The Optimizer

About Michael V Morrow

I have worked in the world of Corporate Security for 20 years and Gaming Surveillance for 12 years. I have trained others as a supervisor assisted my superiors with interviews.  I am a cancer survivor.  I have worked on my fitness all my life.

Security and Surveillance

I worked in Corporate Security for Playboy Enterprises at the entertainment building in Los Angeles.  I fielded guests, filed reports, kept records, and worked executive protection at events (both on location and at the Mansion). My last position was supervisor at the TV Studios.

My experience in Casino Surveillance has varied with each company I’ve worked for.  I’ve worked on the Strip, Downtown and Local Casinos off the strip.  I know all the games on the casino floor but new ones keep coming out.

I know how corporations operate.  You have to know what to say to persuade a company they need your product.  One person makes the decision.  He then needs to convince people above him why.  Overcoming the resistance to buying, takes convincing them the problem is to great to ignore or the deal is too good to pass up.

My Medical Life

Childhood Surgery

I couldn’t hold down my food and was starving. Only weeks old and I looked like I was going to die. My mother took me to the doctor but he didn’t believe her. She had to bring me back during my feeding time. I was so emaciated that you could see a bump line going down my neck towards the top of my stomach. Once the doctor observed how I was throwing back up my formula to breath, he decided to do surgery. A blockage was removed from my stomach. Because of my mother’s persistence, I am still alive today.

Facial Cancer

My right bottom and top eyelids had trouble closing, starting in fall of 2013. I thought it had to do with Shingles, which I suffered from about that same time. But the Shingles went away and the problem progressed. The right side of my face soon started to sag. I talked awkwardly with the right corner of my mouth flapping. I saw my eye doctor and my primary physician. I was diagnosed to have a bells palsy but the fear was that I could be having a stroke.

I was sent to a neurologist who had me go through something like a sobriety test. I walked a straight line and then hopped on one foot. I touched my nose but could only close one eye. I went through every sort of physicaltrial and a brain scan to prove there was no stroke. The neurologist even popped her finger between my eyes to get the right one to close, which didn’t work. Glad she didn’t have me walk a straight line after that.

A tumor appeared near the right ear, the paraded gland. On February 13, 2016, I had cancer removed from the right side of my face that destroyed the nerves from my forehead, down to my eyelids across to the e

ar, down the neck, back up to the corner of my mouth. The surgery was supposed to be 4 to 6 hours but I was in the operating room all day. They had to call in a pathologist as more was pulled out than just a tumor.

I got through six weeks of radiation treatment. I kept my radiation mask as a souvenir, putting a mustache and eyebrows on it. I have been going through facial reconstruction– a weight in my upper eyelid, tightening of my lower eyelid, a main nerve sling taken from my thigh to replace the one removed, fat cells injected from my abdomen to my face. I am a work in progress.

I only take prescriptions during a short term as many prescription drugs are synthetic and affect the liver. It takes a lot of agony for me to take pain medication. A nurse who was waking me from anesthesia after my cancer surgery asked – “Do you have a high pain threshold?” I said, “Yes. Why do you ask?” She answered, “Because you have a tube sticking out of your neck.” I calmly replied, “Thanks for letting me know.”

I Can’t Eat That

My doctor diagnosed me with Type II diabetes. I stopped drinking sodas – even diet sodas. No more donuts, cookies, ice cream. I substituted with veggies, low sugar fruit and nuts. Yuck! My co-work

ers mercilessly stuffed their faces in front of me with cake, candy and pizza. Lying in bed at home, I fantasized about chocolate. I’ve always had insomnia but this just added to it.

Despite ogling the display case at Krispy Kreme, I stayed the battle and won. I lost 40 lbs. and lowered my blood sugar. My doctor wasn’t sure of my success and put me on Metformin. I have dropped that medication since and use cinnamon, which is far more effective and healthier. I walked around feeling great until…

 Doc hit me with cholesterol levels. Forget the steak, I loved eating ground beef. Doc told me to eat only chicken, fish and turkey. Are you kidding me? That’s not all – no more dairy! What am I supposed to put in my coffee? No more

cheese? I was now a bland food man all the way. I again watched friends eat what I couldn’t have. Living vicariously through their yummy sounds.

The enjoyment of life seemed to be coming to and end. Or did it? It was funny how I stopped craving red meat when I stopped eating it. I found a tasty alternative to put in my coffee – almond milk. My friends who don’t eat right want you to join them. They have the same problems. You have to tell them no. I did and have lost more weight faster than before.

A Regular Regimen not “INSANITY”

I soaked my gym clothes with sweat after my cardio and weight lifting. After my cancer and realizing I can’t do what I used to do, I slowed it down. I use lighter weights and an easier cardio method…at home. My friends, especially the younger ones, brag about working out to exercise videos so hard that they vomit. I haven’t done that since high school.

I take probiotics, multi-vitamins, fish oil, cinnamon, vitamin D, garlic and L-Lysine. From all I’ve been learning about the right foods and herbs – there may be more to come.

 

My Story Telling

Since Youth

I wrote my own comics in my childhood, since that is what I read. As I got older, I had trouble reading. I wanted to take a creative writing course in Junior High but the teacher said I wasn’t geared for it. I was diagnosed with dyslexia. I adapted to my disability and went from a C – B student to a B – A+ student. I was determined to be a writer.

I studied screenwriting at UCLA under Harry Essex who wrote “Creature of the Black Lagoon” and “The Sons of Katie Elder.” The latter was a John Wayne movie. He wanted one of his students to win an Academy Award (because he never won one). He asked me for the title to my project. I said, “Ninja Honeymoon.” The expression on his face dropped. Unfortunately for Harry, all the other students had commercial projects just like mine.

The Impossible Assignment

One college research project limited me to the campus library. I couldn’t even use the county library. The subject was one minuscule area of child labor in the 19^th century. I could only come up with one paragraph in one book. I wrote a five-page thesis on one paragraph, certain I would get a D or at best a C. I got a B. That’s when I knew I could write.

 

For more information: Michael can be reached at 702-506-4985.