Can I get an explanation of the paralysis I experienced after waking up from rotator cuff surgery? I could hear and feel everything, but couldn`t move. I couldn`t talk, move my muscles, cough, but was aware of everything happening and heard everything that was said to me. It seemed to be a delayed reaction, I was OKd to leave the post-anesthesia unit, but couldn`t move at all by the time I was back in the day surgery unit. It was traumatic--I thought I may have had a stroke. 

That is certainly an unusual and probably very distressing experience. Muscle relaxant drugs are commonly used during general anesthesia. These drugs are actually paralyzing agents. Sometimes their effects have not completely disappeared by the time a patient is brought to the post-anesthesia unit. This creates an uncomfortable feeling of weakness, a sense of not being able to get enough breath and difficulty speaking. If you are profoundly weak of course you would not be able to breathe enough, and there would have to be an immediate intervention from your healthcare team, to help restore your breathing. Another possibility is that you were given a "dissociative" drug like haloperidol or droperidol. These medicines, often used to prevent or treat nausea, may create a strange feeling of detachment. I have not heard a description exactly like yours after administration of these drugs but it is possible that this is what you experienced. An additional possibility, though unlikely, is that you did have a reversible stroke, also called a TIA. These suggestions should be explored by your doctors who will have access to your medical and anesthesia records, which are likely to shed more light on what happened to you.