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From Humble Beginnings THIS IS DEDICATED TO MY FATHER., WHO DIED OF CANCER, ROBERT A. NOWAK |
The last four years have been a physical nightmare. It started with a bad pain in the neck. I had my first surgery in August of 94. It consisted of an Anterior cervical fusion and an Anterior cervical discectomy of C-5 and C-6. There was short term improvement There was another similar surgery on disks C-4 and C-5, shortly after that there was a third that include bone graphs, cables and screws on the three disks, C-4-5-6. This was more debilitating than before. There was another surgery to remove all of the hardware. Soon I started having episodes of subs renal chest pain. I was seen by heart and stomach specialist and they found my arteries clear they did not check the charioted arteries.
In December of 96 I suffered a massive stroke, My arteries were 98% blocked. This left me paralyzed on the right hand side and without speech. I had another surgery to open the blocked artery. One of the problems I had was the lack of balance this caused me to fall into the TV and damage my Rotator Cup. This lead to another surgery.
From this point is were I begin my rehabilitation. It took me eighteen months to regain my speech and began to use my right side. After six months of therapy I was on my own. I had lost a good job and the salary that went with it. Now with only eleven hundred some from Social Security I was ready to give up.
No More No more blaming the people I've been involved with. No more blaming it on stress. No more blaming the fast food connection. No more blaming it on my job. No more blaming too much drinking and other bad habits. No more blaming the "big word, STROKE." It's totally my fault, I've had it. I didn't care how many bones I broke, or how many times I fell. This is it! It is time to take the bull by the horns....
The time is now. I've had a lot time on my hands and I've come up with one answer. It's so easy to place the blame on someone or something. I've got to believe it's all my fault. I've got myself in this mess and I'll get myself out. I thought about prayer. But would God listen to me. but He did. This was going to be one terrible fight and believe it was!
The first thing I did was to go to the Library and look for books dealing with how one learned to walk again, and using the right side. I had to learn everything about the Stroke that had killed the left side of my brain. I found out that part of my brain was dead. I had to reprogram the remaining , usable part of my brain. I thought this was going to be a simple task. I was in for a rude awakening.
I started going to the YMCA for the swimming and the whirlpool. I started to improve. I found a trainer named Lewis Thore who is a semi-pro body builder. He was a tremendous source of inspiration he started my on a training program and then after a couple months started me on nutritional supplements. At the time I was amazed to learn that I could lift heavy weight and still not have the fine motor skills to pick a dime up off the floor. I entered the a body building contest sponsored by EAS and completed the 12 week challenge.
People begin to take notice of my improvements. I have several clients that have been referred to me by Doctors and Trainers. I was lucky to find people that were willing to help me overcome this disease. I work with other now helping them overcome theirs.
Dan Nowak