Gayle’s Story
Not very many things can keep Gayle Ludlow down. But when her lower back pain became so bad she could hardly move, she knew she had to do something. But, as Gayle puts it, this story doesn't begin with her back pain. It begins with a scratch. That's right. A scratch.
About four years ago, Gayle brought her husband, John, to see Dr. Edwards. John drove his motorized wheelchair into Dr. Edwards' office and accidentally gouged a deep scratch the entire width of his door. John was mortified, and immediately apologized, telling Dr. Edwards that he and his brother owned a lumber yard, and he would get the door fixed as soon as possible.
But as Gayle tells the story, Dr. Edwards refused the offer, saying, "No. I want to keep it there. I want that scratch to remind me every day that there are people who need help." That was the moment Gayle knew they had come to the right doctor.
“Gayle knew they had come to the right doctor”
Gayle's husband had a painful spinal cord compression. But he was no stranger to pain. He had gone legally blind when he was in his 40's, and later, he suffered a massive stroke. His health continued to deteriorate over the next 14 years, and all those years, Gayle was his primary care giver. After he died, Gayle realized she had been so busy taking care of him that she had failed to take care of herself.
Gayle began having pain in her back. She tried physical therapy, massage therapy and injections. She went to a chiropractor. She did stretches. She rested. She used a walker. She felt like she had tried everything she could, except surgery. And she didn't want to have surgery, because she had planned a trip to Rome with her friends, and she wasn't going to let back surgery stop her from going.
Gayle did go to Rome. But she saw it from a wheelchair. "And my friends, bless their hearts, they took turns pushing me," she said. It was the trip of a lifetime, but when she got home, she knew she had to go see Dr. Edwards again, this time for herself, because her back pain was getting worse and worse.
Still, Gayle was glad to hear that he couldn't schedule her for a few weeks -- because she didn't want to miss doing the haunted Halloween hayride she always did for her grandchildren, or the trip she had planned to Idaho for Thanksgiving. Like I told you, not very many things can keep Gayle Ludlow down.
Gayle had severe spinal stenosis -- a condition where the spinal canal becomes compressed. This causes a “pinching” of the spinal cord and/or nerve roots, which can be extremely painful. Gayle knew that alleviating spinal stenosis is one of Dr. Edwards' specialties, and she was grateful to be in good hands.
A month after surgery, Gayle came to the clinic at Summit Brain and Spine for a follow-up appointment. She had driven herself 60 miles to the clinic. She enthusiastically reported that the pain was gone, and that she was faithfully doing her physical therapy and exercises to keep her back limber.
Mostly, she was just happy to feel like herself again. And knowing Gayle, she has plenty of big plans for the future.
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#dredwards
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