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How the Methodist
Brain and Spine
Institute can
restore lives
We’vegot
your
back
Bec y
Blake doesn’t like to let
anything slow her down. But for years,
the busy 57-year-old grandmother
found that unrelenting pain in
her back, hips, and legs was doing
just that.
“It was getting hard to focus on my
life,” says Becky, operations manager
for a logistics company. “The pain was
so severe that I could hardly walk.
“I visited a chiropractor, went to
an orthopedist, got steroid injections,
and even tried acupuncture,” she
says. “Nothing was working. I was at
my wit’s end.”
Things began to look up for
Becky last fall when her family
medicine doctor referred her to Nimesh
Patel, MD, neurosurgeon at Methodist
Mansfield Medical Center.
“I knew immediately Dr. Patel was going
to help me,” Becky remembers. “He made
time in his schedule to see me sooner rather
than later, and he listened to everything I
had to say. He was so compassionate.”
A life-changing treatment option
Dr. Patel diagnosed Becky with lumbar
stenosis, a condition that occurs when
the nerves in the lower spine become
compressed. It usually results from arthritis
or normal wear and tear as you age.
“Sometimes physical therapy or
steroid injections can reduce the pain to
a manageable level,” Dr. Patel says. “In
Becky’s case, those options didn’t get the
results she needed, so we recommended a
procedure called a lumbar laminectomy.”
During a laminectomy, a small portion
of bone or spinal disk material is removed
in order to give the compressed nerves
more space.
“The relief that laminectomies
bring is almost immediate,” Dr. Patel
says. “Additionally, at Methodist
Mansfield, we have the technology and
skill set to perform minimally invasive
10
Methodist Mansfield Medical Center
•
Summer 2015
Before her laminectomy procedures at
Methodist Mansfield Becky Blake couldn’t
lift her grandson Rhyder Davis Now she is
grateful to be able to hold him close