Andrew Karger disc replacement fund

Here is my story

First I want to thank you for taking the time to read my story.  This all started about eight years ago when I got up early to pack the car for a Long weekend.  I threw a bag in the car and i felt something odd in my back.  By the time I got back down to the house i could no longer bend over and my back seemed to have ceased up.  The Next day it was even worse and went to the hospital.  They indicated that I pulled a muscle and to put some of the Icy Hot on it, and not to lift anything for two weeks.  This included my two sons which were 1 & 2 at the time. 

Weeks later my back eventually started to feel better but just always hurt.  I started to see a chiropractor which helped a lot, but I still always had back pain.

So the years went by, and my back is still hurting.  My kids are getting older and more active and want me to do all the fun stuff.  My back then really starts to hurt where now I would have shooting pains down the the back of my legs right to my toes.  Felt like I was getting zapped with electricity.   Around my sides and sacrum felt like they were burning.  Every once in a while while walking up stairs, my knees would buckle and I'd get a sharp pain.

My current chiropractor indicated based on my symptoms that my disc may be bulging and this is why all the pain.  I was now going to the chiropractor every 2 weeks (and still am).  My Chrio helped a lot with aleviating some of the pain, helping correct with posture, etc.  I went out and bought an inversion table to help decompress my disc.  After you get use to the being upside down it felt great.    Went for massages.  Changed the way I sit, at work.  Walking a few miles every day on the treadmill to get things moving and getting blood to flow the lower back.    I even attempting to do yoga for back pain.  

During this time, I did a lot of Googling and research on lower back.  How it works, causes for common back pain, cures, etc.  I was willing to try anything that helped me get back to a normal life.

They all helped with the pain, however if put any compression on my disc I would be in pain again.  A simple task of taking in the grocery’s could cause me grief.    If I didn't do anything, then my back pain was fairly manageable.  I don't like the idea of doing nothing, what kind of life is that?  I have two young boys who want me to be active with them, and I can't because "Dad's back is bad".   I enjoyed Bike riding, fishing, camping etc.  

I managed like this for a few years, hoping everything I was doing was going to correct this disc issue eventually and be able to live a normal life.

This continued for another few years.  A few months before my 35th birthday, my right leg went numb.  It was really odd.  However I wasn't in pain anymore on that side.  I decided to see my Doctor and get his opinion on my leg going numb.  It was either something neurological, or something with nerves in my L5 area.   He suggested an MRI to see what was going on down there.

Waited a month for my MRI apt at 2:15 am, and then waited for my results.  A month later my results came in.  Appears I have been diagnosed with Disc degeneration .

Now redirect your eyes back to the MRI image.

 

Even if you are not a doctor, you can clearly see the L5 disk is not like the others!  Ouch, doesn't that look like it hurts .   From the image, my disc is really pretruding on the right side and a bit on the left, not to mention it's squashed like a pancake!  This now makes total sense why I am in pain when ever I do something. 

The doctor gave me some pain meds to help with the pain while I wait a year and a half ( Sometime in 2015) to see a back doctor who most likely will just fuse my spine..  This is something I was trying to avoid, however being in contains pain for 8 years, I took him up on the offer just to get some relief while I debated on what I was going to do.  The pain meds work, (some minor side effects), I still feel some pain.  However, now I have to worry about my kidneys and liver with the meds.  Depending on how long I am on them, my back may be messed, but now my liver and kidneys too! 

I keep doing my yoga, walking, inversion table and chiropractor because they all help my back and I didn't want my other disc to become like my L5, then I would be in more of a world of hurt!

Now after looking at this MRI, I got depressed..Feeling like I am broken .   My kids are now 9&10.  That's the cool age where they want me to do a ton of active stuff and still think I am cool.

I got out of the funk I was in and started to Google to see if there was any way to replace my Disk.  I learned that Germany has been doing disc replacements since late 80's early 90's and has really advanced in this field.  They offer patients the Spinal Kinetics M6 artificial disc implant.  This implant mimics a natural disc offering “Quality of Motion” with shock absorption and restrained motion just like a natural healthy disc.

I posted a link below to the the M6 disk in the event your interested in the specific disk.  It's really high tech.

http://www.spinalkinetics.com/patients/m6-l-artificial-lumbar-disc/

 I continued to Google and found that a vast amount of people from Canada, US, & around the world have gone to Germany to have disc replacement!  

There is still hope for me yet to get back to a normal life.  I am only 35 and still have many good  years left in me!

I investigated further, watched testimonial.  People like me thinking they were doomed, and they able to bend over again without any pain!  

The article below was really inspiring.

http://www.clarecountyreview.com/2013/03/wilson-calls-his-recovery-a-miracle/

Howerver, one down side.  This cost $$.  This is why I am raising funds to get my back fixed and life back!

I'm not asking for any huge donations, even a 1$ would help greatly.  1$ from 40,000 people would do the trick!

Thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Andrew Karger