Dani’s story
ACDF surgery, Herniated discs
Severe symptoms led to expedited surgery for Dani
Spinal fusion relieved debilitating pain and weakness down her left arm
When Dani visited Mayfield Brain & Spine’s Green Township office, even lifting a plate at home was difficult. She was suffering pain in her left shoulder, down her arm and all the way into her fingers. At the office, she consulted with nurse practitioner Gina Malott.
“She said, ‘I’ll have Dr. Ostling see you right away,’” Dani recalls. “I appreciated it, because I was in an incredible amount of pain. I think my case was really extreme.”
With Dani still in the office, those severe symptoms led Malott to consult with neurosurgeon Dr. Lauren Ostling. Before she left, Dr. Ostling had reviewed Dani’s scans, talked to her and recommended surgery. The problem? Two herniated discs, where the gel-like center of a spinal disc ruptures through the outer wall, similar to the filling being squeezed out of a jelly donut. The gel material had inflamed the surrounding nerves, causing pain and weakness. For some patients, it may also manifest as numbness.
Only 13 days after that first visit, in a procedure called an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, or ACDF, Ostling removed the two discs and fused the vertebrae together at the C5-6 and C6-7 levels of her neck.
Most patients with back or neck problems try physical therapy, pain injections or other conservative measures before surgery. But the weakness and pain radiating down Dani’s left arm were clear signs of a severe impingement affecting the nerves in the cervical spine, leading Malott to accelerate the process.
“When I first spoke with Dani, she was debilitated by the pain down her left arm and was rapidly losing daily function,” Malott says. “That is beyond the point when most conservative measures will be effective. It seemed clear that we should have a surgeon review the symptoms and talk to Dani about surgery.”
At several of its offices around the region, Mayfield operates nurse practitioner spine clinics to ensure patients get the care they need as quickly as possible. Patients can get an appointment with a nurse practitioner, often within a week, and the nurse practitioner can consult with a surgeon quickly, sometimes the same day. After that preliminary evaluation, patients move to the next step, whether that is physical therapy, interventional pain treatments or surgery.
Dr. Ostling says the process is designed to quickly serve patients who are suffering pain or other symptoms that are affecting their daily lives. It rarely leads directly to surgery, but starts the process toward whatever treatment will be most effective.
In Dani’s case, Dr. Ostling agreed that physical therapy wasn’t going to relieve the pain or weakness from the herniated disc, so she recommended immediate surgical intervention. That was fine with Dani, who preferred surgery to more medicines that hadn’t provided relief to that point.
In the operating room, Dr. Ostling relieved the nerve pressure, removed the herniated discs and replaced them with a combination of bone tissue and spacers, before using a plate and screws to stabilize the repaired spine.
“The best solution for Dani was to quickly relieve the pressure that the discs were putting on the nerves leading to her left side,” Dr. Ostling says. “We repaired the herniation and then stabilized the spine so it would heal and allow her to continue an active life.”
After surgery, the pain down Dani’s left arm was gone. She experienced normal post-operative pain, but that resolved within a few days. She then started physical therapy at the Mayfield office.
Dani says holding her grandson was a huge motivation as she recovered from surgery.
Today, she is stretching at home and back to living a life free of pain. While stretching her neck to look up is a challenge (“So I can’t paint a ceiling … you know, shucks”), she is grateful she had the surgery when she did.
“I really wasn’t functioning before,” Dani says. “I appreciate that everybody moved so quickly.”
~ Cliff Peale
Hope Story Disclaimer -"Dani's Story" is about one patient's health-care experience. Please bear in mind that because every patient is unique, individual patients may respond to treatment in different ways. Results are influenced by many factors and may vary from patient to patient.
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