ADR

The first year we were married, we were playing frisbee on a beach in California. Steve bent over to pick up a frisbee and ruptured a disc. Since then he has had horrible back pain on and off which has prevented him from doing lots of things he loves...namely: Basketball! After years of therapies, pain medications, massage, etc. he finally got to the point that he couldn't stand it anymore and began researching surgical options.

After months of negotiating with insurance, Steve finally got the Artificial Disc Replacement surgery approved. He had the surgery done on November 19th, which explains why I haven't had much time to record the events in our lives over the past month and 1/2! It is a fairly new procedure in the U.S.; the FDA approved it about 4 years ago. Many insurances don't cover it as there are no long term studies on it. We were initially denied by insurance, but Steve was persistent and after hours of research, writing and praying, we were approved.

Blake wishing Daddy 'Good Luck' right before show time!

The surgery was done by Dr. Mike Janssen in Thorton, CO. He is one of the pioneers of this surgery - he led the FDA trials starting about 7 years ago and does this surgery on a weekly basis. People fly to him from around the country and we were grateful to have him 1 hour away from us. They went in with an anterior approach (through the stomach) and moved everything aside, took out the old disc at L5-S1 and put the new one in.

The new hardware!

We had lots of hands to help during and after the surgery. My Aunt Sandy & Uncle Art took Trenton & Kali for two nights during the surgery. And after hearing that poor little Trenton got diagnosed with Rectal Strep (same as strep throat, just down south) 2 days before surgery and I would have to do a bowel cleanse and antibiotics the day I brought Steve home from the hospital, wonderful Aunt Diane flew out from Bellevue, WA and came to our rescue!

Kali Diane and Aunt Diane - who Kali is named after

Teaching Blake to kick a ball

Steve had strict instructions to do no Bending, Lifting or Twisting for 6 weeks until the bone grafted into the disc. He still wanted to help around the house, so we invested in a grabber. He picks up after the kids constantly...it is wonderful!!! He can also move the kids around pretty well (see below).

Putting the grabber to good use!

It will take a few months to see if the surgery really worked, but so far so good. He has a lot less pain than before surgery - yea!!!