Neurological Scare

In Aug. of 2005 I got into a car accident. Someone ran a red light and my little Honda Civic was totalled. Thankfully the kids weren't in the car and no one was seriously injured. Since then I have been dealing w/neck pain. I have never had neck pain before. It is a very low level of pain and doesn't keep me from doing anything. It is just very annoying. Anyway, after multiple trips to my primary care physician, multiple trips to a chiropractor and multiple trips to a physical therapist the pain is still there. So on Nov. 28th my dr. recommended I have a MRI. Fine. Let's figure out what is going on. He told me he would just call me w/the results and we could discuss options depending on what they find, if they find something. Sounds good. The next day we had the big snow storm. I was off work for 2 days then the weekend. I kind of forgot about the MRI. But then Monday, 12/4 I get a message from my dr. office saying they wanted me to COME IN so he could talk to me about the MRI results. The fact that he wanted me to come in vs. discussing over the phone had me a little on edge but whatever. . . So, I went back to see my dr. the next day. He tells me they found "something" but aren't sure exactly what so I need to go back and get another MRI, a "contrasting MRI." It is worth noting that MRI's are NOT FUN! Plus I had a cold/cough. So, staying completely still was nearly impossible. Plus when you are told not to swallow or move at all, of course the first thing you want to do is swallow or move. Needless to say, especially the second MRI (45 min. long) was a NIGHTMARE. But I had that done on 12/7 and had an apt. to go over the results w/a neurological surgeon the next day. Why a neurological surgeon? Yea. Thats what I wanted to know. Apparently this "something" that they found was in my spinal chord. So, to error on the side of caution a trip to the neurologist. Before the second MRI I had called my dr. back to try and find out what was going on, why the trip to the neurologist? My dr. was out of the office but the receptionist that I talked to gave me a little scare. She had said that they didn't know if whatever they found in my neck was from the accident or some other anomoly. This whole other "anomoly" thing is what was scaring me. When I told her this she said, "don't panic. no one has mentioned the word cancer or anything." OIY. I thought to myself, YOU JUST DID! Needless to say, the 24 hours I had to wait between talking to the receptionist and talking to the neurologist were a little unnerving (side note: this all happened the same day that we had the Tia team meeting, 12/7--"a day that will live in infamy" :) ok, i'll stop being overdramatic). The neurologist gave me a good report. He said I have fluid in the canal that runs through my spinal chord. It is minor enough where the risks of surgery far outweigh the minor pain. He said it could have been caused by the accident. He said in some cases it is caused by a tumor. . . OIY. Thankfully, not my case. Anyway, I have to have another contrasting MRI done (UGH) in 6 months so they can make sure the fluid hasn't changed. He prescribed me a muscle relaxer to help w/the pain. That's it. Just a scare. Apparently, I just have to deal w/the pain. Maybe the muscle relaxers will help.