Hi, my name is Robert More and I live in Sydney, Australia. I am 43 years old.
I had my first fusion, and insertion of two stainless Harrington Rod's, when I was
thirteen years old. I spent the next seven months, after the operation [to correct a
scoliosis, and two missing half-vertabrae] in hospital, flat on my back, and being turned
daily by the nursing staff; and then a further four months at home. When I was finally
allowed out of bed, I found that I had grown four inches in the operation, and that I was
unable to sit, bend, or kneel down for a further three months. If I wanted to eat meals, I
could do so by lying in bed, or standing at the mantelpiece in the dining room. Eventually
after thirteen months I was allowed to return to part-time school lessons.
When I was seventeen, the rods were removed from my back, and I was then told that I would
never be able to play contact sports again, due to the weakness of my spine.
When I was twenty-four, whilst undergoing training with the Australian Army Reserves, I
jumped from a vehicle, and drove the ball of my right hip, up into my hip socket, which so
the doctors kept telling me, I was too young to operate on, and thus I had to endure the
pain, or look forward to having my hip fused by the time I was fifty. This handicap caused
a lot of pressure to be transferred to my lower spine, and often still causes pain in my
normal leg movement.
When I was thirty-five, I injured my back in an accident [at work - but fault was not
admitted by my employer] and just on four years later, I collapsed at home in a secure
apartment with no means of calling for help, nor the means of admitting help, even had it
been available. I lay on the floor of my apartment in so much agony that I had passed out
twice [that I can recall], until, despite the pain, I managed to claw my way into my
bedroom from the living room, and haul myself up onto my bed. This feat took me two and
half hours. At that stage I had been lying helpless, on the floor for eight hours. Pulling
myself upwards, cracked my back, which enabled me to get to a phone and call an ambulance.
After two weeks in traction, I was released from hospital, but still enduring successive
bouts of pain.
It was found that when I fell over, I had crushed the discs in the L4/L5 region of my
spine, which had left my left leg completely numb. After some seven months I approached my
doctor and together we [a mutual, but crucially necessary decision] decided that I needed
surgery.
Surgery on this part of my back was guaranteed to relieve the pressure on my spine, and
allow full movement in my left leg, together with the restoration of feeling. My doctor's
promises were "excellent", even though, one toe is still numb, but this may well
be due to a pinched nerve. I certainly have less mobility than I had before but I am truly
glad that I had the operation carried out.
If anybody needs a referral to a truly remarkable doctor, and they are prepared to come to
Sydney, Australia; I would be only most happy to recommend my surgeon who has helped me.
Please post this on your bulletin board, and I hope it may be of assistance to anybody who
needs it.
Robert has been kind enough to offer anyone interested to e-mail him..
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