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Old 09-27-2006, 08:57 AM #1
barryg barryg is offline
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Default Dr. Jho Surgery - repost from 3 yrs ago

I haven't frequented the forum regularly in a long while, but I just found it moved and the old archives are not accessible. The archives are incredibly valuable for future patients, so I'm reposting the report of my surgical experience from 3 years ago with Dr. Jho:

On Monday 4/7/03 I flew to Pittsburgh for a pre-surgical consultation with Dr. Jho. I developed symptoms one year earlier and MRI revealed broad central herniations at C5-6 and C6-7 and significant stenosis (6mm) of the spinal canal at both levels. The intense left-sided pain subsided within a few weeks but I was left with constant numbness in 3 fingers of the left hand, and some left triceps weakness. Of major concern was the significant spinal stenosis at both levels. My neurologist and 4 neurosurgeons I've consulted all agreed that surgical intervention was advisable due to vulnerability to significant future spinal issues due to the marked stenosis. Also, I am an avid cyclist and surgical intervention held out hope to resume spirited cycling, although this was a secondary concern.

Aided by information gleaned from the great folks on this forum and my own research (including in-person consultations with 3 other neurosurgeons), I felt that Dr. Jho's procedure held out hope of potentially correcting the problem completely, with minimal recovery, low risk, and leaving options open for any other future procedure. Although Dr. Jho was quite responsive from a distance (amazingly so compared to other doctors), he couldn't answer a few questions about his surgical intentions for me until examining me personally. A surgical appointment with him includes a personal consultation on the previous day, so I went off to Pittsburgh to meet with Dr. Jho and possibly undergo surgery. By the way, I was fortunate to find an excellent neurologist soon after my symptoms first developed who served as the focal person , and he endorsed my eventual decision.

I was overwhelmingly impressed by Dr. Jho and his staff. Dr. Jho seemed to have all the time in the world for me when I met with him and his P.A. Frank. I had done a bit of research and have some medical background, so I asked a lot of questions and received thoughtful, respectful responses. In addition to discussing my personal case, Dr. Jho shared many anecdotes and discussed the whole gamut of disc procedures. He carefully explained what he wanted to do and why: a two-level anterior microforaminotomy ('Jho Procedure'), principally for general decompression of the spinal cord but also to free up the two nerve roots. My understanding was that based on MRI films showing cord compression posteriorly as well as anteriorly (disc side), Dr. Jho felt that there were bone spurs involved which he readily deals with in his procedure. A big unresolved question before I went to Pittsburgh was whether Dr. Jho could and would perform general decompression caused by central hernation from such a lateral approach. Dr. Jho assured me that this was exactly his intention.

The procedure was performed on Tuesday and took 2-3 hours under general anesthetic (with intubation). I awoke groggy and with some soreness and stiffness, but no real pain. When I asked about when the pain medication would be wearing off, I was told that I hadn't been given any, and haven't needed any since. Dr. Jho said the procedure went very well and he had to remove a lot of bone spicules (spurs). Dr. Jho made a single 1-1/2 inch horizontal incision along a natural fold of my neck, so the scar shouldn't be too bad after the incision heals, and it's already looking much less noticeable. My throat was very sore from the intubation, and it is still pretty sore as I write but slowly getting better (cold pumpkin pie and fruit smoothies help ;-). I am fairly sensitive to medication, and effects of the general anesthetic still seem to be lingering and slowly going away. I had no problem driving two days after the surgery, although I was pretty gentle with the head turning (BTW, no collar is worn after the Jho procedure). My neck can stiffen up a bit depending on how I am sitting, but I'm noticing that this is also improved from yesterday. I've been told that many of the acute issues will resolve over the next week and I'll be pretty much healed up from the surgery in 4 weeks. In the big picture, these post-surgical symptoms are shockingly trivial considering the work that was performed. My experience of Allegheny General Hospital was also overwhelmingly positive (except the food).

The numbness in my fingers seemed to have improved slightly right after surgery, but another noticeable chunk came off the numbness on the third day perhaps it's 25% resolved already. I believe Dr. Jho will be proven correct the numbness will resolve eventually. [postscript added 11/9/2003 - I'm sorry to report that the numbness did NOT resolve any further than this]

Another comment - due to the very sore throat and effects from the general anesthetic, I didn't sleep more than a few minutes at a time until the 3rd day. I'm not entirely clear on what was going on, but perhaps some combination of 3 possible issues kept waking me up every few minutes: a constant need to swallow to clear the small amount of phlegm that constantly invaded my throat, side effects of the anesthetic on my diaphragm or inflammation from the intubation causing my windpipe to slightly close in relaxed sleep [9/27/06 postscript - I believe this last possible explanation, a temporary form of sleep apnea due to the surgery, was correct]. On the 3rd night I discovered somehow that I could sleep well on my side (I've only slept on my back for years) and this was a huge relief. By the way, I noticed a dampening effect on other smooth muscles besides the diaphragm, affecting my ability to swallow, belch, urinate, etc which improved by the 3rd day.

I am very grateful to Dr. Jho for his pioneering work developing his procedures and being so accessible to new patients. I'll have a follow-up MRI in 6 weeks and hope to see amazing improvement on the films. I plan on taking one more week off from work, just to pamper myself a bit.

Cheers,
Barry

9/27/06 postscript: I have had no further issues with my neck in the 3+ years since the surgery. I had a followup MRI one year after the surgery and my neurologist was happy with what he saw. I still have numbness in 3 fingers, but no pain at all and fairly good range of motion in my neck. I was able to resume normal activity soon after the surgery and eventually built up to 100-150 miles of weekly bicycling. I still avoid extending my neck for long periods of time – that's probably the only thing that might bother me – eg., when I get my haircut and they shampoo me, I won't lean my head back over the sink – I turn the seat around and lean forward over the sink. In retrospect, I'm very happy with the surgery.
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Old 09-29-2006, 08:04 PM #2
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Barry:
It was partly yours and Dave Edwards positive experiences with Dr. Jho that helped me make a decision to have surgery with him. I recently posted here on a Jho thread with a link to a cached version of my post-surgical thread from the old board. I too am doing very well going on 2 yrs. I haven't had an MRI since six weeks after surgery but I have no detectable problems. I sometimes wish I could jump into an MRI and see what is going on in there to satisfy my curiosity since long terms studies of the effects of Jho's procedures had not been published when I had the surgery. Does anyone know if Jho has recently published long term results? Eric, his (former?) PA told me when I was there they they were working on the study.

Kerry
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Old 10-01-2006, 09:51 PM #3
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I'll repost my original account:


I’ve received so much help from this board that I thought it might be useful for other if I wrote up my experiences so others might learn from my thought processes.
I went to my PCP in May 2004 because I was getting electrical shocks down both arms when I coughed. He ordered an MRI. It showed minor disc bulges at a couple of levels in my cervical spine but a large herniation compressing my spinal cord about 50% at C5-6. My PCP told me to go to a neurosurgeon. I decided to see a neurologist first because to a carpenter everything is a nail. The neurologist first did a neurological exam and said I had no serious problems then looked at the MRI and told me to get to a neurosurgeon within 48 hrs as I had a neurological emergency. I was to engage in no activities in the meantime including no wild sex. I pressed him hard on how serious my problem was since I was not experiencing a lot of pain and wished to avoid surgery if possible. He was absolutely insistent I see a neurosurgeon, explaining that he had had a patient with a similar condition to mine that had ignored his advice and gone skiing. He fell, hit his head and was now a quadriplegic. I made an appointment with a neurosurgeon who squeezed me into his schedule the next day. He concurred that surgery was necessary although not within 48 hrs. He said I should let it go no longer than a few months. I also pressed the neurosurgeon on the necessity of surgery. He told stories of two of his patients with a similar condition to mine. One fell on ice, hit his head and was paralyzed; the other fell off his couch, hit his head and was paralyzed. One recovered after surgery, the other didn’t. The surgeon said I needed ACDF with cadaver bone and plate. I asked about other options. He said he knew of some endoscopic procedures but that he did not believe these procedures could resolve cord compression. I thought about if for a couple of days and scheduled the ACDF.
I then began researching in more detail. I learned of the domino effect and doubts began to arise in my mind. I already had a couple of bulges at other levels, which struck me as being an indicator of future domino problems. I also learned of ADR. I went for my pre-surgical consult with the surgeon’s nurse and raised my doubts. I got no satisfactory answers. Yes, ACDF could cause problems at other levels but I should be good for 10 yrs, and I wouldn’t want to be one of the first 500 who got ADR. More research ensued. ADR had been done for quite a few years in Europe so I wouldn’t be within the first 500 and I didn’t like the domino odds. At this point I came to {REMOVED}and asked people’s opinions. Opinions were split on the wisdom of ACDF but I realized I didn’t know enough and could not go under the knife given these uncertainties. I talked to the neurosurgeon, who in fact concurred that he would not operate on a person with my doubts He knew of Jho but thought his procedure probably couldn’t help me. I postponed the ACDF so I could look into it more and into MISS and ADR.

Cervical ADR was in clinical trials at this time in the US but available in Europe for $$$ since my insurance wouldn’t pay. I learned of MISS from Schiffer, Microspine and Jho. Microspine was not an option since their qualifications did not seem that strong (especially when compared to Dr. Jho’s) and I did not like the idea of undergoing major surgery in a facility other than a large hospital. Schiffer’s CED did not give direct visual access to the area in front of the spinal cord, so there was doubt in my mind as to how effective that procedure would be, especially given the fact that it seemed likely my herniation was about 16 yrs old since it was that long ago I’d suffered bad whiplash from a rear end collision in a car with poor head restraints. That left Dr. Jho. A number of people on{REMOVED} had had success with him. I typed my MRI report into an e-mail and awaited his reply. Within 2 hrs he responded that he thought he might be able to help me and to send him my MRI films. I Fed-Exed the films on a Thursday and on the following Monday he called. Yes he could help me and he agreed that surgery was necessary. He said his office staff would call. This was late June I believe. I decided this was the best option. It preserved most of my own disc and left open the possibility of ADR in the future.

I eventually had surgery with Dr. Jho on 2/1/05. However, the communication with his office staff between 6/04 and 1/05 was not good. In fact, they never called me at all. I had to make repeated phone calls and e-mails to get any response at all. At about the end of July his office staff promised an early December surgery date. I did not hear from them and in about mid-November I began calling and e-mailing. No return phone calls and finally in early December I got an e-mail indicating the surgery would not be in December but it would be in January. By Xmas I still did not have a date and was calling and e-mailing. Twice I was promised that the date would be fixed—next Monday. No response on those days. Finally around 1/1 I got an e-mail confirming the date of 2/1/05. This was clearly the most frustrating part of my experience. I understand his office staff is busy and fields lots and lot of inquiries but a short return phone call, or e-mail would have made my experience much more pleasant. The communication with his office did improve once the surgery was scheduled but I never received a pre-surgical information packet like some others have reported. I was left with the impression it was lost in the mail.

I was scheduled for surgery Tuesday 2/1 with a pre-surgical consult 1/31. Eric, Dr. Jho’s PA, did a neurological exam on 1/31 and then I met with Dr. Jho. He inquired about my pain levels and if I could live with the pain. I said yes, but I wanted the surgery to reduce the risk of future paralysis. We then had a long discussion about the fact that there is no empirical data verifying the idea that seriously compressed spinal cords are at higher risk of damage than non-compressed cords. The concept is just ‘common sense’ and not verified. This had been one of the hardest parts of the decisionmaking process for me, since I had become aware of this fact during my research. But I had decided that it seemed wise to act on common sense, particularly given the experiences of my neurologist and first neurosurgeon (although those anecdotal cases don’t prove a lot). Dr. Jho agreed to operate under these conditions.

He operated on 2/1 for about 3 hrs. He initially had said he thought the surgery would take only one hr. I was in recovery for a little over an hour and was up walking around my hospital room by late afternoon with an hellacious sore throat from the intubation. I flew home two days after surgery and a week later; I have only had to take a few ibuprofens for discomfort, first for the sore throat, and since then for minor soreness in my neck. The ache in my left shoulder, which I had had for a number of years, was gone when I woke up in recovery and things seem to be going well. The best measure of success will be the 6 week MRI which I’m hoping will show a cord as nicely decompressed as the ones in the MRI’s Dr. Jho showed me in the pre-surgical consult.

I had read Dr. Jho’s published studies on anterior cervical microforaminotomies while making my decision. I had also read the studies of the same procedure by other surgeons who had much lower success ratios than Jho. I also read Jho’s replies to those studies. I have become very skeptical about reported surgical success percentages in the process of making my choice but had decided that Jho’s microforaminotomy had pretty reasonable odds of success (something better than 50/50). However, there have been no long term (15-20yr) studies of the results of this surgery so in many respects it is like ADR in that it’s benefits are theoretical, or ‘common sense’. I had decided in advance that if I came out of the surgery with similar pain levels to pre-surgery (not very high to begin with. 2-3 on a scale of 10) and a decompressed cord, I’d consider the surgery a success. While it is premature to make any judgment, so far things are going well. I’ll never know if ACDF would have been equally successful in the short term (although I do know that the recovery period is MUCH shorter for a microforaminotomy), nor will I know if the long term benefits for me will/would have accrued more to ACDF or ACMF. But given these limits and the limited nature of my problem (one level serious herniation with no instability and only minor problems at other levels), it seems so far as if the decision to have an ACMF with Jho was reasonable.
I welcome your comments.
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Old 10-07-2006, 02:34 PM #4
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on a whim, I rediscovered this site today since I have not been on braintalk for probably 2 years. The only reason I am registering is because as coincidence would have it, I saw a thread about BarryG and Dr. Jho. I also had surgery about 2 months after BarryG (June 2003) and his advice (including asking for pumpkin pie post surgery!) was very helpful! My surgery has been a success. I had his procedure performed on C3-4, C4-C5. I have cervical stenosis at lower C levels as well and Dr. Jho was going to do those levels in a second surgery. Over the past 3 years, I have, at times, contemplated an additional procedure on the 2 lower c spine levels but then the symptoms diminish. In writing Dr. Jho, he has pretty much told me to consider an additional procedure when symptoms are truly persistent and aggravating. He is definitely one that respects the risks of surgery and does not operate just upon the 'anatomic or MRI findings'. For that, I greatly respect him.

Again, my reason for registration and posting here is to provide yet another positive and successful experience with Dr. Jho. His specialized procedures are not always helpful and appropriate for certain patients but for those who are good candidates, I would highly recommend him.
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Old 10-11-2006, 09:02 AM #5
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Thumbs down Dr. Jho

Hi,

I am glad you all had a positive experience with Dr. Jho but I did not. I had surgery on a T7 herniation about 2 1/2 years ago and my pain increased 5 fold. At the time of my surgery, a woman was suing him for a bad t-spine surgery and he warned me that I'd better not follow her example!!!

If I had to do it all again, I would not. I am much worse off now than I was before I started!!

Lisa
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Old 10-11-2006, 11:41 AM #6
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I think it is important to note too that he chooses his patients carefully. I would not be a candidate for his procedure. The surgeon that did my cervical fusion told me Jho would never consider me because he is very statistic conscious as most of them are, but Jho more so. I was warned by other medical professionals that know him not to use him and steered clear. I was also told by one surgeon that there are people that studied with him and for some reason cannot duplicate the success he claims with his procedures. I think if you had a great outcome with him and are happy that is wonderful, but I went with a traditional fusion and had a good outcome too and happy that I went that route as well. I hope you both continue to do well. I have heard too that if you have problems it is difficult to have any follow-up care with him. True? I do not know...I just know I experienced poor post-op care with my first lumbar surgery and did not want to go through that again with the cervical spine.
__________________
4/06 - Lumbar Fusion - L1, L2, L3, L4, L5, S1
Anterior with cages and Posterior with rods and screws.

8/17/05 - Cervical Fusion - C4-5, 5-6, 6-7 - Anterior and Posterior Fusion with plate in front and rods and screws in the rear - Corpectomy at C-4 and C-5 and microdisectomy at C6-7.

1/4/05 - Lumbar Laminectomy -L3, L4, L5, S1, S2 Obliteration of Tarlov Cyst at S2. Failed surgery!
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Old 12-29-2007, 06:34 PM #7
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Laugh Dr. Jho's Minimal Invasive Lumbar Stenosis Surgery

I just had Dr. Jho's Minimal Invasive Lumbar Stenosis Surgery on L4-5. I have had Lumbar Stenosis for about 4 years. The symptoms have continued to get worst over the last four years; the symptoms included leg pain, pins and needles, and weakness in my legs. I could not stand or walk for more than a few minutes without pain.
The local doctors I talked with in the Dallas area wanted to do standard decompression surgery which is called Lumbar Laminectomy. My father had Lumbar Laminectomy surgery about 20 years ago, took him three months to fully recover.

I found Dr. Jho on the internet, I liked what I saw and he accepts my insurance, which is Blue Cross/Blue Shield. With my plan the whole thing cost me the $150 co-pay.

Had the surgery the week before Christmas, that way I could recover over the holidays.

The discussion with Dr. Jho was that I have Lumbar Stenosis at L2-3, L3-4, and L4-5; this could be seen via my MRI, the worst being L4-5. Symptoms were common Lumbar Stenosis, but not specific enough to give Dr Jho confidence that performing decompression on only L4-5 would relieve all my symptoms. I tried to talk him into doing all three levels at the same time. But he stated that doing three levels raises the risks a lot, recovery is much longer and being under anesthesia for a long time is risky. He also stated if that doesn’t relieve all of the problems, I could come back to have other levels done. So I went with the doctor’s advice and agreed to do just L4-5.

The surgery started the next day at 7:30AM, I when under right at 7:30 AM.
I woke up at 10:30 in recovery. I then arrived at my room at noon. Lying on the bed I had very little pain. Getting up and walking to the bathroom was painful but nothing I could not take for a few minutes. The incision is ľ” and covered with a small band-aid. There is an area of about 5" around that is black and blue near the incision.

The doctor told my wife that the surgery went much longer than expected because I am very big boned and the channel was very tight, so they had to remove a lot of bone. I am 6’4” 250 lbs and have played basketball 3 times per week for 40 years.

Right after my surgery my stenosis symptoms were 95% gone, the only symptom that remained was a slight tingle in the heal of my left foot.

I had planned to fly back to Dallas three days after surgery, but I was feeling so good that I changed my flight to fly out on the second day after surgery at 7 AM, so I was on a plane less than 48 hours after the surgery. My wife pushed me thru the airport in a wheel chair, and I had no problem sitting in the plane.

Now 10 days after surgery I have no pain sitting, lying down and some pain when standing. Getting in and out of a chair or bed is some what painful; I would say it is 5 or 6 on a scale of 10. My stenosis symptoms are 98% gone. I can also stand up completely straight for the first time in years. If the post surgery pain goes away as expected I will be very happy with the work that Dr. Jho has done. I will submit an update in the next few weeks.
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Old 01-20-2008, 12:48 AM #8
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Frown Terrible Experience with Dr. Jho - Neurosurgeon, Pittsburgh

About a year ago I had L5-S1 , for foraminotomy related to lumbar spondylolisthesis.
I bought into the Dr. Jho story! Simple endoscopic procedure and 80-90% have immediate and significant pain relief.
After surgery, my pain was much worse and I developed foot drop instantly and lost my achilles reflex. Dr. Jho's surgical team came out after surgery and told my family member that they had to "manipulate the nerve" to complete surgery, and it took longer than expected as a result. The next morning they told me the same thing... but at that time, I thought little of it. The pain was the worse thing about the experience, and it lasted at a high level for about 7 weeks.
I went back to my home, out of state, because Dr. Jho was certain that after a course of Medrol Dosepak, I would fine. In initial phone conversations, he could not believe I was in that much pain. His statements were of extreme disbelief (almost like, you must be crazy). The percocet Dr, Jho prescribed, would not touch the pain. My wife called for me on a Sunday, and had Dr. Jho paged. He was extremely rude and critical for paging him on a Sunday. He had little to say that was helpful. He insinuated that I must be crazy and he has never had this degree of pain after any of his surgeries.
I went to a local pain doc and was put on a fentanyl patch. There was little improvement in pain. After a few days, the fentanyl patch was increased to 50mcg. At that dose I has some pain relief, but no where near complete relief.
I called Dr. Jho (although he always would try to pass off phone calls to his PA, who was nice, but not helpful with my issues), and he suggested we drive back. I told him that I would like to, but my pain was so extreme, I could not handle the drive. Again, he talked down to me, suggesting I could my level of pain was not possible. I mentioned the "nerve manipulation", and he shot back "I never manipulated your nerve!". I told him that his surgical team told me and my family member (seperately) that he did manipulate the nerve. He said, "I don't care what they said, I did not manipulate your nerve."
I went to my local primary care doc, a neurologist, and a couple of orthopedic surgeon. After several weeks, the pain was so bad, that I contemplated another surgery (fusion), with a local orthopedic surgeon. I resisted, since one particular surgeon told me 2 surgeries on the same area within 12 weeks was too risky. And the 2nd surgery was extremely invasive...
so I declined the surgery.
I was torn about what to do. I was in alot of pain (lost 15 pounds), and could not sit or stand for very long.
At around 9 weeks, I started to a little better. I proceeded with a nerve block (which I had tried a few times prior to surgery), and that also had helped. Since I did not want to go on disability, I went back to a moderate work schedule after 10 weeks.
I had a about a 50% improvement (vs. my post surgery low point) in early summer) so I went through physical therapy for about 12 weeks. I thought this would keep the progress moving. It did not work.
Hesistantly, in the fall, I went to a chiropractor (I had tried this once before, unsuccessfully), and he immediately spotted a significant leg length discrepency. Over the next 4 mpnths, I procreeded with 1-2 chiro visits per week. Today, I am at about 75% and I believe the chiropractor (and a diagnoses only he made) are the reason for my success. I hope to get this up to about 90% on a consistent basis.
Although I know a few people have had some good experiences with Dr. Jho, mine was quite the opposite. I would encourage everyone, to think closely about any procedure that they think will help their back, based upon Dr. Jho's work on my back!!!!!
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Old 01-20-2008, 07:54 PM #9
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I really don't have any experience with Dr. Jho. I am like GZH and had two standard fusions of the cervical spine. And I went with a reputable surgeon from my area. I will say when I first started experiencing occipital neuralgia and/or cervicogenic headaches, I read up on his technique(s) for this. And what I read made no sense to me whatsoever; totally opposite from what my NS and spinal PM told me I needed to have done. Not only that but that specific technique had the potential to cause even more permanent pain. And come to find out, the C2/C3 was NOT my pain generator; it was the C3/C4 which was a bit unusual. So chances are, if I had gone to Dr. Jho, he may have insisted and operated on the WRONG level! So, yep, some of his techniques sound too good to be true to me and/or false claims from what I have read.
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Old 01-21-2008, 10:56 PM #10
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How long ago did you have the procedure?


Quote:
Originally Posted by robmike View Post
About a year ago I had L5-S1 , for foraminotomy related to lumbar spondylolisthesis.
I bought into the Dr. Jho story! Simple endoscopic procedure and 80-90% have immediate and significant pain relief.
After surgery, my pain was much worse and I developed foot drop instantly and lost my achilles reflex. Dr. Jho's surgical team came out after surgery and told my family member that they had to "manipulate the nerve" to complete surgery, and it took longer than expected as a result. The next morning they told me the same thing... but at that time, I thought little of it. The pain was the worse thing about the experience, and it lasted at a high level for about 7 weeks.
I went back to my home, out of state, because Dr. Jho was certain that after a course of Medrol Dosepak, I would fine. In initial phone conversations, he could not believe I was in that much pain. His statements were of extreme disbelief (almost like, you must be crazy). The percocet Dr, Jho prescribed, would not touch the pain. My wife called for me on a Sunday, and had Dr. Jho paged. He was extremely rude and critical for paging him on a Sunday. He had little to say that was helpful. He insinuated that I must be crazy and he has never had this degree of pain after any of his surgeries.
I went to a local pain doc and was put on a fentanyl patch. There was little improvement in pain. After a few days, the fentanyl patch was increased to 50mcg. At that dose I has some pain relief, but no where near complete relief.
I called Dr. Jho (although he always would try to pass off phone calls to his PA, who was nice, but not helpful with my issues), and he suggested we drive back. I told him that I would like to, but my pain was so extreme, I could not handle the drive. Again, he talked down to me, suggesting I could my level of pain was not possible. I mentioned the "nerve manipulation", and he shot back "I never manipulated your nerve!". I told him that his surgical team told me and my family member (seperately) that he did manipulate the nerve. He said, "I don't care what they said, I did not manipulate your nerve."
I went to my local primary care doc, a neurologist, and a couple of orthopedic surgeon. After several weeks, the pain was so bad, that I contemplated another surgery (fusion), with a local orthopedic surgeon. I resisted, since one particular surgeon told me 2 surgeries on the same area within 12 weeks was too risky. And the 2nd surgery was extremely invasive...
so I declined the surgery.
I was torn about what to do. I was in alot of pain (lost 15 pounds), and could not sit or stand for very long.
At around 9 weeks, I started to a little better. I proceeded with a nerve block (which I had tried a few times prior to surgery), and that also had helped. Since I did not want to go on disability, I went back to a moderate work schedule after 10 weeks.
I had a about a 50% improvement (vs. my post surgery low point) in early summer) so I went through physical therapy for about 12 weeks. I thought this would keep the progress moving. It did not work.
Hesistantly, in the fall, I went to a chiropractor (I had tried this once before, unsuccessfully), and he immediately spotted a significant leg length discrepency. Over the next 4 mpnths, I procreeded with 1-2 chiro visits per week. Today, I am at about 75% and I believe the chiropractor (and a diagnoses only he made) are the reason for my success. I hope to get this up to about 90% on a consistent basis.
Although I know a few people have had some good experiences with Dr. Jho, mine was quite the opposite. I would encourage everyone, to think closely about any procedure that they think will help their back, based upon Dr. Jho's work on my back!!!!!
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