Wow indeed. And joining us now is Blair, along with board-certified orthopedic spine surgeon Dr. Hooman Melamed. All I really want to know is, how are you feeling?
Fabulous!
Back pain?
No back pain. Zero. No, none.
Can you believe it?
No. I’m, especially after seeing that, there’s no pain. I’m just amazed on how fast I’ve recovered in two months.
And I think what’s interesting is, in a surgery like this, you actually broke her back five times to get her in correct alignment, which seems counterintuitive but needed to happen.
That’s correct. So the problem was she had the, the rod basically from the side, so I went in the back here, and she already had some fusion, some rod here. So you had to break the spine, basically, you know, each segment. You have to go and break this articulate each area around it to help loosen it up, basically. And by doing that, it helps to give some mobility to kind of work around the rod, and then, you know, with the maneuvering with the rod, you put it back in place and try to get the best alignment possible.
And then that will heal, and now we’re seeing her two months out. Long term now, what does, what does she have to look forward to?
Long term, I think in about a month or so I’m pretty much going to make her unrestricted in all activities. She can have kids, she can do anything she wants to do. But I always caution people in general, if, especially people have had back surgery, any back surgery, you have to observe proper, you know, fundamentals moving forward as far as your mechanics go, as far as like doing daily stuff. Avoid activities such as, like, horseback riding, you know, golfing, things that are constantly torquing your back. And, you know, just if you drop something, squat down to pick it up, don’t bend over.
So Blair, I’m so sorry, sounds like a professional golf career may not happen for you. I hope you’re okay with that. Or the Kentucky Derby.
I’ll tell you, if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that there’s no such thing as a slam dunk spine surgery. You make sure you know, right surgery with the right surgeon. Blair, we are so happy that was the case for you.
Thank you.
It’s so good to see you smiling.
Thank you, I’m so happy.
So thank you for sharing your story. Dr. Melamed, as always, a pleasure.
