By MIKE HELM

This past summer, County Solid Waste Supervisor Chuck Stanley mounted a bulldozer off China Grove Road and helped build a solid waste convenience center.

Last Tuesday night, the 36-year-old man hobbled into the county commission chambers on a walker and told the board he would be returning to work in mid-February.

What happened in between is a peculiar story that still doesn’t have an ending. Doctors still haven’t fully diagnosed what nearly killed a healthy man who had hardly missed a day of work in 13 years as a county employee.

What is known is that Stanley developed a massive infection that apparently began in the mastoid bone behind his ear and spread to his brain, causing paralysis on the right side of his body. The infection also spread to his lungs and caused a severe case of pneumonia.

It was the pneumonia that finally caused doctors to realize the seriousness of his illness and begin treatment that is expected to restore him to normal health.

Stanley said the first indication was in September when he developed a pain in his neck. Doctors now speculate that was probably the first symptom of the mastoid infection.

By Oct. 1, the problem became acute and Stanley was experiencing what he thought was a migraine headache.

“I got up to go to work one morning, got out of bed and fell on the floor on my way to the bathroom,” he said. “I didn’t think much of it and got ready to go to work like I normally do. I started out the front door and fell down again. My wife told me to go to the doctor.”

Stanley’s first visit to the doctor resulted in a prescription for medicine to treat a migraine headache and some antibiotics.

On Oct. 28, Stanley went to the kitchen to fix a sandwich, sat down on a stool and fell over.

“The sandwich went flying one way and I went the other,” he said.

Stanley was experiencing paralysis on his right side. He made it to the couch, thinking his condition would improve. After 45 minutes, things didn’t get better.

“I called my wife and told her I was going to have to call the emergency wagon.” Stanley was in Columbus Regional Healthcare until Nov. 4, suffering right-side paralysis and a fever. During two stints in the hospital, his fever oscillated between 102 and 107 degrees. The 107-degree fever caused doctors to pack him in ice.

Doctors inserted a tube to try to drain the fluid from his mastoid but the infection was too involved and it wouldn’t drain.

The Columbus hospital released Stanley and referred him to a specialist in Wilmington. The specialist saw him once and increased the dosage of the antibiotics.

The following Saturday, Stanley started coughing up blood and experienced a severe pain in his collarbone. He could hardly breathe.

He was becoming frustrated and wanted help. He called his insurance company and got approval to go to Loris Healthcare System in Loris, S.C. Stanley said not more than five minutes passed between the time he walked in the door and a team of doctors was working on him.

He was in the Loris hospital for almost two weeks and was seen by doctors from Florence, as well as the normal staff. Stanley said he couldn’t say enough for the quality of care at the Loris hospital.

The doctors started to get his infection under control and were trying to find out what exactly was attacking his body. He was sent home the day before Thanksgiving and referred to a nationally recognized specialist at the University of North Carolina Hospitals at Chapel Hill.

Since December, he has been to Chapel Hill three times and has five appointments scheduled for January. He is undergoing muscular rehabilitation to regain strength. Right now, he’s on a walker, the next step is a cane and after that, he should be walking on his own.

Throughout the ordeal, Jessica has been by his side.

“My wife stayed with me from the time I went in the hospital until the time I got out,” he said. “Brunswick Community College (her employer) has been wonderful. They worked with her.”

Stanley’s mother helped look after the couple’s two daughters, Jordan, 10, and Hannah, 8, and the family received help from many friends.

“I want to thank everybody for their prayers,” he said.

For Stanley, being out of work is the worst part. He has worked hard his entire life and can’t stand being at home. He feels ready to go back, even if just to answer phones, but the doctors don’t recommend it.

That’s why he hobbled into the county commission chambers two weeks ago to the applause of the audience. He wanted his bosses to know that he was coming back, that he couldn’t wait to come back and serve the county.

Stanley said doctors are close to having a diagnosis and he might know as soon as this week what has shattered his life. The next question is, where did he get it? Stanley doesn’t know if it came from working around solid waste but he said doctors raise their eyebrows when he tells them what he does for a living.