Camille’s Story

Camille Hall loves to exercise. She has a goal to become a marathon runner, and had been seriously working toward that goal in the latter part of 2016. But in January of 2017, she and her husband and their 3-year-old daughter went sledding at a neighbor’s home. It seemed like a fun, safe activity, but when Camille hit a big jump and landed really hard, she knew immediately that something was wrong. She felt a sharp, stabbing pain in her lower back, and it radiated down her left leg. 

Camille went to the doctor right away. But one office visit led to another…and another and another. If this sounds like a familiar story, it’s because it is. A lot of people with back problems spend months – even years – bouncing between primary care physicians, physical therapists and pain doctors. Many of them treat and help the pain, but don’t necessarily get to the root of the problem. This is what happened to Camille. Each doctor treated her pain, but only guessed at what was wrong, since the x-rays didn’t show anything definitive. Several doctors thought she had an injured SI joint, and said, “Given enough time, it will heal.” 

But nearly three years later, Camille was still in pain. “It affected everything in my life,” she said. “My mothering, my relationships, even my mental health. I couldn’t exercise. I couldn’t pick up my daughter. I couldn’t do the simplest household chore. It was awful.”

Finally, Camille went to see a new pain doctor, who referred her to Dr. John Edwards.

In her first visit, Dr. Edwards told her, “Well, it’s not your SI joint.” Then he asked her to go see one more doctor – Dr. Eric Lee, a trauma-certified chiropractor with whom Dr. Edwards works closely. Camille dreaded the thought of yet one more office visit, and when Dr. Lee asked her to get one more image, she thought, “Ah. Here I go again.” But Dr. Lee assured her this one would be different. He asked Camille to get a ‘range of motion’ x-ray – by bending over and touching her toes as the x-ray machine took a picture of her spine. 

That movement opened up her spine, and when Dr. Lee put her x-ray up on the light board, he said, “There it is. There’s your break.” Camille had a ‘pars fracture’ -- a small fracture in part of the lowest lumbar vertebrae in her back. 

When Dr. Edwards saw her x-ray, he said, “This will be easy.” 

Camille just wanted to cry with relief. Finally she had an answer – and finally she had a path to get better!

Dr. Edwards performed surgery on her spine 7 weeks ago. One day, about 5 or 6 weeks later, she suddenly said to her husband, “I don’t have any pain right now!” She filled out a pain form, and for the first time in years, she circled “zero” on every question.

Camille says she can do anything now, and move in any way. In her follow-up appointment with Dr. Edwards, she was excited when he gave her the go-ahead to restart her marathon training. 

But best of all, Camille says, she has her life back.

#summitbrainandspine

#dredwards

#lifeisback