Day 2 - And you may ask yourself...well, how did I get here?

Someone once said, you never know what shit life is going to throw at you. Or in the case of poor Ann Hodge, what meteorite, but that's another story.

In my 'old life' (I like how that sounds!) I often felt like that, as if I was just waiting for the shit to happen. I often had that old Talking Heads track "Once in a Lifetime" going round in my head. You know the one....yes you do...

"You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack,

And you may find yourself in another part of the world,

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile,

You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife,

You may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Life seemed accidentally good, a bit too good to be true. It was only a matter of time before the bad stuff came knocking.

Well it finally arrived at an Easyjet check in desk on the way to a family holiday to Portugal. Well you can't say that life doesn't have a sense of humour.

Up to that point I'd been in good shape, but ignorantly so. I didn't do the things then that I should have done, the stretching, the core strength, the posture, etc, etc. But how many people do? At least until they are forced to.

I wasn't a gym freak or anything, but I was fit and played tennis to a good standard. I could lift up my kids and make sandcastles with them on the beach in Portugal. Well ok it was just me making the sandcastles, but you get my point.

So there we were at check in and I've just bent over to lift the case onto the conveyor belt when it happened. Now there are some defining moments in life, the shooting of John Lennon, the day Diana died, 9/11, 7//7, the death of Michael Jackson and Amy Winehouse. So did you spot the happy memory in that list? Death and despair seem to make a much bigger impact on us than life and happiness. Note to self in new life...give the good memories more space than the bad ones.

Now i'm certainly not suggesting my back compares in any shape or form with global tragedies like those above, but in my personal world that moment at Luton airport was one of my defining moments that I'll never forget.

I can still feel the pain in my back like it was today. I can still remember how shit scared I was because I'd not felt anything like it before. I can remember walking in agony to Boots and swallowing a couple of Nurofen and hoping everything was going to be alright. What a delusional twat.

So I'm looking at my wife and saying that I don't think I can get on the plane, and my two daughters are looking at me with tears in their eyes because they think their holiday is about to get canned.

So I reluctantly get on the plane and whilst Easyjet may not be the most comfortable airline in the world I don't think I can really blame them for this horror of a flight. But when I get to Faro I can't even walk, the pain is unbelievable. So my wife has to call the medics to get me into a wheelchair and I'm off to hospital. Welcome to Portugal my ass.

So I get dosed up on a cocktail of painkillers, anti-inflammatories and sedatives and spend 2 weeks laid out before making the painful journey home. Now at this point I don't know what's wrong with me, as far as I'm concerned it's something that will hopefully clear up in a couple of weeks and life can get back to normal.

You see the problem with back problems is that you think they will go away...eventually. And for many people they do. But how long should you wait before you think, well is this going to go away? Ever? Is it a year? Two, maybe three? Well in my case it was another six years before I figured that actually this was never going to get better.

6 years....that's two more than Michael Jackson's doctor got for killing him. Not sure whether this is relevant but it sure is BAD. Maybe time to think about learning to Moonwalk.

Yesterday I gave thanks to my surgeon, but the biggest thanks must go to my long suffering wife. Life is hard for the person with the problem but it's easy to forget how hard it is for the people who care for you. My wonderful wife knows only too well that I have her to thank for everything. I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for her strength and love through some very dark days.

The bonus is she cooks like a dream. The food here in hospital isn't bad, but it can't compare with the fried noodles she brought me last night! Love you.