A Scottsdale woman in her 70s was diagnosed a decade ago with a slipped disk in her spine, just above where it connects to the hips, but she was never in a hurry to do anything about it.
“I didn’t rush in and make my appointment. I waited almost five years until I thought, ‘This is silly,’ ” said the woman, who was first diagnosed in 2015. “I didn’t rush in. I gave it some thought because surgery on your back, I guess it’s not something you want to take lightly. The only regret I have is that I waited so long.”
The woman moved to Scottsdale with her husband when they retired about 16 years ago.
“When we first moved out here, we hiked all over. I had no issues then. We were out here a couple of years before I started having sensations,” she explained. “I’d be walking and just, all of a sudden, my left foot would become numb. I never felt I was going to fall, but it still was kind of a strange sensation,” as if she couldn’t quite feel the ground beneath her.
She was seen by Dr. Luis Tumialan, a world-class spine surgeon who works in the Neuroscience Research Division of HonorHealth Research Institute.
Following an X-ray and MRI scan, “He knew immediately what was causing my issues,” said the patient, recalling how Dr. Tumialan showed her a disk had slipped out of place between the L4 and L5 vertebrae. “I could see,” she said, noting that the doctor told her a fusion could remedy her symptoms: “When you’re ready.”
It took about 5 years before she was ready. Meanwhile, her numbness got worse over time.
“I’ve been active all my life,” said the 5-foot-3, 105-pound woman, who regularly goes to a gym to lift weights, use an elliptical machine, and to ride a stationary bicycle. “There wasn’t any one thing that caused my numbness, such as an accident. It’s just happened over time.”
Medical condition: Spondylolisthesis
The medical term for her condition is called Spondylolisthesis, when one of the bones in the spine slips out of alignment and presses down on the vertebra below it. This can put pressure on nerves around your spine, which can cause lower back pain, a leg pain known as Sciatica, back stiffness, difficulty walking or standing for more than a few minutes at a time, and numbness, weakness or tingling in the feet.
The patient’s procedure was part of the SLIP II registry, a clinical trial comparing the effectiveness of spinal decompression versus decompression with fusion for patients with degenerative Grade I Spondylolisthesis, or a symptomatic lumbar spinal stenosis. The study also aims to identify if an expert panel review of individual cases can improve patient outcomes and satisfaction after surgery.
About 5 years after her surgery, she reports today how she feels: “It’s just great! I have no problems now. The surgery went well, and my follow-up X-rays always look good. I have no complaints what-so-ever. I can go hiking. I go to the gym. I have no restrictions. The fusion didn’t restrict me in any way.”
The patient, who calls Dr. Tumialan “a genius,” said she recommends the procedure to her friends: “The surgery improves your life. It’s not to be taken lightly. But to not have it, would truly be a loss.”
