Hey Kidnez - welcome. Nice to have you with us, and I'm looking forward to getting to know you better. Hope you can find some company and some solace here.

Jones

Hello Kidnez - welcome!
It's a pretty good, supportive and knowledgeable group here and many of us are pretty complex too, so you're probably in good company
Morgs

Welcome kidnez, good to meet you,

starfish

Hi Kidnez,
Welcome to the forum, thanks for saying hi!

AG

hey there. two spinal fusions huh? how are they coming along?
are you going into the management field because its physically tougher to do the manual work with the back and neck issues?

hope youre doing well today.

Thank you , Jones, Draggers, Morgs, starfish, Blanket Girl, AG, and Da Rock. I appreciate such a warm reception.

Yes, Da Rock, I finally got the message my back was trying to clue me in on! Although I'm sure I could go the SSI route I just can't see myself going that road..

Events that have led me here have taken their toll on me and I feel compelled to tell my story. I'm thinking maybe go backwards and out of synch...

As a kid I didn't have a father around to provide any type of guidance and with an abusive mother I ended up in group homes. This ended up being a good thing as I ended up with several fathers and mothers in several group homes I was in. Thing is time passes and as I neared my 17th birthday it was time to start thinking about what I was going to do before I was kicked out of the system. I joined the Army, stayed for a short time and basically ran amok until I was about 23 and accidentally fell into the construction industry.

This was also a good thing as I found life time friends that I still keep in contact with and learned a decent paying trade. Problem was that after completing my apprenticeship I blew out a disc in my neck and so started this long drawn out nightmare.

Being very expensive where I lived I had to move to the city (Portland, Oregon) my moms side of the family lived where I collected workers comp and had my first fusion of C4-C5. A year or so after my surgery I went back to work.

A handful of years later I had another accident which blew out my lower back. Thing is I was working for an Oregon company on a Washington state job. Both states denied me workers comp as my company claimed it was Washington's responsibility while Washington claimed it was Oregon's problem. First thing that comes up when you Google my name is this workers comp case as it made case law which basically state if you work for an Oregon company in Washington you better not get hurt. Nice huh?

This was the biggest life changing event I have ever had and set into motion a series of events that really needs to be documented. After being denied workers comp and unable to work I slowly lost everything, my home and every thing in it and ended up living in my van in the woods. Unfortunately, my only help at the time was from a cousin I have that is not exactly your model citizen.

Without getting into much detail now I'll just say I ended up being arrested and charged with a crime I did not commit. Suddenly I was facing a 17 year prison term at 33 years of age and I have never been arrested in my adult life or been to real jail. This was not good, at all.

I ran. There was no way any lawyer could guarantee me my innocence would prevail, I was terrified, without funds that I needed to face these charges. After bouncing here and there I finally found some help and turned myself in.

The details of all of this I need to explain but being that I'm the new guy here I'll step into the details a little later.

In the end I was offered a plea deal that I really didn't understand that used a crime I admit I committed against me to plea guilty to the crime I didn't commit. Basically I was facing 1.5 years in prison for cutting up some old aluminum pipe we found deep in the woods or plea guilty to fraudulent charges and receive 3 years probation with no jail time. I didn't feel like I could make it for 1.5 years in a state prison and I plead guilty to a horrible charge.

Probation officers are angels in disguise. I learned that you can't possibly get over on probation officers. After time they realized that I did not commit the crime I was on probation for. After reading the paper work they couldn't believe I was even there. I finished my probation after 2.5 years and was released.

During my time on probation I ended up going back to work, got covered with health insurance and had my next surgery, a BAK Cage Fusion of L5-S1. Not good. Although this took care of the pain radiating down my legs I now have a hot knife in my back at all times. The only time I am without pain is when I'm asleep which is hard to do at times.

Its been 12 years since I had that surgery. Things have been real hard as I can't work for to long at a time because of the pain. The best course of action was to go back to school.

So here I am. I'm convinced that I have PTSD because of being fraudulently convicted of a crime I did not commit. I've been battling depression because of the pain in my back and the fact that I have no insurance. I can't tell you guys how many time I have walked into a doctors office paying $180.00 cash only to be treated like a drug addict.

Anyway. I have to get some things done. This is just the tip of it all. I thank you all in advance for any support and just ask that you believe me as I have no reason to make all this up.