{"id":24806,"date":"2019-09-19T10:57:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-19T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/?p=24806"},"modified":"2024-11-07T13:51:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T21:51:54","slug":"back-surgery-leads-to-vitality-in-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/back-surgery-leads-to-vitality-in-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Back Surgery Leads to Vitality in Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article\">\n\t<header class=\"header\">\n\t\t<span class=\"type\"><\/span>\t\t<h1>Back Surgery Leads to Vitality in Retirement<\/h1>\t\t<time>September 19, 2019<\/time>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div id=\"block_26c32fd76b237c43fab44e94bf2417c7\" class=\"shs-block block-news-article entry-content\">\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>Kathy Cleary has led a full and active life, working as a dental assistant, a receptionist and a housekeeper for the musician John Denver before opening Toujours Boutique in Newport, a store she ran for 21 years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She also keeps and rides horses. That\u2019s how she first injured her back when she was thrown off a horse.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI hit a fence,\u201d Cleary recalled. \u201cI think that started the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arthritis and aging did the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But thanks to successful surgery to repair spinal stenosis, a painful condition caused by wear and tear, Cleary is now enjoying retirement and back to riding.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cleary first had spinal fusion, a type of back surgery to fix problems with the bones in her spine, in 2012. But after several years of relief, her lower back pain returned in 2018.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two factors complicated matters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, Cleary\u2019s previous surgeon had retired. Second, she wanted to avoid an adverse reaction to anesthesia following her first surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So Cleary did what a lot of people do. She went online and read patient reviews.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She liked what she saw about J. Noonan, MD, of <a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/find-a-location\/samaritan-brain-and-spine-surgery-corvallis\/\">Samaritan Brain &amp; Spine Center &#8211; Corvallis<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou know, I\u2019ll give him a try,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At her first appointment, Dr. Noonan listened attentively.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen you go in, it\u2019s very scary,\u201d Cleary recalled. \u201cHe was very reassuring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cleary talked about her post-operative cognitive dysfunction symptoms and her problems with balance and speech after the last surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll figure this out,\u201d Dr. Noonan assured Cleary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He reviewed her medical records and referred her for neuropsychology testing. He also arranged for Cleary to meet with an anesthesiologist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHe was very proactive in figuring this out,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cI was over-the-top impressed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The surgery was a success.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cEverything went swimmingly,\u201d Cleary said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She was prepared to take up to two weeks off work. But she was back in just six days.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At age 72, Cleary was looking to slow down. And with her recovery complete, the timing for retirement felt right.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt really was time to retire,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So she recently closed shop and moved to Phoenix.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLife is good,\u201d Cleary reports from her new home in the desert sunshine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While she hopes she never has to have back surgery again, without hesitation she recommends Dr. Noonan and Samaritan Neurosurgery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBesides his extreme talent as a surgeon, he listens to you,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cI really appreciate that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<aside>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pt-kathy-in-horse-barn-CO.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kathy smiling with horse gear over her shoulder.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pt-kathy-in-horse-barn-CO.jpg 360w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pt-kathy-in-horse-barn-CO-300x250.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/pt-kathy-in-horse-barn-CO-120x100.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\t\t<\/aside>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After Kathy Cleary of Newport was thrown from her horse, her decision to have back surgery returned her to vitality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":10984,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_shs_workflow_notes":"","_shs_exclude_from_navigation":false,"_shs_promote_article_on_blogs":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"news-topics":[285],"news-types":[270],"services":[250],"specialty":[87],"class_list":["post-24806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","news-topics-patient-story","news-types-feature-article","services-neurosurgery","specialty-neurosurgery"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24806"},{"taxonomy":"news-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topics?post=24806"},{"taxonomy":"news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-types?post=24806"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=24806"},{"taxonomy":"specialty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialty?post=24806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}