The scariest thing that ever happened to me was when I was 19 I had incredible pains shooting down my left leg. I had no idea what it was, thought it could be a pinched nerve in my back. So, I started going to a chiropractor and started exercising more. Well, after 3 months of no relief, in fact, it was starting to get worse. I couldn't sit for more than 10 minutes. Seriously, in sacrament meeting in church, I'd sit in the back, it was my goal to be able to sit until after sacrament was over, yeah, I reached my goal a few times but more often I wouldn't even be able to sit. Oh, I was in real serious pain. It was so bad that I started sleeping on the floor because my mattress was too soft and after my car ride to work, which was 5 min, I would limp through the parking lot. Finally, after 2 minutes being in the car I called my parents and said "I have had enough, I need some serious help. I am in pain and I can not handle it." We realized at that time that this problem was not going to get better unless something drastic happened. So we set an appointment up with an orthopedic surgeon who suggested an MRI and gave us these possible options of what was causing me pain. 1. Cancer. 2. Ruptured disc. 3. Pinched nerve. After talking to him I was even more scared. I cried to my mom that I was going to die of cancer, and I'm only 19! When the results of the MRI came back the diagnosis was not a bright one, but I was officially a medical anomaly! I had a ruptured disc in my lower back that was pushing my spinal cord against my vertebra. I had to have back surgery!!! I was only 19 and I had back surgery. I was so young and traumatized, I seriously thought the surgeon was going to nick my spinal cord and I'd be paralyzed or maybe he'd nick the part that went to my heart and I'd die. I think I had the best spinal surgeon in the country because I have never had any problems since. I've had sore days but, I can now sit for extended periods of time!!!! I can sit through sacrament meeting. OH, another scary thing, before my surgery, my doc's prescribed me Vioxx and Bextra as anti inflammatories and pain killers, and now they are pulled from the market. So instead of being paralyzed, I get to die of a heart attack!!!