One morning, I woke up completely blind. A tumor was to blame, but even when it was removed, I still couldn’t see normally. Just as I was beginning to lose hope, my doctor stumbled on a solution that would change my life — and sight — forever.
“Don’t worry about it. You’re probably just overly stressed.” That was the message I kept hearing from doctors at my health clinic. They repeatedly assured me that their cursory exams revealed nothing of interest.
It was 2003 about a year after I made aliyah when I first started noticing signs that something was wrong. I grew tired and weak from my usual everyday activities. And I had issues with simple coordination; I couldn’t even keep a grip on items — they just fell through my fingers. It was a challenge to do basic things like eating because I struggled to keep the food behind closed lips.
When my eyesight began to slowly deteriorate I grew increasingly worried. A few years prior I had undergone surgery to remove benign brain tumors called meningiomas. One of the first symptoms they had caused was reduced vision. So I knew the problem was far more serious than stress.
Suspecting a neurological problem I demanded an MRI of my head. The doctors granted the request but despite my follow-up questions they never indicated that anything unusual had appeared in the exam. Meanwhile my health continued to get worse. One leg dragged whenever I walked. I ran out of breath by simply walking around my apartment. My face was going numb. The doctors were hardly sympathetic — they insisted that I was suffering from hypochondria.
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