Menace or Mentor?

In November of 1989, I was in a car accident that at the time didn’t seem that bad. I went about my business that evening but three days later limped into the emergency room of a local hospital where I was chastised by the doctor for not coming in immediately. It seems that the swelling from a sprained spinal column would now take months instead of days to heal. If only that had been the end of it.