Читать книгу Racing Toward Recovery. The Extraordinary Story of Alaska Musher Mike Williams Sr. онлайн

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I did start drinking in the army. I drank in the bars in South Korea, but not very much. After I finished my martial arts workout each night I went to a bar and had a couple of beers. I did not abuse alcohol at that time.

Being in South Korea for six months was a good experience all-around, but it was cut short. I suffered a detached retina in my right eye. I didn’t know how it happened, whether it occurred during tae kwon do practice, or on the job with the military, but my eye was going blind. I couldn’t see as well as I should have. I was losing vision and told the authorities I could only see a portion out of that eye. Within a week of me reporting it, since I couldn’t really do anything for the army, I was medevaced from South Korea to San Francisco.

Then I was shipped to Fort Lewis in Tacoma, Washington. The plan was for me to have surgery in Seattle. Then they realized they didn’t have the specialist they needed there and sent me back to San Francisco. They scheduled the eye surgery at Letterman General Hospital at the Presidio. When my eye was examined they diagnosed it as a detached retina and said that I was 40 percent blind in that eye.