Chronic pain takes a toll not only on your body, but also on every part of your life. The pain becomes, in a way, the center of your life — everything else, from your daily activities to your relationships, revolves around managing your pain.
“I was moving into a pretty dark place before my surgery,” remembers Chris Catron. What had begun as back pain from working at a physically demanding job had turned into chronic pain so intense that he could not even sleep in his own bed or walk upright.
Chris had worked with doctors in the area where he lived, but nothing was working. “I started with physical therapy, and then pain shots in my spine,” he remembers. Eventually, Chris reached his breaking point. “I felt like I was being trapped inside that circle of physicians,” he recalls, “I’d had enough, and it was time for me to search out the best option for me.”
Chris reached out to the Spine Institute Northwest for a free evaluation, and was pleasantly surprised when Dr. Kamson called him personally to discuss his diagnosis, giving Chris a straightforward explanation for the cause of his pain. “I’ve never had any doctor tell me why I was hurting,” Chris says. “All [my previous doctors] said was, ‘Take these pills, and we hope these shots work.'”
Still, others had their doubts. “When you try to get some opinions from friends or family on back surgery, everyone looks at you like you’re crazy because they only know the technology from 20 years ago,” Chris explains. “Today it’s, they’re just these one inch little slits in your back. … And it’s hard to believe, looking at my X-rays, that there’s that much hardware in my back with just those little slits that they cut.”
Chris was able to walk out of the Spine Institute Northwest following his minimally invasive spine surgery. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, it wasn’t comfortable walking out, but I did walk out,” Chris says. “And the next day, it was better. And every day after that, it was better.” Today, his pain has been reduced below what he ever thought was possible.
Hear more of Chris’ story, in his own words: