Lisa Buenger is a pediatrician by training, now specializing in chronic wound care and hyperbaric medicine. Lisa had neck pain on and off for 20 years. Then suddenly in addition to the neck pain her hand started to go numb. “I got pretty nervous because it didn’t go away and it was working its way up a bit and I could see that my reflexes were changing,” she recalls. “It was going to get serious. It was affecting my typing. Within a month I was having difficulties. It was getting worse quickly and it was affecting my ability to use my hands and for my practice I need my hands. I also know that once you start getting nerve compression, if it’s there too long it may not come back.”
Lisa was referred to Dr. Thapar. An MRI and examination confirmed the need for surgery. Dr. Thapar operated to relieve the spinal column compression that was causing excessive pressure on the nerves, removing both bone and disc material. He then placed a synthetic spacer held in place by a plate and several screws. It was all done in a few hours and Lisa was able to go home the next day.
“What really impressed me the most was that because I’m a physician Dr. Thapar could have used a lot of technical terms with me that he might not be able to use with other patients, yet he didn’t,” Lisa recalls. “He treated me like a patient which I really appreciated because it’s not my area. The morning of my surgery Dr. Thapar made sure my husband, who was with me but is not at all medical, understood exactly what was going to happen. He got on the white board and drew it all out and made sure my husband was absolutely clear about the procedure, even though I was probably capable of explaining it to him myself. I thought it was pretty amazing that he really made sure that everyone knew what was really going on.”
“I was off work for one to two weeks. I was working with a neck brace on for the next couple of weeks. The neck brace came off in about 6 weeks. I’m great now. Everything is completely back to normal.”
Lisa concludes, “I have been in this community for just under 12 years. I know that Dr. Thapar just has an impeccable reputation. Then when I got to meet him it was quite obvious why.”