I am a 60 year old woman, widowed in January of 2011. In May 2008, I had surgery to repair a ruptured disc at L4-L5. I was diagnosed with spondylolisthesis and needed to have a rod with screws and a cage inserted in my back to keep it stable while the bone fusion was taking place. It was a long recuperation and a painful one. It took about three weeks to be able to sit upright in the bed, without pain upon doing so. I had to wear my back brace whenever out of the bed, lasting for 3 months. I was told before the surgery that it would take approximately 6 to 8 weeks to recuperate. Later, I was told that it would take at least a full year to totally recover. After approximately 9 months, I began to have recurring pain in my back which was from scar tissue according to my surgeon.
This past summer, I found that I had to have back surgery again. I had developed a ruptured disc at L3-L4. I chose to go to another surgeon this time. I had heard a lot about Dr. Jeffrey Carlson and made an appointment to see him. He sent me for physical therapy and when I did not get better, he ordered an MRI and discovered the new rupture. I scheduled the surgery for July, but was not looking forward to another long recuperation. However; this time, it was different.
This time my recovery was nothing short of marvelous! My surgery was on July 26, 2011. I was out of pain after the surgery and out of the brace within 3 weeks. I went back to work part-time August 15th and returned to work full-time August 22nd. I have gone to physical therapy to strengthen my back muscles to prevent another recurrence and I feel great! I have no pain whatsoever from my back. I look forward to being able to do things I haven’t been able to do for years. The other day, I ran to the elevator, and it did not hurt! I am still amazed and so thankful that I found Dr. Carlson!