Age: 61
Location: Amarillo, TX
Type of Procedure: DND
Occupation: FN P-C

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: I could barely walk for more than 5-6 minutes.  Severe nerve claudication in both legs.  Severe pain in my hips and weakness in my legs.

Post Surgery Outcome:  The pain is relieved.  I am allowed back to work and I haven’t needed any further epidural steroid injections.  I have not missed any work due to this problem.  I felt the skill level was extraordinary, both in the physician and staff.  I always recommend your clinic to those in need.

Age: 64
Type of Procedure: DND
Occupation: Retired Teacher and Business Owner

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: Increasing immobility, sciatic pain, left and right sides (more on my right side) of my hips, legs and feet.  I had numbness and tingling.  Pain was beginning to affect my quality of sleep.

Post Surgery Outcome: I am walking much better (I still have some limitations such as steps and unleveled surfaces.)  I have less pain/ numbness – especially on the left side.  I have better quality of sleep with less pain!  I have less irritability.  Though I have some limitations still, I enjoy life and daily activities more.  I can look forward to planning trips (travel is easier); performing daily activities (even simple ones like cleaning house) without so much depending on others.

Age: 49
Location: Kingfisher, OK
Type of Procedure: Cervical Discectomy and DND
Occupation: Interior Decorator

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: I was in continual pain, I couldn’t get any relief.  I was talking a lot of medications for years.  Even that did control the pain.  My neck hurt so bad that it made it hard to drive.  To change lanes I would have to turn my whole body right to left.  The pain kept me from doing things with my children that we both enjoyed, i.e. swimming, diving off diving boards, trampolines, working out and just shopping at the mall.  My husband couldn’t even sleep in bed with me because I would toss and turn all night trying to escape the pain.  People would call me clumsy because I would drop stuff and trip a lot.  I spent many of years going to bed in tears.

Post Surgery Outcome:  The day I went in for surgery I was so excited.  I had finally found my answer!  And the great thing was that there was hardly any down time.  I have 5 children and a husband that depend on me to feed them and do housework and laundry.  There was no way I could “take off” for 6-8 weeks or months.  I had the surgery on my neck the first day.  It was so quick and the doctors and nurses made it almost fun.  I actually enjoyed being there.  Then on the 2^nd day, they did my back.  There was no pain.  It was unbelievable!  My left leg had a little weakness in it, but that went away in a few days.

After surgery, I went back to the hotel in a wheelchair, but still feeling no pain.  I felt like a prisoner on the first day out (of jail.)  I looked around and took a deep breath!  I was free!!  Free from the pain that had imprisoned me.  On the third day after surgery, my mom and I went to Neiman Marcus to shop for a while.  It was great.

After that, each day got better and better.  I never took a pain pill again.  This was the best decision I have ever made.

The saying, “No pain, no gain,” does not apply to this surgery.  I’ve told hundreds of people about North American Spine.  Everywhere I go I hand out their cards.

I truly encourage anyone that has back or neck pain to go to them at any cost.  I never thought it would be possible to be pain free.  I suffered for 20 some years in pain and in 2 days it was gone.  I owe it ALL to North American Spine!

Age: 45
Location: Keewatin, Ottawa
Type of Procedure: Laminectomy 

Diagnosis: Right-side back, buttock and leg pain.  Right-side herniation L5-S1
Procedure Date: February 8, 2012
Occupation: Office Administration

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: I was in 24/7 pain for about a year and a half.  Taking pain medications 24/7 to enable some relief to go to work.  Social life was almost zero, as I needed to rest, mostly lying down after being at work for hours.

Post Surgery Outcome: I was able to tell by the end of the night (the day of surgery) that the extreme pain that I had for months and months was gone.  There was a week of pain from the surgery performed, but nothing like the pain prior.  I flew home three days later to Canada, rested for a day and was back at work the next day for 1/2 days (for three days.)  I was then back at work full time ever since with maybe two or three days with discomfort.  I really thank my doctors for my diagnosis and procedure on a timely basis.

Age: 62
Location: Santa Fe, TX
Type of Procedure: AccuraScope DND + Laminotomy
Procedure Date: March 20, 2012
Occupation: Retired

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: 20 years as a cop, 8 years as a paramedic, tour of duty in Vietnam with the Marine Corps, rode rodeo bulls in college.  I guess you could say that I did just about everything I could that could hurt my back.  For the last 15 to 20 years I have been in almost constant pain from back and neck problems.  In 1993 I ruptured the disc at C5/ C6 and had to have it fused.  An orthopedic surgeon I once went to told me that I did not have a problem with my hips, but my back was horrible.  Getting up from sitting in a position for the last 5 years or so was a matter of doing it slowly and carefully, most of my walking included a limp.

Post Surgery Outcome: Since my surgery, I find that I am able to walk without a limp, getting up and down is no longer a chore, and even though I am only about 45 days post surgery, I just completed an 1800 mile trip with my wife to Memphis and Nashville with very little, if any, back pain other than the usual stiffness of a long drive.  I have already given all the information about North American Spine to my brother for his neck problems.  I do not think there is any way I can say how great it is to move around without the pain I have lived with for all these years.

Age: 67
Location: Austin, TX
Type of Procedure: DND and Pain Mapping
Diagnosis: Lumbar Disc Herniation, L,4/5, Sciatica and Lumbar spinal stenosis

Occupation: Retired Nurse Practitioner

Procedure Date: March 1, 2012

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition:

Before May of 2011 my life was good. My health was excellent and after over 35 years of professional practice, I retired in 2009. My retired “work” was my golf game. I was working/playing golf 4-5 times per week with different groups of friends. I was improving with my handicap going down but more importantly I was outside and having fun.  Most of my family lives out of state.  My adult children and their families are healthy and happy! I would travel frequently to see them. It was much fun to be part of their very busy and good lives. I live with Evan and Charlie who are rescue basset hounds. We loved to walk two miles or more at least a couple of times per week.

Starting in May of 2011 my good life stopped.  I was unable to travel to visit family. I was not able to walk, sit or stand without pain.  My life became one of merely trying to survive each day. l became house bound and had to make hard decisions many times each day. Many of these decisions involved a hard choice: Should I take the pain medications and deal with the multiple disabling side effects or suffer the severe pain.  There was no good choice.

Initially, my pain started in May of 2011 with some hip and buttock pain.  I got good professional help and did all the “right” things. I saw multiple MD’s including a very good pain management specialist.

I tried everything: medications, epidural injections, chiropractic treatments, multiple rounds of physical therapy, massages and acupuncture. These would help but only for a short time a few weeks at most.

My pain management doctor did not believe open back surgery was a good option for me. And I did not want to even consider open back surgery based on my past professional experience from many years ago as well as current research.

I continued to get worse. The pain extended and I developed severe sciatica. Even with the increasing strength of pain medications (including narcotics), they became less effective. To make things worse I developed side effects to all of them. These side effects required me to take even more medications to treat the side effects. These increased my worsening fatigue and depression

I had to keep comprehensive written patient chart on myself because I would forget about the medications and if I took them or not. It was a very scary time.

I was out of options.

During my research I found NAS. It all sounded too good to be true.

Post Surgery Outcome:

My procedure was on March 1, 2012. My only regret is that I did not do the surgery earlier. My procedure experience was excellent and even more importantly my outcome was and is good.  I am 8 weeks post op. My pain is 80% improved. However, a more important number for me is my quality of life is improved 95%. Even though I was very weak from the pain, medications, side effects and inactivity before surgery, I am now able to do the things I could not do before my surgery. I am getting better and stronger every day.

I just got back from a trip to Little Girl Land, Ohio (my granddaughters are 6, 4,2). They live In a 3 story house. This is a magical place where dinosaurs, princesses, fairies and even many baby doll nudists live. It is very busy place on all floors as well as outside activities.

Although I still have some pain, I am able to manage the pain through NAS exercises, postural exercise therapy and non-narcotic pain medications. I am still hopeful the pain will get even less but the most important thing to me is that I can do the things I want to do now. I am gradually easing back into golf. Since I had not played in almost a year and it is true “what you don’t use you lose” I am taking my time and “relearning” the game.

Lastly I want to comment on Dr. Alo and my entire team at NAS. I could not have been more pleased. I was pleased from both my personal and professional perspective. In addition to my many years of professional practice, I also taught nursing students and 2^nd year medical students.

Dr. Alo and the NAS team practiced what we always “preached” to our students: “Do all the right things every time and it is not only better for all, but actually quicker than trying to figure out  shortcuts. This “doing it by the book” occurred during my entire experience from my initial contact through my post-operative visit and follow up care. Bottom line: I could not be more pleased with the people, the process and the procedures which was my NAS experience. :0)

Age: 37
Location: Liberal, KS
Type of Procedure: Cervical Discectomy
Procedure Date: March 27, 2012
Occupation: Secretary

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: Daily pain in my neck and arms and headaches.

Post Surgery Outcome: Less pain and better night sleep.  Not taking Hydrocodone anymore.  Waiting to start stretches and exercise to see if I can become completely pain free.

Age: 51
Location: Dallas, TX
Type of Procedure: Accurascope
Procedure Date: December 2, 2011
Occupation: Physician

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition: Prior to having the Accurascope procedure, I was quite functional but had residual leg pain, numbness and weakness in my left leg following a previous back surgery for a herniated disc.  I also had persistent mild low back pain.

Post Surgery Outcome: Following the Accurascope procedure, all my symptoms improved.  I now have days where I don’t have any low back pain or stiffness.  Strength in my leg has improved.  I have less numbness and rarely experience any leg/ buttock pain.  I am able to do all my physical activities.

Age: 68
Location: Atlanta, GA
Type of Procedure: Accurascope
Procedure Date: January 31, 2012
Occupation: Retired

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition:  I had a lot of hip and back pain, so walking and climbing stairs was very hard.  I had to use a cane when I did walk and used the electric shopping carts when I went grocery shopping.

Post Surgery Outcome: The leg and hip pain is a lot better now and I can climb a flight of stairs pretty good.  I seldom use a cane anymore and usually walk when I go grocery shopping.  I still have some moderate hip pain, but that was expected because I have some facet hypertrophy at L4 and L5.  I was told beforehand that taking care of that would have to be a second procedure because a laser does not work on bone, plus it would have to be done from outside the back.  I am waiting a few months to see how bad it is and if it is worth doing anything about it.

Age: 59
Location: North Richland Hills, TX
Type of Procedure: Accurascope and Removal of Bone Spur
Procedure Date: February 21, 2012
Occupation: Regional Manager of Flight Training School

Pre-Surgery Life Style/Condition:  I had pain for 15 years of my life and continued to get worse as I got older.  I would get up in the morning hurting, got up from a chair stiff as a board, any physical labor left me hurting.  I felt like a much older man. I spent a lot of time on a heating pad, a message pad, incline bench, and taking a lot of different medicines.

Post Surgery Outcome: Surgery took place at 5:00 AM on a Tuesday morning.  On the day of the surgery I woke up in my room around 9:00AM a little sleepy but without pain, except for the two incisions in my back.  By 11:00 AM I was eating lunch, by 1:00PM I was up and walking around the hospital and by 3:00 PM I was ready to be released, but they kept me till 5:00 PM.  I went back to the hotel room and that night was the only night I took any pain medication due to muscle spasms that doctor Alo told me I would possible have.  I have been pain feel since then with no pain medication required from that first night.  I was working from home the next day and one week later after my post surgery follow-up was released back to work.  I am so glad that after 15 years of putting band aides on my back problems, that I finally corrected the problems. Not just one problem, but all the problems with one surgery. I’m very grateful for all the help and the professionalism all the staff show me during this time.