KathyEarhart; Active L; L4/5; March 2009

[Kathy]

SURGERY DATE: March 17, 2009

AGE AT SURGERY DATE: 29 years

SURGEON: Dr. Rolando Garcia

SURGERY LOCATION/CLINIC: Aventura Hospital, Aventura, Florida (north of Miami)

DEVICE(s), LEVEL(s): Active L, L4/5

COST = $0; clinical trial, travel costs only
AMOUNT BILLED: $0
INSURANCE ALLOWED: N/A
OUT OF POCKET: $0
TRAVEL: 7k total; 2k for first appt trip and 5k for second trip for surgery
EXPLANATIONS? Paid hotel, flights, flights for friends to care for me, rental car and food.

ONSET OF LUMBAR PROBLEMS: January 12, 2006, in a MVA with an 18 wheeler, neck and mid-back pain, head on collision July 2006, entire spine hurts.

PRIOR SPINE SURGERIES AND PROCEDURES: IDET on L4/5 Oct. 06, mid=back and neck pain stop, lower back pain continues. Epidural and Facet Injections, Bi-Lateral 3 level Neurotomy June 08, chiropractic, accupuncture, physical therapy, and any and everything else imaginable (I honestly can not remember everything)

PRE-OP MEDICATIONS: Kadian (morphine) 20 mg 2x daily; Vicodin 10/325 4-6x daily; Lyrica 75mg 2x daily; Cymbalta 60mg 2x daily; Zanaflex 3mg 1-2 nightly for sleep

PRE-OP DIAGNOSTICS: Discogram Sept 06 and Sept 08 both confirmed L4/5 pain; Facet Injections May 08 and numerous prior ones and Neurotomy June 08

PRE-OP NEUROPATHIES: Pain in lower back at L4/5 level, in the middle of the back (as in middle from side to side); hip and leg pain only when the pain was out of control, pain without meds 10 of 10, with meds 3-5 out of 10

PRE-OP CONDITION: 99% low back pain; burning, stabbing, constant, sharp pain (felt like I had a stick stuck up my spine); functioned moderately with lots of meds; without meds- laid on couch and wanted to die; fighting for disability, denied twice, waiting on hearing in front of judge

TIME POST-OP AT ORIGINAL POST HERE: 1 week 4 days

DESCRIBE YOUR SURGICAL EXPERIENCE: Surgery was great, first 2 nurses afterward were horrible. Had I known the pain that I would be in for the first 2 days afterward, I probably would have chickened out. Disclaimer: I am extremely tolerant to pain medication and anesthia, doctor said that to get me to go under it was similar to taking out a horse (guess they should have a vet dr instead of a people one), nurse would not give me all the medication ordered (she would only give the morphine shots and not the oxy). The medication ordered was morphine every 3 hours, oxy every 4 hours, phenegran every 4 hours if needed for nausea and ativan every 6 hours if needed (I had to beg for just the morphine alone; didn't even know for 2 days that I could get the other stuff). The nurse refused to take my catheter out until day 2, the dr came in and was pissed about this (I am pretty sure this nurse was fired over how she treated me; not only did the dr. complain; but I did too). The dr. was great, he was very informative and caring; had it not been for 2 bad nurses, my hospital experience would have been much better. Needless to say, I was thrilled to leave the hospital on day 3.

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 improvement, 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.

Don't forget the detail update section below!

DATE UPDATED: March 28, 2009 FUNCTIONALITY: 4_ SATISFACTION: 5 [almost 2 WEEKS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: September 2, 2009 FUNCTIONALITY: _5 SATISFACTION: _5_ [6 MONTHS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: September 19, 2010 FUNCTIONALITY: 5 SATISFACTION: 5 [1.5 YEAR POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [2 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [3 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [4 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [5 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [6 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [7 YEARS POST-OP]

6 WEEKS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ECT... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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