Mary Dunn had been suffering from very bad lower back pain for about a year. “I couldn’t do everything that I wanted to do,” she explains. “It bothered me to walk or do any one thing for very long and I was very much reduced in my activities.”
She had been receiving treatment from a pain specialist for about a year. Finally he said he could not do anything else for Mary and recommended Dr. Thapar. “First Dr. Thapar’s assistant Jolene examined me and then Dr. Thapar examined me. He said yes, he could do the surgery. He explained what the surgery consisted of. My son and daughter were with me so they also knew what was going to be done to me,” Mary recalls.
In a single operation lasting about four and a half hours Dr. Thapar performed a fusion on Mary’s vertebrae. She went through a normal recovery, the worst part of which was a poor reaction to the pain medication. As in all such operations, Mary wore a brace while recovering but this was removed after her three-month check-up.
How is she now? “I have no pain like I had before. I can bend and do most anything. I have a little trouble if I want to turn and look back. Other than that I have no problem. I can again do all the things that a 90-year old woman should be able do. I do my own housework. I drive my car. I have a fireplace and I put wood in the stove. I’m very happy with the outcome of the surgery. I’m very grateful to feel so well.”
“Dr. Thapar is a marvelous man,” she adds, “He is kind and he explains everything and he’s very caring. I couldn’t say enough nice things about him – besides being a wonderful surgeon!”