Roger's Story: Getting Back to the Farm After Neck Surgery

Roger Wilbur describes his life as "control chaos." With three young boys at home, haying up to 38,000 bales each year, driving school bus and making maple syrup, Roger is busy, to say the least. Things slowed down considerably following a common day cutting trees on his property. Roger describes, " I was carrying a 12' length of an ash tree on my shoulder (to be used for fence posts). As I was coming out from the woods through the snow I slipped and it started to roll. I bounced it on my shoulder and that caused a herniated disc in my neck." When he went to see his local chiropractor, his arms jumped at one point, feeling like cold water was running down his arm. Roger had an MRI done and immediately went to the Spine Center to see an orthopaedic spine specialist. After trying cortisone injections, which were only effective short-term, Roger's spine surgeon, Dr. William Abdu, suggested that surgery was likely going to be effective in his case. "I was a little nervous. I've had multiple surgeries before but this was a whole lot more involved." Roger felt like Dr. Abdu prepared him well for the surgery, "I knew going in what the process leading up to surgery was going to be like." The outcome was even better. "For the first time in almost a year I could feel hair from my leg on the back of my hand as I lay in the hospital bed. I didn't have any pain." The recovery process was tough. "Complete inactivity! I've never done nothing but I followed exactly what Dr. Abdu told me to do. I was chomping at the bit once the collar came off. Once I got the clearance to starting using my chainsaw (since it was only 10 pounds), I was able to start moving around more." Roger couldn't be happier with the outcome. "In hindsight, the surgery was the best thing. It was the best choice I could have made."

Learn more at: http://www.dhspine.org