wet the night before. As I bent down to get one of my tools, I
felt a discharge of electricity from my waist down and back up
to my brain. A herniated disk in the lower part of my back was
the cause of that feeling. Eventually, I got treatment, and after
trying different ways to make the pain go away, I had to have
surgery.
Four months later, I sold my truck because it was getting
harder and harder to make the payments, and I was not even
able to get into it. Then I realized that in order for me to find a
job that does not require physical work I had to at least learn
how to read and write English. Also, my bad habits needed to
change. After trying several times, I finally quit smoking. Six
months later, I quit drinking. As I was leaving these bad
habits, many of my “friends” stopped frequenting me.
Because of my injury, I qualified for a program to get
retrained—now I have this opportunity and my goals have
changed. I am attending Lake Washington Institute of
Technology and I am in the Medical Assisting Program. For
the first time in my life I am giving myself the opportunity to
learn. Now one of my goals is to graduate from this program
and continue my education so my mind can keep working
while my body recuperates. Hopefully, after completing this