Physician: John C. Drygas, M.D., M.S.

I have spondololisthosis (collapsing of the spine) along with DDD, stenosis and anything else you can name relevant to the spine. March was my 5th spine surgery – 3rd lumbar and awaiting 3rd cervical in the fall. These 6 surgeries are all within a 7 year period. Basically, my spine is very unstable.

Last fall, Kim Dunn, FSI director recommended Dr. Drygas, the new neuro-surgeon at FSI. I learned more from that first appointment than I had known in years. His lengthy explanations were very clear to me and finally made sense.

One of my past cervical fusions did not fuse and that corrective surgery will be in the fall. I have a large plate with 10 screws in the cervical area but Dr. Drygas is going to approach this from a different angle to avoid the terrible post-op problems of not being able to catch my breath which caused panic attacks due to the involvement of my trachea and esophagus.

Urgent attention needed to be paid to my lower back because stress was being put on the spinal cord area. If I did not do this surgery soon, there would be a chance of paralysis. Because I had severe 24/7 headaches (thought to come from the neck) I wanted the cervical surgery first but common sense prevailed.

My surgery was on March 9th and today is the 1 month anniversary. I cannot believe the point I am at in my recovery. After one fusion, Dr. Drygas replaced my hardware and brought it up to the L-1 position to hopefully prevent a further domino effect using two new rods and 10 screws. Both other lumbar surgeries caused problems with smell and taste (I lost 28 lbs.). Additionally, the leg pain was so bad a few weeks after surgery, I ended up back in the ER where I was knocked out. NOT THIS TIME!

I spent 5 days in the hospital then another week at a rehab facility. I have been home for 2 weeks and feel I am so far ahead of where I was after the prior surgeries. I dumped my walker 10 days ago and am ready to lose the cane. Could it have been due to the expertise, attention and caring of Dr. Drygas???? He is THE MAN!!!!

P.S. No more headaches either!

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