fl man Charite L5/SI December 2003

[iSpine-Admin]

Originally Posted by fl man on January 5, 2005

SURGERY DATE: 12/17/03

AGE AT SURGERY DATE: 39

SURGEON: Dr. Rolando Garcia

SURGERY LOCATION/CLINIC: Aventura, Fl

DEVICE(s), LEVEL(s):Charite L5/SI

COST =$27,000
AMOUNT BILLED:$27,000
INSURANCE ALLOWED:$22,000 OUT OF POCKET:$5,000
TRAVEL:$1200
EXPLANATIONS? I live in Florida 4 hrs from Miami so it was only the hotel and a couple of plane flights before the surgery.

ONSET OF LUMBAR PROBLEMS, DATE OF INJURY, CAUSE, ETC...: I have had lower back problems and pain since a bad spot while doing squats in college in 1984. In 1990 re-injured back at home. Out of work for 2 weeks and started chiropratic care. Continued chiropratic for the next twevle years 1 to 2 times a month when not in pain, and 3 times a week when it got really bad. I started going to a sports massage therapist in 1998 and learned alot about stretching to help balance my muscles. Chiropratic treatments and the massages always relieved my pain and I only took over the counter pain killers at the acute times. I only had x-rays up to this point, but I know now that I probaly had a herniated disk all this time. In 2001 my x-ray started to show DDD at L5/SI and the chiropratic treatments became much less effective, and the massages seemed to still help though. I started to look into solutions other than fusion, and found ADR on the intenet in June of 2002. I had MRI in Nov. 2002 with Dr. Garcia. It confirmed the herniation with DDD and I was a canidate for ADR. Dr. Garcia said I was not in enough pain and coping too well to risk the surgery. The ADR study was closed at that point and by the time I was in enough pain he might not be able to help me and the disk might just auto fuse by itself. I was pretty bummed out. I do not think I related my pain levels accurately to him, but I went home and continued on as before. Over the next year the pains changed to sharp stabbing pain that radiated out from my disk when ever I coughed, sneezed, or missed steped. The summer of 2003 I tried to be very active and not let my bad back get the best of me. By August I was getting leg pains and the stabbing pain was getting worse. I went back to Dr. Garcia with new MRI in Sept 2003 determined to sell him on my pain and the need for him to fix me now. He agreed and told me i would be fixed by the end of the year when the FDA started to let him do limited new procedures.

PRIOR SPINE SURGERIES AND PROCEDURES (IDET, ESI, etc...): I have had no other invasive procedures. I relied heavely on Chriopratic care and sports massage to releive my pains and keep me functional.

PRE-OP MEDICATIONS: Over the counter pain killers, an occaisionly vioxx

PRE-OP DIAGNOSTICS X-Rays, MRI

PRE-OP NEUROPATHIES (what, where, & degree of pain, numbness, tingling, sexual/bladder/bowel symptoms, etc.): Always a 3-5 and spiking to a 7 when coughing, sneezing, miss steping. Tingling on front of thighs when standing in place for more than 2 min. Pulling and burning in right heel for 3 months before surgery.

PRE-OP CONDITION (Please include %leg pain/% back pain, pain levels, type of pain, ability to work and function, disabilityIstatus, etc.... be direct, but be as verbose as you need to): 98% back pain, 2% leg. I was able to function and work fultime untill August 2003, pain was 3 spiking to 7. Started to only work 2-3 day a week. I had alot of trouble getting in and out of my work truck on a daily basis. I would recoupe on weekends and work hard on Monday, and Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon I was shot, pain was 6 spiking to 10. I sometimes was able to work hafe days on Thursday, and Friday .

TIME POST-OP AT ORIGINAL POST HERE: 21 days

DESCRIBE YOUR SURGICAL EXPERIENCE: Excellent. I really like being in control, but I told myself that once I was in the hospital I would just go with the flow, and do as I was told. The entire hospital staff was very skilled and friendly. Everything went off on time and my wife was well informed all the way.

RATE FUNCTIONALITY / SATISFACTION AT INTERVALS BELOW:

FUNCTIONALITY:
1. Very poor: much worse... disabled after surgery.
2. Poor: worse after surgery.
3. Neutral: No improvement, or improvements offset by new problems.
4. Fair, some improvment, limitations are still serious.
5. Good, substantial improvement, some limitations.
6. Excellent: no limitations.

SATISFACTION:
1. Very sorry I had the surgery.
2. Somewhat sorry I had the surgery.
3. Too soon to tell, or I'm ambivalent about the surgery.
4. I'm somewhat glad I did my surgery.
5. I'm very glad I did my surgery.

FUNCTIONALITY: _5__ SATISFACTION: __5_ [3 WEEKS POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: _6__ SATISFACTION: _5__ [3 MONTHS POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: __6_ SATISFACTION: _5__ [6 MONTHS POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: __6_ SATISFACTION: __5_ [1 YEAR POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [2 YEARS POST-OP]

3 WEEKS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ECT... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]): All pre-surgery pain is gone. returned to work full time on day 18. I am not taking any pain meds. Some mild tightness in low back when sitting too long and have not done my daily stretches. It goes away the moment I stand up. I still get a slight tingling in my thighs when I stand in place for over 5 min. Nothing like it used to be though. I had some upper back muscle tightness at the end of my second day back to work. I wanted to stretch it out but did not for fear of opening up and or irritating surgery area. It went away when i got home and relaxed.

3 MONTHS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... Back to work full time, walking, biking, boating. 100% functional. Minimal pain that I would describe more as occasional discomfort. I haven't taken any perscribed or over the counter pain meds for 2 months. Standing in place causing a lot less tingling in thighs. Complete satisfaction and getting stronger every day.

6 MONTHS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):Continued progress in strength and confidence of my back. Still having some nerve tingling in left leg from illiac crest and sacrum area. Only standing inplace brings this on. Walking and stretching makes it go away. No meds or OTC pain killers for 5 months. Now I just have to focus on my general endurance and conditioning. Life is much better than before.

1 YEAR POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... Every thing is going great. Still have some nerve tingling in thighs from time to time, but now back pain at all. I don't not think about my back anymore and how not to do things. Still no pain meds since surgery, and just working on endurance and conditioning.

2 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

Waiting for an update from fl man.