Conditions + Treatments
Laminoforaminotomy
Spine Injury/Condition
I am 57 years old and live in McCalla, Alabama. Being on my feet is essential in my occupation as an engineer for medical equipment as well as my passion for hunting.
In December 2019, I was hunting black bear in the mountains of Virginia. During my trip, I started to experience pain in my legs. It was tough to walk.
Over time, this pain became worse. By the time my pain had become unbearable, the COVID-19 pandemic had entered the Birmingham area in March/April 2020. My need for medical care was delayed. When offices started opening back up for patient visits, I received care from other specialists in Birmingham.
After two injections in my back and another injection in my disc that did not improve my condition, a physician recommended I see Dr. Andrew Cordover at Andrews Sports Medicine.
Because I had seen several physicians already with no improvement, I was reluctant to see another physician. When inquiring about his credentials, my doctor told me that he was “a doctor’s doctor” and that meant that he was the one that any physician would trust for their personal medical care. That answer was enough for me to call Andrews Sports Medicine to schedule an appointment with Dr. Cordover.
At my initial visit appointment with Dr. Cordover, he spent time talking with me and explaining all my options. I chose surgery because other options had failed. So I was scheduled for a laminoforaminotomy. It consisted of shaving a disc in my lower spine. He assured me that this was a routine surgery.
Since my surgery on August 4, 2020 I have felt a thousand times better. The nerve pain down my left leg is gone. I can now stand on my feet for long periods of time without pain. Now certainly I had some restrictions in the days after my surgery as I was healing. So I have realized that “it’s a marathon and not a sprint for the process.”
I am already looking forward to my next hunting trip. I would highly recommend anyone with back pain to see Dr. Andrew Cordover. And actually, I recently just did that.
