History Leading to ADR - Part 1

[mpolyglottos]

Hi everyone! My name is Micky Davis. I'm only less than 6 days post-op, but I'm eager to post something RE my surgery at the Beta Klinic in Bonn, Germany, at the hands of Dr. Zeegers, along with my patient advocate, Mark Mintzer.

INITIAL INJURY
I first injured my back when I was a few months shy of 17. I was performing an inverted leg-press when I heard a “popping” sound. 1 year of conservative therapy availed nothing: it felt as though I had a dagger stuck in my back. Diagnosis: bulging disc. So eventually I had a percutaneous nuclectomy in February 1994 (age 17). The surgery was a FAILURE. Although the local “stabbing” pain was gone, I began having pain in the legs. Not sciatica per se, but the disc must have “collapsed” or something, b/c it felt horrible.
Thankfully, I had a "conversion experience" (ie, became a Christian) my first month of college in September of 1994, and experienced a bit of a miraculous "healing". My L4-L5 was tender, but it didn't get in the way from my day-to-day activities.

SECOND INJURY
In the summer of 1997 (age 21). I injured my lower back again. This time I was lifting rather heavy boxes (with a back brace mind you!), and lifting rather “properly”, but the L4-L5 tore again. The pain was much worse this time around. Eventual diagnosis: “Leaking Disc”. I could walk around for a bit, but would LATER pay for it: I suffered not only local inflammation but “referred” pain in the feet—which felt like they were on fire. I had had a bad reaction to Codeine/Vicadin, so in the course of over 1.5 years, I iced my back EVERY DAY, took about 1200mg of Advil a day, and could neither sit nor stand throughout the day for 1.5 years. It was hell. Most people have a lot of fun on their 21st birthday, but not me.
God did NOT heal me this time: not immediately, anyways. It sure shook up my faith, and was an incredibly restricting experience for me, having been an athlete throughout my youth.
LUCKILY (sovereignly for some of us : ), I was eventually led to Dr. Jeff Saul, the pioneer of the IDET procedure, at that time working near Stanford. IDET was still experimental, and I was still under my father's insurance (Union!), so the whole thing was free. I was the first non-”virgin” disc to receive the treatment under the hands of Dr. Saul. As a part of the STUDY, I got very good treatment. At the time, it was the only alternative to a FUSION. I think fusions have a better success rate now, but back then I was hearing things like “6 – 9 months in a body cast”, “50% chance of success”, etc. No thank you.
At any rate, a disco-gram in December 1998 demonstrated objectively (black dye leaking into the canal) and subjectively (cussing like a sailor—not very Jesus-like) that L4-L5 was once again the “culprit”. So I underwent the IDET in January 1999. I was in an incredible amount of pain afterwards, but Dr. Saul reassured me that it took maybe 8 months for the proteins to re-synthesize (forgot his exact wording). Anyway, the purpose of the IDET, as I understood it then, was to cauterize the nerve endings in the disc. Also, to “seal” the outer part of the disc, the annulus fibrosis, so that neuro-chemicals (?) could no longer leak into the canal (cauda equina).
OUTCOME: SEMI-SUCCESSFUL. I say semi, b/c my back (and overall health) was never the same afterwards. Remember, I was COMPLETELY bed-ridden for 5 months: I could only stand to eat or use the restroom from mid-October through mid-February. By mid-February, I began to improve incrementally. I started walking in a parking garage under the apartment complex where I lived. By March I think I began improving somewhat “exponentially”. By April I was swimming! But I was getting ahead of myself. So that in May, I opted for a “free massage”. I told the man not to touch my lower back. He pushed on my upper left shoulder in one direction, and my lumbar region to the right. It wasn't forceful, but it aggravated my disc, causing a major set back. My improvement was halted.
So in August I repeated the IDET. This time there was no “exponential” improvement, not even incremental. It wasn't until January of 1999 that I almost “automatically” felt better. I spent the next semester in college cautiously (and neurotically) stretching daily, swimming 2-3 times per week, and vowing to NEVER AGAIN risk injury to my spine.
So the IDET “held me over” until recently. I was able to finish college in 2000, attend a very intensely-scheduled Bible School for 2 years, work for a college ministry at UC Berkeley for 7 years, get married, have a daughter, etc.

DISCOVERING THE POSSIBILITY OF ADR
A whole bunch of new “maladies” have since plagued me, so my “bad back” is just something I lived with, compromising my quality of life, but still allowing me to live a semi-normal life. Which brings me to ADR.
I've always wanted to be 100%, which is probably idealistic, but hey, who doesn't want to feel his or her best? Anyway I first learned about ADR in 2004 by taking a look at the internet. I went to Dr. Saul to inquire about this discovery. He said it was “fascinating”, but risky due to #1, “we don't know how long these things last”, and #2, “revision surgery is very complicated”. So since then I've flirted with the idea, keeping it on the “back-burner”. I got into contact with Mark Mintzer in 2005, and have loosely kept in contact, taking a peek at the GPN website, every so often to see if there were any “events” around the corner. So it had been on my mind for 6 years before I “took the plunge”.

RECENT AGGRAVATION
OK, so my wife and I moved from Berkeley to Irvine in the summer 2009. Our daughter was 1, I had stopped working with the Christian club at UCB, and my health was quite poor (one of my other maladies previously mentioned). So we've lived with her family since then for practical support.
My toddler, though half-Chinese, is basically a mini-me: she's 40lbs and only 2.5 years old. AND a “huggaholic”. Point being I needed to find a Chiropractor fast! RE Chiropractic care: I have seen one off and one since I was 13. I NEVER let them touch my lumbar region directly, but only if they use the “activator”. Some might be familiar with this technique: it's quite gentle. BUT, as fate would have it, I saw one Chiro who vowed to do the “activator-method” but insisted on a “gentle” manipulation of the lumbar: it was gentle, however I had to ice my back constantly for a whole week!
PROBLEM: I felt the same pain I had before the IDET! Not in severity, but in nature: discogenic pain, not just “oh my aching back is so stiff!” So I saw another Chiro who promised the activator, and as fate would have it, he aggravated my lower back too! Went a bit too low with the manipulation, and this time I was really screwed up. So I sought a REAL “activator” Chiro, who helped smooth things out quite a bit.
In August of 2010, I took a job in Anaheim for 6 weeks, in addition to my morning job. The commute, although only 30 minutes one way, was KILLING ME!
THIS WAS THE TURNING POINT! “Enough is enough!”, I thought. I called Mark Mintzer, who recommended I see Dr. Frank Coufal for some new images. So I see him, not certain I would have him “cut me open”, but at least for the diagnostics and his diagnosis. Eventually I sent these to Mark to upload to GPN (Global Patient Network), so that Zeegers could look at them.

[Maria]

Hi Mickey,
Action packed story and looking forward to Part II!

Oh yes, welcome! Maria