Ozzy Osbourne Was Worried He Might Be Paralyzed After Fall
A fall suffered by Ozzy Osbourne earlier this year forced him to postpone his entire tour calendar for 2019. In a new interview, he described how, in the immediate aftermath of the surgery to his neck, he became fearful that the damage might be permanent.
“I cannot describe to you the helpless feeling that I had,” he told Rolling Stone. “I had to use [a walker] to go for a pee. I had to have nurses, day and night. Just being in hospital is enough to drive you nuts. I thank God I didn’t paralyze myself when I had that accident. I wouldn’t be here now. I would have jumped off the fucking roof — or fell off the roof, whatever. ... The most depressing thing I’ve been thinking is, ‘Am I gonna walk properly again? Am I gonna be able to perform again?'"
The fall, which he said took place when he got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and tripped, dislodged some metal rods that had been placed inside him as a result of an ATV accident he suffered in 2003. He spent two months in the hospital and he still isn't 100 percent, saying that the nerves that were cut during the surgery has left him "wobbling all over the place" with a right arm that always feels cold.
“For the first, say, four months, I was absolutely in agony,” he added. “I was in agony beyond anything I ever experienced before in my life. It was awful."
Osbourne's is continuing his recuperation with physical and occupational therapy, although he's described the progress as "so fucking slow," and he can't stay on his feet as long as he used to. He's passing the time by coming up with song ideas -- he has nine -- and watching documentaries on television while his wife Sharon and his daughters look after him. But for now, he's listening to his doctors and remaining optimistic.
"They say it’s going to take at least a year. I’m hoping that I’ll be OK and ready to go by January. I’m really keeping my fingers crossed.”