upper back, and base of my neck, it radiated all the way around to the sides of my body and my ribs(they felt as though they were going to explode). I had to walk with my knees bent because I could not stand up straight and walk, I couldn't bare any weight on my ankles and when I stood up it was very noticeable that I was leaning forward and to the right slightly. That was how horrible it was for about a year. I saw my doctor and he diagnosed me with a rotator cuff strain/sprain in my left shoulder (which made sense with me having to use my other arm just to support my left side when I got dressed and put deodorant on). However he couldn't figure out why my entire body was reacting the way it was.. meaning why it was all over my body. After close to the 6 week mark and after quite a few Physio sessions, still in horrible pain everywhere and not feeling any better was when my doctor diagnosed me with Chronic Pain....

Yup that's right...Chronic Pain.... All I could think of was....."Shit this sux!!!" and then "Now what?"......

Thanks for reading

~M~

Stay tuned to find out what the NOW WHAT is!! Its NOT pretty!!
In my upcoming BLOG, entitled: Chronic Pain: The Nitty-Gritty Truth (part 2)

Please: If you or someone you know is suffering with chronic pain please share your story, I would love to be able to meet more people who feel stuck and trapped like me, and to get the word out about chronic pain so that health care professionals and governments can get a REAL understanding of what it is truly like.


#ChronicPain on Twitter

Marine Land Trip 2014

Marine Land Trip

My family and I recently went to MarineLand in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. I was extremely excited to go simply because A: It was a family trip
                                               B: Haven't been there since I was a little girl
                                               C:Over the years I have heard some really bad press regarding the
                                                   the treatment of the animals at Marineland, so me being a huge
                                                   animal lover and animal advocate since I was a young girl. I
                                                   wanting to see the animals for myself.
We went on a Sunday, and it was not crazy busy there, so that is a bonus. There is a lot of walking around the park so if you plan on going, be prepared for that.
I am a huge advocate for people having the freedom of speech and opinion, so I went with an open mind.
1st: We saw the Dolphin, Bulga Whales, Seals and Wally the Walrus. It was jam-packed, The animals seemed to actually be happy, I know how that sounds, but I did not see anything physically wrong with them and they seemed to be happy to do a routine, all in all they put on a really good show, well trained and what looked like getting a lot of treats when before and after they performed. The tanks were bright blue-meaning the water is extremely clean.
2nd: We hit up the kids rides...a lot of adults were actually on the kids rides, a lot of the kids rides seemed to be based on the adult version of the ride. The rides were actually quite fun especially for kids, I think it makes them feel grown up in a way.
3:The food and drinks are a bit pricy, but the food that we did have was really good.

I saw that the water that the whales, bulgas, dolphins, seals, were in were really clean and big, I was surprised at how large the whales tank was, now it is not an ocean, no, however it is pretty big, same with the bulga's tank, quite large..
There is an extremely large area where you can go and feed Deer, that was so cool, they are surprising soft animals. Also you can go and feed the Bears. They have such a huge habitat.. its massive.

{The Deer Area is way bigger then in this photo}

 {Bears habitat goes far to the right also}

Giving people the chance to see these animals was great. I am not a fan of keeping wild animals and if it were up to me I would free every mammal, animal fish, sea creatures, however, being in Marine land and seeing where and how they are living, I do believe they are being well kept. For most of us, we have seen the news about Marine land. That news seems to be old news and it does seem like the animals are happy and healthy, from what I saw. If they were still doing things wrong....umm It would not be open {everyone would know that}.

PLEASE NOTE: I am only one person and I am entitled to my own voice and opinion, that being said I can not make a person change their thoughts, but I would encourage that anyone that has any doubts of Aquariums, Zoo's, Animal Parks, Animal Petting Zoo type places, to go and see them for yourself. Make your own judgement, DO NOT BASE HOW YOU FEEL ABOUT SOMETHING BECAUSE OF ONE PERSONS OPINION, OR BECAUSE HE/SHE MAY HAVE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Go and investigate it for yourself...Im not just meaning Marine Land but all Zoo{of all types}, Aquariums also....Please be your own judge about something!!!

I do not want to hear any nasty, negative, rude comments, I appreciate everyone's views and opinion, but when you start dropping nasty words, or name calling...that's NOT appreciated

Thank you for Reading!!
Remember....Be your OWN judge!!
~M~

These Photo's are mine, I took them and own them.

www.marinelandcanada.com

Summer 2014 Is Missing!!!

Where on Earth is Summer 2014?!?!

Playing Hide and Seek I think.....

JUNE 2014
This past June went by so fast it was liked I blinked and it was gone!! We had some really great sunny warm days, but not enough! To be honest I dont even know what I even did in June. How sad is that!!! 
All I remember was studying for school (online learning) and packing for my move. Thats really all...

JULY 2014
It is now pretty close to the end of July and the weather has not been that great...a few hot days here and there but overall....really dull...and rainy at beginning if July. I have no idea where the summer has gone!! I think its playing Hide and Seek with us!!! It sucks...this was supposed to be {George from Seinfeld quote} ''The Summer of Mel''.} but truely it hasnt been....what the what?!?!

AUGUST 2014
Mother Nature,you better be on your A-Game!!! We need some Summer Weather!!!! NOW!! And yeah I just told Mother Nature to get her stuff together!!!!

I hope everyone's been having your own great 'Summer of {insert your name here}‘!!!!!

~M~

My #Longmire Latest Episode Review

Longmire

July 21/2014

I've finished watching Longmire, and why is it that everyone seems to go a little crazy.
Let's start with Branch, tonight's episode it really becomes more apparent as to Branch's obsession with this. It is not only affecting his job...but also his personal life too. Cady is starting to talk to about it, hopefully it will help.
Now onto Vic. Last weeks episode was absolutely insane, what she and her husband Sean went through was horrible, so for her to be a little on edge and feeling vulnerable is understandable. I do think that Vic needs to talk to someone, maybe not a professional but someone...anyone who will listen. Her character is very head-strong, and it seems that she puts out this 'I don't need help from anyone' type vibe, but we all know she secretly does, she just doesn't know how to say she needs help (much like a lot of us in real life).
Walt had his hands full tonight, I did not see it coming about the insurance guy...shocked by that one...
The one thing I missed was Henry. Why no Henry tonight? I love all the characters but Henry is just awesome!!!
Well that's it for me from tonight's episode.
Let me know what you thought of tonight's (July 21/2014) new episode.. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.
A side note: Walt's wife's murder storyline has been going on since the start. Do you think it will be solved in the last 2 episodes this season, or are you like me and hope it draws on all the way to the end, and if the series ever ends {cross fingers it doesn't} they'll reveal it to us then???

Thanks for Reading
~M~

The Walking Dead....Best Zombie Show Ever!!!

The Walking Dead

Okay I remember the very first time I ever saw a commercial for the series premiere of The Walking Dead, It was a week or two before AMC's Fear Fest started and I thought "OMG I have GOT to check this show out, its looks scary,gory, and full of zombies" My all time favourite genre of movies is Horror-The more blood guts and gore the better in a horror movie...to all Horror movie fans out there in the world you ALL know what I am talkin about....uh huh!!! LOL....
Anyhoo...So I was already excited for Fear Fest to start, but I was getting so pumped to see The Walking Dead. On none other than Halloween Night!! Perfect night to air this show, plus all the trick-r-treaters were done by 8:30pm so it really worked in m favour to have a lights all out, snacks in hand, and no interruptions during the premiere.

I was instantly hooked!!! And it was playing an encore of it right after so I watched it again...And faithfully NEVER missed and Sunday Night of The Walking Dead  {LOL Sunday Night of the Walking Dead....not just One Night of the Living Dead...thank you George A. Romero for that one :-) }.
And now its going into Season 5 (I LOVE this show)

My Thoughts on Seasons...and Basics of Season!!
WARNING:
The following is NOT for people who have not seen The Walking Dead Before(may contain spoilers)
Season 1: It was intense.. Rick wakes up in hospital and finds absolutely no one around, not only does he have to deal with that.. but his wife and son are no where to be found...How scary would that be?!?! But then to be reunited with them... That was awesome!! Watching Shane squirm around cuz of what he and Lori were doing was so much fun to see, But I couldn't help but wonder how long Rick was in his Coma for??? Because it really didn't seem like it was too long before Lori and Shane hooked-up...Fans you all know what I mean...
Ohhh the CDC!!! It was not such a good place to end up...(Ha much Terminus...ha ha ha..oh the irony...LOL). Ended that season with a massive explosion of the CDC.
Oh yeah and there's a lot of Walkers being killed...and we meet Daryl!!! ohhh Daryl....so hot and rough, tough and rugged....Love Daryl!!!!

Season 2: Rick and the survivors get stuck on a highway/interstate with a traffic jam of abandoned cars...The best scene was when Rick and Dale are talking and Rick does his Rick stare into the distance and notices a herd of Walkers coming and everyone has to hide under the cars...it was awesome scene.. and then poor Sophia runs away after almost being an appetizer for a Walker and Rick goes after her telling her to stay in one spot..it was never revealed why she didn't stay in that spot...maybe if she did she'd not been lock in a barn...I can only assume that a walker came and she got scared and ran away again.. So the survivors start a search party and go looking for Sophia. No luck there...
After a few weeks (for us fans) later Shane (who has already got a bit of attitude and craziness due to Rick coming back and his hook-up with Lori ended) and Rick take Carl (or Corrral My very sad impression of the way the EVER-SO HOT Rick says it) hunting and Carl gets shot.. and enter Otis.. the man who accidently shot Carl.. Otis takes them to Hershel's Farmhouse.
So basically they decide they want to stay.. Hershel's got an issue with that. Rick and Hershel find some common ground.. and the group stays there for a while...Andrea's attitude and upset towards Dale is very apparent....
Lori finds out she's pregnant... "And on the next episode of Maury Povich--Who's my baby's daddy.. Rick an group leader who's not currently this season insane or Shane, the crazy guy I hooked up with because he told me my husband was dead". And a budding romance between Glenn and Maggie...awwww....
Then there's the massive issue with the walkers in the barn.. Crazy Shane decides "Errr I'm angry and going to open this barn full of walkers!!" And the most gut-wrenching scene so far that season.(thank you Kleenex for being invented) Was when Sophia comes out as a walker....OMG I'm almost tearing up right now thinking about it. It was a hard scene to watch and NOT get emotional over.. even when AMC plays marathons and that scene is on oh man the tears are a flowing!!!
Daryl takes everything hard and separates himself from the group by camping out at the far end of the farm, and then goes off to look for Sophia, only to get shot by Andrea.. but thankfully survives
Ends on a Ginormous herd of Walkers over taking the Farm and the group all driving off separated, well sort of...Oh and Shane tries to kill Rick....Shane gets dead.. comes back...and Carl shoots him. And Dale...ohhh poor Dale...I just kept thinking... 'Nooooo Not Dale'....

Season 3: The Prison/Woodbury: Lori's is very close to her due date, although I am not sure how she could keep track of how many months...I mean come on....How many of us have actually forgotten what day it was?? Just saying....Lori gives birth the baby girl, but dies during/after labour. Carl names the baby Judith. They meet some prisoners and after a bunch of them get killed, Axel and Oscar are the 2 left. They all eventually work together.
Michonne (bad-ass) and Andrea (UGH) are taken to Woodbury (A much better place then CDC and Terminus) Where we find Merle (Merle was awesome) and none other than THE GOVERNOR who eventually becomes Pirate Governor...''Rrrrr Me Matie....I'm the Governor and I make very strong angry faces...'' Gotta Love to Hate the Governor!!! I mean seriously he kept heads in jars.. and his walker daughter Penny locked up!! Ohh, and he's crazy!!!!
We meet Sasha and Tyrese.... who then later end up in Woodbury.
Rick realllllly starts to go a smidge crazy...understatement of the year.. ha ha Glenn and Maggie get serious. Hershel loses his legs but they manage to find a prosthetic leg for him... But baby Judith gets plastic beer cups to play with... HUH?!?!
Governor is getting more and more aggressive... His true colours really start to make an appearance, and he and Michonne end up in this EPIC battle (that's when he becomes Pirate Governor). Absolutely epic fight scene between them...Andrea's been "seeing" the Governor and she does try hard to make peace between Rick and the Group and Governor, but no dice....and an all out crazy battle between them are underfoot..
Andrea is tied to a chair in a room with Milton (Governors trusty side-kick) who is slowly becoming a walker.
Daryl is just doing his thing!!! and doing it very well!! I love that Norman Reedus is Daryl!! Daryl is so HOT!! My fave that's for sure!!!
Ended with us fans seeing Andrea in the room beaten and bitten from Milton...and she was not in good shape. Michonne sits down beside her and was there for Andrea when Andrea kills herself, because she didn't want to become a walker. Group of Woodbury survivors got to prison. And the Governor was missing!!! dun dun dunnnnn...

Season 4: This season was INSANE!!! and so intense...a bit boring with all the governor episodes but still and awesome season nonetheless...
So I think this was supposed to be quite a few months after this whole war was started. Because Rick is gardening and listening to an MP3 player, and life seems to be pretty good.... or so it seems LOL!!

We see Governor climb out of a tent, and he looks rough...and I mean ROUGH!!! He takes a long long stroll and ends up at an apartment building, and meets Lilly, Meghan, Tara and their father. He tells them his name is Bryan and they all go off together.. running into his old pal Martinez and find out that Martinez has a group. Governor gets in and ends up killing Martinez and makes it look like an "accident" and ends up taking over the group....
Back at the prison an extremely deadly Influenza Outbreak happens. Chaos ensues, and a lot of people died. Sasha and David a murdered and its a CSI: Walker episode with Rick putting the pieces together to figure it out. A group goes out to get medicine Daryl included...yah Daryl Dixon...Love Daryl!!!
Governor finds Hershel and Michonne outside the prison, and takes them hostage. Hershel and Michonne are then displayed on their knees in from of the tank by the Governor...Governor and Rick exchange words. Rick then tells Governor they can co-exsist in the prison and they can all live happily ever after---Governor decides he's had enough talking and takes Michonne's sword and cuts Hershel's head off in front of everyone...once that happens...ohhh it was on like donkey kong...
Eventually Rick and Governor go head to head and another EPIC fight is on!! fists are flying, bloods spurting.... Just than Governor is on top of Rick and in comes Michonne... She saves a badly beaten Rick by wounding Govenor with her sword...Governors cult is defeated and scatter around.. same with the prison group... Everyone just goes off...
Okay so as I'm re-watching all this through AMC's Marathons...I can not help but wonder... Why didn't Ricks group have a 'Safe House' that they can all meet up in case of this sort of thing happening.. Hell-o they clearly knew Governor was on the war-path and comin their way... so why not make a meeting point?!?!
Anyhoo.... Everyone's split up....OK....we go months without Walking Dead....and then finally mid-season premiere: Opens with Rick and Carl....Carl becomes quite a brat! and Rick is trying to heal all his wounds from the fight. They find shelter in a house.. at end of episode they have a surprise visitor... MICHONNE....who we see how she got to them...by finding to more 'PET' walkers and did one of the BEST walker killing scene so far...she just snapped out and killed a lot of walkers in the woods....so the three of them set off together....Next Daryl and Beth are stuck out in the woods, Beth wants to drink...the go to golf course...find something to drink...she doesn't drink it... and Daryl plays golf with a bunch of walkers...and they then end up at a funeral home which later becomes over-run with walkers. Daryl tells Beth to run, she does and when Daryl gets outside he sees a dark car speed off and we can only assume they kidnapped Beth.. who knows... then Daryl is all by himself until he runs into some seriously messed up guys who are up to no good!!
Then another absolutely insane part happens... When Daryl and these guys come across Rick, Michonne, and Carl...To everyone out there who knows what I am talking about...you know what I mean when I say that scene left me totally speechless and jaw-dropped....OMG is all I have to say!! I couldn't believe it!! I still cant as I write this...
So once that's over...It honestly left me feeling so empty...shocked...and I just sat there after almost feeling what it would be like in a walker world.. Like if that was truly real and life was really like that, what would I do in that situation...and I still don't know what Id do....Do You???
So they get back on the road the 4 of them.. meanwhile Glenn is stuck at the prison where he find Tara and they set off together, running into Abraham (Ginger), Rosita(Lara Croft wannabe) and Dr. Eugene(the man who rock the Mullet) they all follow the tracks also... Maggie is with Sasha and Bob are together...Long story short they all are on the tracks trying to find Terminus.... I DID predict when the very first episode of mentioning Terminus.. That it would be not a good place and they'd some sort of cult of cannibals......lol...so far so true!! cant wait to find out more in Season 5!!!
Ends on Rick, Michonne and Carl walking outside to get food and they notice someone wearing Daryl's Poncho...The Riot Gear, other things...especially when Rick notices the guy wearing his watch.... and then Rick does the math....2+2 does = 4....then all heel breaks loose and the crazy cannibal cult of Terminus forces them into a train car...where inside Rick, Michonne, Carl and Daryl <3...find Glenn and Sasha, Maggie, Bob, Abraham, Rosita, Eugene...but that's all we see..
Ends with Ricks Best Statement:
Rick "They're gonna feel pretty stupid when they find out...(long pause)'.
Abraham "Find out what?"...... An even longer pause...lol
Rick: "They're screwing with the wrong people"......ohhhhh the chills.......

Season 5: Coming to a TV near you....or computer depending on where in the world you live....

Final thoughts from me....I am so PUMPED for Season 5..... but when Season 4 ended with Rick and his long pauses...and him saying that it gave me goose-bumps and sent chills down my spine...So we all know that when Rick means business he means business.....

This was my first blog I know it was really long almost as long as Ricks pauses at the end of he season....but I thank anyone who toughed it out and read it all...Thank you I appreciate it.
I would love to have some conversations about the walking dead. Here's some questions I thought could be a good start......
1: Do you watch the show?
2:Who is your fave character and why?
3:What is your fave parts of the show?
4:Why do you like the show?
5:What do you think will happen in Season 5???

~M~