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and family. I couldn’ t see details of their faces, but I knew who they were. I didn’ t tell anybody about my poor vision, but my family figured it out when they realized I had not turned on the television to watch ESPN’ s Sportscenter for two days. Apparently, the post-surgery swelling was pushing on my optic nerve and causing vision problems. The doctors believed my vision would be fully restored as the swelling went down. While my vision improved, I never fully restored my 20 / 20 vision.
The post-surgery swelling was the root of many physical problems. It was so intense it snapped the seventh cranial nerve, which caused the left side of my face to be paralyzed. I had no control over movement on my face. The left side of my mouth drooped, and I couldn’ t close my left eye. I had no idea this had occurred, but I noticed the look on my visitors’ faces and could tell something wasn’ t right.
Eventually, I was told about the paralysis and was given a mirror. My stomach dropped when I saw myself. I was devastated that I would never smile again.
While I was unaware about the paralysis in my face, I was fully aware of the paralysis and weakness of my left arm and leg. I was told as the swelling went down, I would regain movement in both. Over the next three weeks of therapy, I was able to move my arm and leg, but I lost all motor skills and was unable to walk. I worked and worked so hard in therapy, but it’ s incredibly difficult to not be able to perform the simplest of tasks, especially since I had done them most of my life. All I wanted to do was get better and go home.
In fact, I begged and begged to go home and was granted a weekend pass, but my parents had to take tests of their own to prove they were able to take adequate care of me. They passed and I got to go home for a night.
AFTER I RETURNED TO THE HOSPITAL, I was told I couldn’ t stay any longer because insurance said I reached my limit. So after about a month in the hospital, I was released because of my insurance limits, even though the doctor said I wasn’ t ready to be released. While insurance would no longer cover my hospitalization, it would cover sending therapists to my parents’ house. Mom quit her job, and I stayed with my parents until I was as good as I could be.
I had a speech, occupational and physical therapist come to the house what seemed to be ever other hour, but really it wasn’ t quite that frequent. They believed that I would learn how to walk again within a year, but I worked so hard I quickly went from a wheelchair to a walker to a cane and after four months, I was walking unassisted.
I still had to think in my head: left foot, right foot with every step, but eventually it became natural. I was back on the golf course in October, but I had terrible balance and no strength. I could only hit a 3 wood about 100 yards.
I continued therapy and became stronger. I still had weakness and poor motor skills in my whole left side. My balance wasn’ t great and my face remained paralyzed on the left side.
I had to face the fact that this was as good as it gets. I would have to adapt my life and learn how to do things differently than I had done for the past 25 years. I went back to work in December
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