Summary
A longtime Deuk Spine Institute pain management patient had suffered back pain radiating down her left leg and into her lower hip for seven years, the last three excruciating. Earlier treatments, including a rhizotomy by another physician, gave only six to eight months of relief, and she could not stand or walk more than a couple of minutes without leaning on something. She had the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® and the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® at the same time. The next day her back and leg pain were completely gone, and she was standing straight and planning a trip with her husband to hold a celebration for the granddaughter’s wedding she had missed.
Transcript
Patient: If you have back pain, you need to come see this clinic. You need to come here and listen to what they’ll do for you. They don’t force you, they don’t push you, they give you the options you need to have. The staff here is phenomenal. It’s wonderful. You have no idea how compassionate, kind and caring this whole team is. You deserve it for yourself to do this. You really do.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: It is October 12th, 2022, my anniversary with my wife of 20 years, and I’m here seeing my lovely patients like this lady right here who just had surgery yesterday. You’re a miracle.
Patient: Oh, thank you very much.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Now, you suffered with back pain for 20 years?
Patient: Yes.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And it went down your left leg?
Patient: Yes, it did, and my lower hip.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And you had the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® surgery yesterday, and I think you had the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy®.
Patient: I had both procedures done.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: You were willing to do them at the same time, and it went great.
Patient: Yes, it was wonderful.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: How do you feel today?
Patient: Terrific. I’m on cloud 10, floating high.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: I’ve heard of cloud nine, but cloud 10 must be better. The pain you came to us with in your lower back, is it still there?
Patient: No, it is not, nor in my leg. It’s totally gone. It’s wonderful.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Now, how long have you really suffered with that back pain?
Patient: Seven years.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: The last seven years have been pretty bad?
Patient: Yes, and the last three were excruciating.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So it built over the years to a point where it was intolerable. You get to a point where the pain gets so bad you can’t really function. It hurts so bad you just sit in the afternoon and cry because you don’t know how to stop it.
Patient: It is agony. You want to do things for your family, for your kids. You want to live a life where you can go and shop without having excruciating pain when you get home, because you have to lean on the grocery carts or lean on the countertop. I couldn’t stand, nor could I walk, except for a couple of minutes. It was horrible.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: How did you find out about Deuk Spine Institute?
Patient: I’ve been coming here for many, many years through the pain management clinic. I had seen a few doctors. I had seen Dr. K, who advanced and moved on, and he did my back, I guess it’s like a rhizotomy, where he goes in and does the treatment on the spine. Then I also saw Dr. Patel, and he offered to do hip injections or hip and back injections, and I thought maybe I’ll hold off on it, because the other ones I had done did good for like six to eight months. I had some relief, but the pain in my left leg would never go away. I couldn’t walk, I had to lean, and that’s really what bothered me more than anything, that I couldn’t stand or walk right.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And now you had the Deuk Laser Disc Repair®. Do you still have that leg pain?
Patient: No, it’s gone. It’s miraculous, it really is.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: So happy for you. What kind of things are you going to do now that that pain is gone?
Patient: First of all, my husband’s going to take me on a trip, because we couldn’t go to my granddaughter’s wedding. She was married last Saturday and I couldn’t go because I was in pain. So we want to go and have a ceremony with them.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: That’s really one of the unfortunate side effects of having pain: you get robbed of the quality of life experiences that normally people would have.
Patient: It’s true. You don’t enjoy anything. Even if you do go and try to be part of something, your heart’s not in it. Everybody else is running around going here and there, and I had to wait in the car. I couldn’t go in the buildings with them, I couldn’t go shopping with them, I couldn’t help them pick things they asked me to. I couldn’t make pasta for them. I make homemade pasta.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Well, you know I like pasta. I’ll have you make me homemade.
Patient: The recipe came from my husband’s grandmother, who came from Italy. She came over in 1900, spoke no English, found a life here, and lived until she was 99. She gave me her special recipe, and I will make you pasta.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Well, listen, if you make good pasta, you don’t really need to speak English. You just speak the language of food.
Patient: She wrote it down, but we had to translate it into English because she wrote it in Italian. It was so cute. She had these little measurements, and I’m like, what is a pinch? What’s a half a cup?
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Understood. You can see your surgery right here. We went in with the laser, made a small incision, and cleaned out those damaged discs and got rid of the pain from your herniated, degenerated discs. We also did the plasma rhizotomy, and you look like a new woman to me.
Patient: I am a new woman, thanks to you. I came in here looking like Hagrid, I don’t know, everything was sagging and dragging and pulling along, but you made me stand straight and walk tall.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: You’ve got a new lease on life.
Patient: I believe I do, and it’s all thanks to you. You are amazing. I would do anything to let people know how wonderful you are.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: I really appreciate it. It means a lot to me. Is there anything you want to tell your fans out there on YouTube?
Patient: If you have back pain, they don’t force you, they don’t push you, they give you the options you need to have. The staff here is phenomenal. It’s wonderful. You have no idea how compassionate, kind and caring this whole team is. You deserve it for yourself to do this. You really do.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Thank you very much, on behalf of everyone here at Deuk Spine Institute. God bless you.
Patient: You’re my hero, I don’t mind telling you that. God bless you.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: All right, you take care. And your wife’s anniversary, married 53 years?
Patient: Twenty for us. That’s okay, that’s a milestone, and you’ve got a lot more to go.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Absolutely. And you’re an amazing man. I know you’ll do her right. I’m proud of you. Thank you.
Deuk Laser Disc Repair® & Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® at Deuk Spine Institute
This patient underwent the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® and the Deuk Plasma Rhizotomy® in one visit at Deuk Spine Institute for seven years of back, hip and left leg pain. Dr. Deukmedjian used a laser through a small incision to clean out damaged, herniated and degenerated discs, and the rhizotomy treated the joint pain. Her pain was gone the next day, and she was standing straight and walking tall. Patients can submit their MRI for a complimentary MRI review and virtual consultation with Dr. Deukmedjian.