I am a very active 68 year old that cycles 22 miles at 6am most mornings and officiate High School Varsity soccer games in the fall and lacrosse games in the Spring. I also enjoy taking long walks with my wife, playing golf regularly and playing with my grandchildren. These are activities I love to do but over the past two and a half years I developed back pain that made these activities very difficult and almost impossible to do anymore. I started taking 3 Advil before these activities as well as CBD hemp bombs but their effectiveness diminished each time I used them. It got to the point I couldn’t even stand up for more than ten seconds without back pain that encouraged me to sit down immediately.
I finally went to an Orthopedic doctor and a massage therapist for relief but nothing seemed to help. I progressed to physical therapy and visited a pain doctor but it kept getting worse. The pain doctor put needles in my back twice with no results so I tried Ablation to quiet the nerves. That only lasted for several days and the increasing pain returned. I began to realize that surgery was probably my only option.
I sought out Dr. Lee based on a recommendation from my sister who had him perform a very successful spinal fusion procedure on her a couple of years ago. Dr. Lee differentiated himself from the other Neurosurgeons and Orthopaedic surgeons I had talked to previously from the very beginning. He spent 45 minutes with me in the first consultation appointment. The neurosurgeon I was also considering only spent about 5 minutes with me before getting up and walking me out of his office. During the consultation Dr. Lee showed me my MRI in detail on his laptop and explained the problem areas of my spine, but more importantly took the time to simplify everything and educate me. He showed extreme confidence and told me he knew what my issues were by the way I walked into his office and was quite sure he could really help me. That is exactly what I wanted to hear.
We scheduled the surgery about two months out because of my schedule and it was extremely successful. The first week of recovery was difficult, but Dr. Lee not only came by to see me in the hospital everyday but also called me at home often on the phone after I was discharged to follow up each day to see how I was doing. When I had a fever for a few days after the surgery everyone at the hospital was very concerned, but not Dr. Lee. He told all of us that this was normal and not to panic and he was right. The fever went away after 6 days.
About a month after the surgery my back felt more normal and my flexibility began to return. But the best part was the pain I had lived with for over two years was totally gone. It has been about four months since my surgery and I have no pain whatsoever just a little stiffness in the morning as the bone continues to heal. My flexibility keeps improving every week and I am on track to make a full recovery. Dr. Lee gave me my life back and I am very appreciative. Because I am very active I am looking forward to when Dr. Lee will allow me to resume those activities in the next few months.
My physical therapy continues to be walking which I do everyday with my wife which is something I enjoy but had to discontinue in the past because of the back pain. It is great to get outside and be able to walk for exercise once again. My wife keeps saying it is good to have her husband back. It is good to be back and to be pain free.
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