Nurse: Do you have any numbness or tingling?
Lee: Absolutely, they stuck needles in it. I couldnít feel a thing.
Dr. Ghosh: He has severe spinal stenosis or compression of the nerves. He also has some
major structural abnormalities in his spine. You can see thereís actually a fracture through
the bone.
Lee: Thereís a psychological component to pain. It changes peopleís personalities.
And I donít want to be one of those angry old men.
Dr. Ghosh: This is the conduit through which the nerves travel. And the conduit is pinched
down to nothing.
Lee: Iíve had back pain for 35 years.
Nurse: And how would you describe your pain?
Lee: Itís like someone stuck a light socket at the end of your toe. Itís that jolting.
Colleen Murphy, RN: Weíll have people come and say Iíve had this pain for years. Iím
done. I need help. Iím ready. And they reach out to us. They want change. They want their
life back. They want to recover.
Sheri, Lee's wife: We canít play golf together. We canít travel together. We actually like
each other. We really do. He makes me laugh.
Nurse: For how many years have you been married?
Sheri: Almost 37.
Nurse: Thirty-seven, congratulations.
Lee: I didnít say, I was gonna say 37 just, just I was gonna say that.
Sheri: I should have let him answer.
Lee: Heís going to put this medieval-looking device along my spinal cord and then screw
that into the vertebrae. Itís, itís like an erector set going up.
Dr. Ghosh: We carry with us a deep respect for our patients. Really that, that comes
to getting to know what kind of things are important to them.
Sheri: Weíll be waiting for you. Looking forward to it so that Lee can get back to
his life and we can enjoy each other; got a lot of living to do.
Dr. Ghosh: I will be using a minimally invasive retractor system.
Physician Assistant: Minimally invasive retractors are great because weíre able to make two
small incisions on either side of the spine.
Scrub Tech: Ready to rock and roll.
Dr. Gosh: That technique has really revolutionized the field because weíre able to remove the
compression while leaving the paraspinus muscles untouched. Because weíre preserving the muscle
it generally enables us to mobilize the patients much earlier. This is the corridor through
which weíll place the screws. A pedicle screw will give bone time to heal and link the vertebrae
together naturally. We place pedicle screws at L-4, L-5, and S-1.
Volunteer: Phone call for you from the OR.
Sheri: Thank you. OK and when can I expect that to happen? When you know nothing about
medicine, you sit here and wonder whatís going on. Theyíve been great about calling.
Dr Ghosh: OK. At this point we are going to remove the retractors and close the incision.
Physician Assistant: You can have the best surgeon. But if you donít have the underlying
kindness and caring for your patient then the patients arenít going to have a good
outcome.
Dr. Ghosh: How are you?
Sheri: Iím fine. How are you?
Dr. Ghosh: I found several reasons for why he was in so much pain. He had a fracture
through and through with complete collapse of the disc and that little bone spur. One
of those problems alone would cause a tremendous amount of pain. So I was able to fix all of
it.
Sheri: So youíre happy.
Dr. Ghosh: The surgery couldnít have gone any better.
Sheri: Thank you. Aw, look. Dr. Ghosh is thrilled. He is so excited.
Lee: (Inaudible)
Sheri: This will make you happy, too.
Lee: Oh, that makes me very happy. Howís my posture?
Physical Therapist: Actually, very straight, up and down.
Lee: There is no pain. Well, I take that back. There is a little pain.
Physical Therapist: Whatever you can do is good.
Lee: This is pretty cool.
Lee: (Whistling) Where is my little suitcase? Do you have one, babe?
Sheri: Yeah.
Lee: Weíre leaving tomorrow, a little surprise trip for our anniversary.
Sheri: Heís always been full of surprises, a little celebration trip.
Lee: There is no pain, nothing, absolutely nothing. Weíll pack this up. And I guess,
I guess I was in, I was in so much pain that it was in my face. And my son said you look
different because the pain is now gone from your face. And weíre going to be able to
head on out of here in the morning. We have also planned Thanksgiving andÖ
Sheri: Öa Christmas cruise.
Lee: And we hope to spend the next 20 or 30 years doing exactly the same thing.
