Jeff's story
Spinal stenosis, synovial cyst
Ten years after surgery, Jeff is still on the run
Jeff loves to run.
And when Jeff runs, he runs a long way. Three years ago, he ran a 135-mile race through Death Valley in California, with temperatures topping 100 degrees. In 2024, he ran a similar distance through the Alaska wilderness. He's proud to be an ultra-marathoner.
"It's a sense of accomplishment that really energizes me," says Jeff, an attorney in his 60s. "It's just pushing myself to the absolute limit, doing something that not everybody can do."
A decade ago, pain down Jeff's left side, from the lower back through the buttock down to his thigh, had put that running into doubt. He tried to "just run through it," but the pain just got worse. Then came a cold evening when he was cleaning out horse stalls and was unable to walk even a few feet across the stall.
Jeff and Dianna
Eventually, an orthopedic surgeon told him that he had a cyst on his spinal cord. That doctor told him that after surgery to remove some bony outgrowth and insert cages into the spine, Jeff was unlikely to ever run again, and possibly he would never walk again.
That did not sit well with Jeff or his wife Dianna, who accompanied him to that appointment. They sought another opinion. Jeff called Mayfield Brain & Spine, where he saw neurosurgeon Dr. Robert Bohinski. The spine specialist diagnosed a synovial cyst, a fluid-filled mass caused by degeneration of the spine.
Dr. Bohinski says the surgery was complicated by the size and location of Jeff's cyst, stuck to the membrane that protects the nerves in the spinal canal at the L4-L5 levels of his lumbar spine. It was occupying space in the spinal canal, causing a narrowing called spinal stenosis. Stenosis restricts the space for the nerves that pass through the canal, causing inflammation, pain, numbness or tingling.
"Synovial cysts can become densely adherent to the spinal canals membrane that protects the nearby nerves," Dr. Bohinski says. "Jeff was looking to maintain his running and other activity without debilitating pain. Our task was to ease pressure on the nerves by removing the cyst. It is not a simple procedure, but it can provide immediate relief from the symptoms."
In an outpatient procedure at the Mayfield Spine Surgery Center in Norwood, Dr. Bohinski removed the cyst. By early that evening, Jeff was resting at home. He took only one day off, then returned to work. The back pain was gone. He followed Dr. Bohinski's advice and took his time returning to the road.
"No pain, no deficits. It was just miraculous," Jeff says.
Fast forward 10 years to today. Jeff continues to push himself to the limit, running the ultra-marathon events and a total of 25 regulation marathons. He knows how close he came to losing the ability to do something that has become his passion.
"Dr. Bohinski's extreme skills have allowed me to maximize my physical and mental abilities and excel at a sport that I love," Jeff says. "He substantially enhanced my quality of life. I cannot put a price tag on that."
~ Cliff Peale
Hope Story Disclaimer -"Jeff'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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