Patient Stories

Dr. Jack Stern with Adrienne Simpson, RN

Adrienne Simpson’s Story

“The absence of pain is still remarkable to me.”

Adrienne Simpson, a registered nurse, experienced severe low back pain on and off for a few years. “The pain got worse and worse. It reached a point where I didn’t want to get up off the couch for any reason, not even to use the bathroom. The pain was so shocking I would nearly go through the roof!” Adrienne consulted with Dr. Jack Stern and after reviewing her MRI he suggested the microlumbar discectomy procedure. Adrienne trusted him to do the procedure.

Following surgery, “I never took a single pain pill,” she says. “To this day, I have a total absence of pain. The pain was so severe when I was admitted for surgery that afterwards my nurse couldn’t believe that I waltzed out of the hospital.” Adrienne explains how things were done in her earlier days as a registered nurse, “Spine surgery wasn’t as sophisticated in the 1970’s as it is today. Patients sometimes took weeks to recover. Today, they are up and walking fifteen minutes after surgery with no pain. Even the anesthesia doesn’t leave patients groggy or nauseated. I couldn’t believe how good I felt after surgery. Truly, the absence of pain is still remarkable to me!”

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