Patient Stories
Sutter Neurosurgery
Victor – Spine Surgery and a New Perspective on Life
“I was just a normal, healthy guy with a regular life,” said 35-year old Victor, a software consultant for Deloitte. “And then everything changed.”
In June 2008, Victor began having horrible back pain. “I’ve had some back pain before, but it wasn’t anything like this,” he said. “I couldn’t stand or sit up, I had no idea what was happening.” His family took him to the ER. After some basic diagnostic tests, the hospital sent him home with pain killers. When the pain did not subside after four days, Victor went back to the ER. Further tests revealed a mysterious mass in his back. To make matters worse, Victor was beginning to lose feeling in his legs. All this prompted his doctors to transport him via ambulance to Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento.
“That’s when I met Dr. Schneiderman,” Victor said.
As soon as Victor arrived at Sutter General Hospital, Dr. Gary Schneiderman, surgeon with the Sutter Neuroscience Medical Group and Medical Director of Spine Surgery at Sutter Neuroscience Institute, saw him in the Neuro-Specialty Unit. The results didn’t look good. “When I first saw Victor he was going paralyzed right before my eyes,” said Dr. Schneiderman. “He needed immediate intervention.”
“Dr. Schneiderman told me he was going to operate immediately. He said I may not be able to walk again,” Victor recalled. “I couldn’t believe it. A week ago, everything was fine. Now, I could hardly move my legs and was facing the prospect of being in a wheelchair forever.”
Dr. Schneiderman, along with Sutter Neuroscience Institute Neurosurgeon, Sam Ciricillo, M.D., successfully removed the mass – an abscess that resulted from a streptococcus infection – from Victor’s back during a three-hour surgery. The infection had grown rapidly and suddenly over the past couple weeks, causing severe pressure on Victor’s spine. “No one knows how the bacteria found its way to my spine,” Victor says. “But thanks to Dr. Schneiderman and Dr. Ciricillo, it’s now gone.”
With the surgery complete, Victor and his medical team focused on his leg function. “Everyone at Sutter General was phenomenal,” says Victor. “The nurses, the physical therapists – they all helped me. With their guidance, I was able to begin moving my legs a few days after surgery.”
Victor was discharged from the hospital after one week. But his battle wasn’t over. He went through two weeks of acute rehab, followed ongoing physical rehabilitation. “I had very limited movement when I came home from the hospital. We had to change the house so I could function in it. It was a huge adjustment for my wife, Michelle, and me,” says Victor. “I don’t know what would have happened to me if it weren’t for her.”
Twelve weeks from the surgery, and after plenty of physical therapy and rehabilitation, Victor is doing well and has a renewed outlook on his life. “I can now walk on my own again and it feels great. I’m done with the wheel chair and the crutches. I am incredibly grateful to be independent again,” he says. “I’ve also given up my pack-a-day smoking habit. I couldn’t smoke during my hospital stay and went through a tough detox period during that week. I figured that was a good time to quit. I haven’t had a cigarette since.”
Victor credits his family, his colleagues at Deloitte, all of his friends and Dr. Schneiderman with his successful recovery. “Everyone was very supportive, especially my wife. And that Dr. Schneiderman – he’s a pretty intense guy – but I felt like I was going to be OK with someone like that on my side,” he says. “Now, I feel great. It’s a miracle.”
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