The Real Deal

First, let me tell you that I am a true person living in Navarre, Florida. I am so sorry you are suffering with such back pain. I know it affects every aspect of your life and I appreciate how bad it must be to get you to this point. So let me offer you hope...

I suffered with terrible back and leg pain. By the time I had my ADR surgery in 2004, I had lost the entire disc material between L5-S1. It was bone against bone and caused such pain that I could only work sporadically. When I felt like I could work a couple of hours, I could not drive myself because of the strong pain medicines.

I had my first back surgery (discectomy) in January 1996, but it only helped a few years. The pain progressed and got so severe that by Thanksgiving 2003, I couldn't walk up 3 steps by myself, even when I used my cane. My friends were great to help me, but the pain was unbearable and interfered with everything! I felt like I was sinking fast… something had to happen.

We found Stenum Hospital and Dr. Zechel. What a miracle! I am completely happy with the results of the surgery. The German people are very nice and Dr. Zechel is fantastic! Their ADR procedure is top notch! They have been performing ADR since 1987, so they are excellent at it.

The reality of my recovery: I had abdominal pain and deep back pain initially, but the nerve pain in my back and down my leg was completely gone...and has never returned! I know it sounds hard to believe, it is true, I am 2 ½ yrs post op and have no pain. My back gets tired if I work too hard, but a little ice and I am feeling fine. After the surgery, it took about 3-4 months to get back my stamina. Remember, I traveled to Germany before the surgery (in terrible pain) and home after with post op pain and was really wiped out when we got home! We stayed in Germany just shy of 3 weeks.

I tried to give as much detail as I could on my web sites so people will know exactly what they are getting into. By the time we went to Germany, I was in such excruciating pain; it was definitely the only choice I had. My neurosurgeon here said fusion was not an option because it would only be a temporary fix. That surgery just transfers the stress away the degenerated disc and focuses it on the next level up. He said if he did a fusion, I would need another surgery to fix the next disc in less than a year. His only option was insert a morphine pump in my spinal canal and buy some time until ADR was available here. ADR was already in clinical trials and I did not qualify because the damage to my vertebral column was too extensive. I was only 39 years old and the morphine pump seemed too extreme!


Check out my blogs. I made these sites myself and was under no pressure to do so. I just wanted people to know about another option.

http://adr4cathy.blogspot.com my back history

http://adrstenum.blogspot.com German Accomodations

http://adrbasics.blogspot.com patient's perspective of ADR

I am happy to have the opportunity to share about my experience. It completely changed our lives!