Summary
A patient with a failed back surgery from 2012 had spent over a decade in progressively worsening pain. Seeing seven or more doctors since 2019, relying on high-dose Percocet and morphine time-release that couldn’t fully control his pain, and watching his legs go numb and weak while his toes splayed from nerve damage. After searching across the United States for a solution and having his wife discover Deuk Spine Institute, he underwent a complex four-level scoliosis reconstruction with screws, rods, and cages. Performed as an outpatient procedure by Dr. Deukmedjian. Less than 24 hours later he walked out without a cane, his foot pain was gone, his toes were straight for the first time, his numbness had resolved, and he was home safely without a hospital pain pump. Something he had never experienced after any of his many prior surgeries. He credited Dr. Deukmedjian with saving his life, his marriage, and his future.
Transcript
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: It is May 3rd, 2023. I’m here with a patient of mine who traveled to come and have surgery on his back for years of agonizing back pain and legs starting to go numb and weak. You wouldn’t believe this, but he had a massive fusion surgery on his back that I did yesterday. Less than 24 hours ago. He went home two hours after the surgery, and you can see some footage here how big the incision is, the screws and rods. Believe it or not, at Deuk Spine too, we do these surgeries and send patients home two hours afterwards. Here he is today to tell you about how his life was before the surgery and how he’s doing today. Let’s start with how you’re doing today. Less than 24 hours after a four-level reconstruction of scoliosis. Screws, rods, cages, the whole shebang. How are you feeling?
Patient: I have no more foot pain. Which was major for years. I’ve noticed a change and difference in the numbness. Both of my feet. My toes were sprung open kind of from the nerve stuff. They’re perfectly straight right now. I’m walking right now with just the pain because there’s an incision, maybe, or maybe because I laid on my side last night, because I laid on my back for years now because of this injury. This is a failed injury since 2012. A small minor laminectomy or something like that. It was a little bulge. Now it turned into what this doctor which I can’t even speak more highly about. I’ve seen since 2019 probably seven different doctors, and all those doctors everything was this, that, another thing, this, that you never got the straight answer. It was more you know this guy right here tells the truth. He’s a professional. He knows what he’s doing. That’s the bottom line. There are a lot of doctors out there that are not. They want you to stay in bed. I tell you. I’ve had a lot of surgeries: neck surgery, face surgery, diaphragm. I’ve received a lot of surgeries. Five shoulder surgeries. Every one of them: stay in bed, don’t do anything, this and that. Yeah. I walked out of the operating room yesterday after a five-hour surgery. I have an incision this big. He saved my life. My living… my life was so the pain it took me. Doctors were killing me. I was on very high doses of Percocet. I finally found some morphine time-release everything works out to an extent. And now I’m just basically maintaining. I don’t have the pain I had. I think it’s just the incision right now. I’m totally mobile. I can’t even believe this. It’s never happened in my life before… ever, ever. Next surgery, I was in bed for months. My diaphragm three months on my side in bed. It was like a kidney operation. Some doctors out there. I just don’t know where they come from or what it’s about. But it is what it is. I found him. My wife found him. And I can’t even thank her enough because she’s seen the pain I’ve been in. You’d be amazed. I’m walking. I don’t have all of this. It’s all gone. You saved my life. I have been dealing with this for about well, it was a failed surgery in 2012. Things started activating, hurting worse, and things were happening with my nerves and my legs. So 2014 a couple years after the surgery the doctor lost his practice, whatever. Seeing doctors after doctors that either didn’t want to do anything because they didn’t know how to do anything. I’m serious that’s what I got. I’ve got doctors with all their statements that say, “Well, we don’t think there’s anything we can do.” And I’m telling you. He saved my life. He saved my marriage. He saved me. The pain that I’ve been in nobody should be going to a doctor that just keeps prescribing. All right, all right. Just here, take these, take those. He’s fixed me.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And you came to us with tons of narcotic pills that doctors had been prescribing. They weren’t even cutting it. You were looking for other ways to ease your back pain and leg pain. And it’s sad. The reason we do these videos is so that other people out there can understand. We can cure your pain in your back or neck. We can cure it in one hour, two hours whatever the surgery takes. It will be gone. If you have some residual stuff, we’ll figure it out and we’ll fix it as well. The point is back pain is now curable. You don’t have to live on pain pills. You don’t have to go through lots of pain procedures that give you temporary relief and then the pain comes back. It’s totally fixable. You’re living proof.
Patient: I’m living proof. He is 100% right. I’ve got the doctors that say all the stuff I’ve been telling you. There’s hope, people. I just got mine. He saved my life. This does everything to everybody. You remember you guys got depression, and you take all these opiates, you start having stomach problems, you have this problem and that problem. Maybe my heart attack came from all these opiates I was taking. I also had prostate cancer maybe that happened from all these narcotics. I watched my mom in bed for 30 years. 1972 until she died about 12 years ago. And nobody helped her. She had a small disc… she had a disc herniation. We could have fixed it in under an hour. And I wish I would have known. Until I experienced it, I didn’t know what she went through. If she was still alive, she’d be here right now. We looked for doctors all over the United States, including Hawaii. Guys I’m walking. I don’t even have a limp anymore. My feet don’t even hurt. We thought I had diabetes.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: Can you stand up for the audience? Show us how easy it is for you.
Patient: I’m walking just fine. No walker, no cane. Before, I was imbalanced. The pain was incredible. My right leg
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: That’s all your friends calling. Saying how are you doing?
Patient: We’re good because I’m here. The other thing to understand is. I don’t normally promote and advocate fusion surgery. But for some people it works very well, and in your case that was the right thing to do. The more important thing is this is the kind of surgery you had done. Most people are in the hospital for a week afterwards and they’re on a pain pump. And I remember you said, “Do I need a pain pump?” And I said, “Nope. You don’t need a pain pump. You’re going to be fine. Go home.”
Patient: No, I believed the man the first time we had our first consultation. This man knows what he’s talking about. That’s all there is to it. I’m a guy that doesn’t trust people. I’ve seen the doctors. I’ve seen what they did to my mother. I’ve seen what they’ve done to me. I literally had my lungs bleeding at one point in 2009. They had me on so much stuff I didn’t even need. I can’t wait to get off everything. I’m just on my little regiment right now. He gave me a little bit. I’ll be hurting for a couple weeks just because it’s a long incision, and I know he took out a lot of scar tissue. I can’t believe I’m walking. I cannot believe I’m not in there with a pump in a hospital. Every surgery I’ve had fusion in my neck, face, diaphragm pumps, hospital.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: And you know why it’s important that you’re not in the hospital right now. That we did this outpatient, that you’re up walking? It’s because patients that are so incapacitated after surgery and they’re in the hospital. They get complications. They get blood clots in their legs, it goes to their lungs and kills them. They get heart attacks. They get pneumonia. They get wound infections. By having it outpatient at Deuk Spine Institute, you’re home. You’re safe, you’re in a safe environment.
Patient: Yep. 100%. I’ve been in hospitals, believe me. This was the best thing to do. Perfect. Well, congratulations.
Patient: Thank you very much. I owe you. I owe you my life. You’re welcome. I really do. Thank you so much. He doesn’t even know this is why we’re here, my friend. You don’t even know. Thank you. This guy didn’t pay me, okay? This is I actually told him, “Hey, how much are you going to pay me?” No, I don’t need to be paid. This guy I owe him everything. Everything. This changed my life period. You need somebody good who knows what he’s talking about and doesn’t lie. Straight up, right here. I knew it the minute I met him.
Dr. Ara Deukmedjian: This is why we do what we do to give people their lives back. Thank you. You’re welcome, my friend. You’re welcome. All right, let’s get you out of here and get you home.
Patient: I do owe you my life. I thank you very much. Your gratitude is everything.
Four-level scoliosis reconstruction at Deuk Spine Institute
This patient underwent a complex four-level scoliosis reconstruction with screws, rods, and cages at Deuk Spine Institute. Addressing a failed 2012 back surgery that had progressively worsened over a decade into severe nerve damage, leg numbness, toe splaying, and uncontrolled pain requiring maximum-dose narcotic medications. Despite the complexity of the procedure. Which at most facilities would require a week-long hospital stay with an IV pain pump. Dr. Deukmedjian performed the five-hour surgery as an outpatient procedure, sending the patient home two hours afterward without a pain pump and with dramatically reduced complication risk. As Dr. Deukmedjian explains, hospitalization after spine surgery significantly increases the risk of blood clots, pneumonia, wound infections, and other life-threatening complications. Making outpatient surgery not just more convenient but measurably safer. While Deuk Spine Institute pioneered the Deuk Laser Disc Repair® as its primary minimally invasive approach, complex cases requiring fusion are also managed with the same commitment to outpatient care and rapid recovery. Patients suffering from scoliosis, failed back surgery, or severe spinal deformity are encouraged to submit their MRI for a complimentary MRI review and virtual consultation with Dr. Deukmedjian at Deuk Spine Institute.