Donald Corenman MD DC | Spine Surgeon Colorado

Forum Replies Created

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 9 total)

1 2 Next

Author

Posts
Ren24
Participant

November 7, 2015 at 7:34 pm

Post count: 21

in reply to: Constant spasm #20685

Yes. I’m sorry. I’d did mean lumbar I missed that T. I forgot to mention flexion and extension X-rays showed antero and retrolisthesis at the two levels above the C5-6 repair with the retro being hemodynamically unstable minimally several of the X-rays and scans ha e said I have arthritis in my neck as well as lumbar I am assuming the lumbar 4-5 disc needs a surgical repair? If so could u tell me what I need is called so I may research it more ? Thank tou. An issue I want to mention more was after my hardware removal I was diagnosed with esoohageal dysmotility with spasm and a hiatal hernia difficulty swallowing worse than ever hiccoughs when I swallow meat or bread and chest pain all happen because of these. It has been 5 months since my hardware removal and a year in July since my original rupture and repair. Is this something common you have run into with this kind of surgery in this area. I also had epiglottis at age 5 and requires s trache for approx 5 days after that so that brings my total intubations up to 3 with both surgeries and the trache. Is this unusual? Can I look for it to heal? Seems to ha d worsened over the last several months. Thanks

Ren24
Participant

May 18, 2015 at 9:57 pm

Post count: 21

in reply to: Dynamic cervical spine instability #19506

Hi doctor
Yes I am having swallowing difficulties. I saw an arthritis doc and she was the one who told me I have failed neck and back surgery syndrome. The plate needs to come out as I have had nothing but problems since the surgery. I had the flexion extension X-rays which revealed the issues I asked you about the retro and antero lishtesis and I hope it does not interfere with removal of the plate. I have had swallowing difficulties but worse a sensation that I have something stuck in my throat and some difficulty swallowing. An esoohagram revealed spasm in esophagus as well as extrinsic impression. The plate is pushing on back of esophagus making a small indentation and causing the spasm I’m frustrated and in constant pain. Which is even worse than the original pain when I ruptured the first disc. I was asking if the new issues found in the bones above my fusion would interfere with remvsl of plate. Thanks

Ren24
Participant

April 16, 2015 at 6:53 pm

Post count: 21

in reply to: Failed neck surgery syndrome #19029

Hi doctor. Yes I ha e had a swallow test done. Twice. The barium swallow or esoohagram is completely normal I’m told. But the modifies barium swallow which is just of the upper part of my throat shows a slight narrowing right at the level of the plating. Nobody can seem to u det stand why such a “mild” indentation of my esophagus is causing me so much trouble. To me it feels huge and seem to get anyone to help me. I am not sure where to turn. Is there some place you know of I can go. I am running into the problem of the first surgeon who did this not giving a darn how bad I feel to the next surgeon saying I am fusing fine and I need to go to an ent. Who runs the esoohagram but says he can’t do anything as its out of his specialty. Gonna l to the surgeon. What do I do?? I am caught in a wove her back and forth battle. Take my money n shove me to the next dr. As for the lower spine issue. My pro is sending me for cat or fluoroscope guided injections into my so joint. Which I will give a shot but after reading your forum info I am not sure will help me. I also have the facet arthropathy changes at l5-s1 which quite possibly is causing the severe tailbone pain I was told by rheumatologist. Idk which way to turn as I have all this arthritic pain. I’m only going to be 43 this summer. Why am I having so much inflammation. Thank you for your time

Ren24
Participant

February 25, 2015 at 11:29 am

Post count: 21

in reply to: New severe neck pain #12306

Hello dr
I started physical therapy today. All we really got to was an evaluation and some e-stim with heat. Well tonight it feels like a truck ran over my neck and shoulders and the spasms are worse than ever. A strange thing happened. On my right upper outer arm where she out on an electrode was numb after the stimulater was removed. Just like being shot with novocaine. I could tell it was being touched but was numb for 15 min or so then sensation returned. Any ideas why? One other thing that may interest you turned up in my bloodwork and XRays from arthritis doc. I had a 1.67 positive item/igg tiger for Lymes disease which has been negative in that last. Question ….if it is Lymes could that be causing all my neurological and arthritic like symptoms? Also XRays showed all levels of lumbar spine show disc degeneration as well as lumbar spine. And both si joints have some degenerative signs with the right being worse and having sclerosis? And a small bone spur Could this be causing my tailbone and right hip pain. I’ve read that many people have the same thing as me with degeneration and never have symptoms or pain. Why me? “Old Arthur” as my dad calls it. Runs in the family and my grandmother had spinal stenosis with same kind of pain as me. In arms and legs n just everywhere. I know the Lymes has to be confirmed with another test but I tested negative a couple times before for this. I have no idea what some of this may or may not mean and would love your Input. I have learned a lot from your forum and appreciate in advance anything u have to say on this matter. Thanks. Ren

Ren24
Participant

February 23, 2015 at 11:18 am

Post count: 21

in reply to: New severe neck pain #12296

Hello dr
Well the new neck pain became quite severe and I ended up in the ER where they did an X-ray which of course was useless and showed only that the hardware was Intact. They also ended up giving 2 pain shots and an IM decadron of 10 mg which took my pain down to a zero before 24 hours was up. Well not exactly a zero but to where I can actually get up and move around easily. My concern is as the steroid wears of and this pain is starting back up is it just masking the real issue. Since the pain is slowly returning and I can still feel that burning sensation underneath should I pursue trying to get my dr to order me further testing or does the fact the steroid worked that quickly mean somethin I am missing. This pain was horrible in the back and side of my neck and down my right upper arm on the inner and outer aspect but went only slightly down to my hand. This only compared to when I ruptured my first disc but even that severity went away after a few days and was just constantly sore. I am so incapacitated with the pain and spasm ice had going on but there is nothing these surgeons wanna do n say they can’t see anything causing this problem I guess I am asking two things. Does the response so quickly to the steroid mean anything g and where should I go from here. Def don’t want a pain attack like that one again. Thanks for any advice in advance

Ren24
Participant

February 1, 2015 at 3:55 am

Post count: 21

in reply to: Repair of pseudoarthrosis #12132

TThank you for the information. I am now at the 6 month mark after surgery and still having issues. The modified barium swallow actually showed something pushing in from behind the esophagus causing a slight narrowing. Most opinions so far have been scar tissue. Anatomy wise isn’t the windpipe right behind the esophagus at the area of plating and fusionC5-6? I’ve recent started having trouble with shortness of breath wheezing and an increase in snoring/ breathing at night and wake with a horrible cotton mouth and sometimes a sore spot on my tongue from sleeping with my mouth open. Double whammy with sinus issues narrow nasal passages and now maybe issue from the surgery. Albuterol doesn’t seem to help the wheeze. Is it possible that my airway also may have this pressure on it like the esophagus hence causing the exacerbation with breathing and wheezing? I know you are a spine specialist but you have seen people open inside and know way better than I if this is a possibity. Anyway. My whole life weird medical things have happened to me so if it’s a remote possibility I probably have it. Funny but not. So if you have a chance let me know what you think about this as the periodic release of pressure on esophagus during surgery isn’t possible for me anymore. I almost feel although I have all this possible scarring that it may be beneficial to go back through the front just to see what the heck is goin on in there. Sometimes you just don’t know what you will find until you get in there and look in my opinion. Also is it possible to see any of those things if you go in from the posterior aspect? Thanks doctor. Ren
Author

Posts

Viewing 6 posts - 1 through 6 (of 9 total)

1 2 Next

Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Average rating:

81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

Submit your review
First Name, Last Initial:
Email:
Review Title:
Rating:	1 2 3 4 5
Review:

Check this box to confirm you are human.
Submit Cancel

Ren24

Forum Replies Created