Deborah Martinez is a home care nurse, who always had problems with her neck. A previous MRI showed that she had a slightly herniated disc. However, last year she developed severe pain and numbness down her right arm and knew she needed to address the issue. She was losing function in her right arm and wasn’t able to perform her job as a nurse; she kept dropping things. A friend recommended the Back & Neck Pain Center at Mather Hospital. She had a thorough assessment and based on her MRI, it was recommended that she see neurosurgeon Dr. Sumeer Sathi right away. Dr. Sathi could see that the disc was slightly to the right and impeding on her nerve root and recommended that the disc be replaced. He performed a discectomy, removing disc fragments and replacing the herniated disc with an artificial one. Deborah didn’t think it was that severe, she thought maybe she needed physical therapy. The team at the Back & Neck Pain Center advocated for Deborah to have surgery. They were concerned that she was going to lose function in her arm. “I’ve never met anybody who genuinely cared like that” said Deborah. They kept checking in on me and following up. “They definitely went above and beyond. And I really feel that they saved me from having to be disabled. Extremely independent, Deborah is thrilled to be back to work and able to care for her young daughter.
