I was dying. There was a big problem within my spine. I was losing my sense of touch. Then, my arms started losing feeling. At the time this was happening to my body I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk and I could barely hear anyone or anything. I was in critical condition.
My outlook was very bad. When I came to at the hospital, I didn’t remember anything that had happened or was currently happening. My body was numb and I had passed out. I couldn’t hear or understand anyone. While I was unconscious, I had no recollection of my time. By the time I woke up, Dr. Giancarlo Perez, a neurological surgeon, had been called in on a trauma alert to perform my surgery.
The surgery took over two hours for Dr. Perez to fix my neck and back. A nerve was compressed on my spine and neck. This resulted in me becoming a quadriplegic with no feeling from the neck down. This happened overnight from one day to the next, while I was sitting in my house. I tried to stand up, my body dropped. It was like I was dead weight. My family had to carry me to the car and bring me to the hospital. Because of the compression of the nerve I was losing all sensation in my body. It’s fate that I met Dr. Perez. Originally, I went to another hospital before going to Palmetto General Hospital’s emergency department.
I was lucky to have Dr. Perez as my doctor. That guy was amazing. I think he’s amazing because of the way he conducts himself as a person and as a human being. He’s a really good person. Dr. Perez always took the time to come back to me to explain everything. I got lucky that Dr. Perez was there that day. My friends and family feel wonderful about the care I received from Dr. Perez. I am a skin diver. We don‘t use scuba tanks, we use handheld oxygen to go down in the water to go spearfishing. I was doing really great a week before this happened.
I was normal right before this happened but everything changed from one day to the next. Today, I have the confidence that I will be a skin diver once again. Because of Dr. Perez, I recovered perfectly. This type of surgery can take up to four or five years to recover from but I should be back to 100 percent within just a year. Dr. Perez’s office staff has been very friendly and helpful. Being on the first floor, Dr. Perez’s office is easy to get in and out of. If I would compare Dr. Perez to a car, he’s a Ferrari. He’s a genius. If he can touch it, (the ailment) he can fix it. Dr. Perez is amazing!
