I just sent this update to my chiropractor one year after my accident. I had a severe burst compression fracture of C7. I escaped surgery by good fortune.
Andrew.
Hello Dr. Hunt,
I am writing to update you on the situation with my neck – a year after seeing you. My neck is doing very well. I have no pain and full mobility. Now, a year after my accident, I feel that I am healed.
Attached are pictures of my original CT scan and MRI plus the latest x-ray which I had taken about two weeks ago at the University of Iowa.
After visiting you I went and saw Dr. Hitchon, a neurosurgeon at the University of Iowa Neurosurgery department. I saw you one month after the accident and Dr. Hitchon about two months after the accident. He listed about seven criteria for surgery (such as pain, instability, neurological deficit etc) and I did not meet any of them. Since I was not in much pain and could use my neck he said he would not perform the surgery.
However, he did say that he would have performed surgery if I had seen him within one week of the accident. He said in that case he would have felt some obligation to operate. If I'd arrived a bit later than one week he would have put me into a hard collar for 10 weeks, but since it had been two months he said that neither a hard collar nor surgery was necessary. When I arrived at the hospital I was expecting immediate traction and surgery but instead he advised me to go home and not lift anything heavy or strain my neck for 6 months.
After seeing him I went and saw Dr. Kirschner in Kahoka. I was having some hindrance with swallowing and he said this was because C1 and C2 were not moving freely. He adjusted it with a little device that looked like a stapler and the problem has never returned since.
I felt some minor residual strain in my neck and felt that I'd just have to live with it. However, I went and saw Michael Fleischman, a Myotherapist in Fairfield, about an unrelated injury. I told him about my neck and he gently massaged the muscles in my neck and all the tension and annoying ache between the vertebrae evaporated immediately. It was a miracle. The ache has not returned.
I experienced neurological deficit in a minor way in my hands and feet. Over time this became less and less. Now all deficit has gone.
The time prior to seeing the surgeon was a difficult for me because I wanted to be properly informed. I researched spinal injuries on the internet all day for about 3-4 weeks. I wanted to be informed before I went to see the neurosurgeon. I learnt a lot about spinal surgery. The Golden Rule is: “Don’t have surgery.” I also learnt the spinal fusions are lucrative for surgeons and they like to do them “just in case.” It is not clear if this is for their own benefit or to avoid possible litigation or genuinely for the patient’s benefit.
Choosing a good surgeon seemed to be paramount. I can highly recommend Dr. Hitchon as being highly qualified, very intelligent, professional and not motivated by money. His long biography can be found at
http://www.radiology.uiowa.edu/RadOnc/hitchon.html
On the internet I found a man who is an advocate for spinal patients (see
www.ispine.org for information and an online spine-patient community). He has contacts with top surgeons in Europe who perform artificial disc replacements and other options not available in USA. I emailed him some photos of my scans and he emailed them to six or seven top surgeons in Europe and USA for second opinions. All but one advised immediate surgery. One said, "If he's not in pain and has no problems two months after the accident, then why operate now? Let's wait and see what happens."
While waiting for a CT scan at the Fairfield hospital I met a man in the waiting room. He said that he’d had a car accident and subsequent fusion of C6-C7. He was in a lot of unrelenting pain that he didn’t have before the surgery. He begged me to avoid surgery if there was any possibility of not having it.
I am very glad that I did not have surgery and feel that the outcome from my accident has been miraculous. I am a strong believer in prayer and feel that divine intervention has helped achieve this happy outcome.
Thank you for your help last year. I was very grateful for your advice and support at a time when I really needed it.
Many thanks,
Andrew.