Doctors don ’ t really know why this happens or comes on . The 3 main theories I was told was that it could have been from birth and only now I am seeing symptoms , it could have been a hit to the head at some point in my life , or it could potentially be formed from a blood clot at one point that caused for this to occur . But they could never say which . I was transferred to Hamilton General Hospital and was having surgery 2 days later in my brain to fix this connection . When I was told that there was a risk of not only death but also potential brain damage , all I could think about was my 1 year old son . I went into surgery and awoke 6 hours later to good news and bad news . The good news was that they were able to fix a lot of the issue . The bad news was that since they had put me under for 6 hours , they could not continue and that they would have to finish the procedure at a later time . After another 5 days in the hospital with the worst headache imaginable , I was finally let go and 2 days later I was back to my spin bike doing some very light cardio . The whole time I was in the hospital I would think of my son and my potential bodybuilding dream being over if I did survive all of this . I was told I could do some light exercise and what I had to not do was high intensity or have a loft of intra cranial pressure . Especially since the issue was not fully fixed . I was in the gym 7 days after getting brain surgery doing whatever I could . I had to be extremely mindful of proper breathing ( which was a huge benefit to my training anyway !). It was extremely demoralizing using about 25 % of the weight I was used to utilizing . I had intense headaches all the time but I figured that as long as I kept my intensity low , I would be fine . I am a person that was bred watching guys like Tom Platz and Dorian Yates . That is how I aim to train . So , it was very different going to the gym and going without a plan to destroy . Going without a log book . Just going in and moving muscles a little bit and walking out 35-40 minutes later feeling like all I did was break a sweat and went home . My goals of competing with the CPA in 2020 were crushed , but I was preparing for something much bigger than a bodybuilding show . A second brain surgery on March 23rd that had the same high risks as the previous one . I was scared of dying and leaving my family behind , especially my 1-year-old . I was even more scared of ending up as a vegetable or with permanent brain damage . As we all know , in March of 2020 , a large portion of the world locked down due to Covid . 4 days before my surgery , I was called and told that despite the importance of my surgery , that it was going to be delayed indefinitely as we did not know anything about this super “ dangerous ” disease that was breaking out . I was crushed . I wanted to get that over with and put this chapter
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