Patient Stories

Background

Lacey was a pre-K special education teacher, and she fell while chasing after a child. At the time of the fall, she was a new mother of a five month old boy, and her suffering was to the point where she couldn’t take care of him. She had to rely on his grandparents. “That was something I would never wish on anyone,” Lacey said. She wasn’t even able to rock her child, which was her favorite thing to do. She was miserable. Driving hurt. Sitting hurt. Lying down hurt. Everything was extremely painful. She described herself as a constant 8 and 9 on the 0-10 pain scale. Lacey was using crutches, and felt so helpless, because even something like taking a bath to try to relieve the pain would leave her stuck in the bathtub and needing help.

She saw numerous physical therapists and tried numerous SI belts, which helped temporarily. Her doctors were telling her that there was really nothing wrong with her, but she didn’t believe it. She relentlessly researched to try to find the answer. Pain management was not the route she wanted to take. She found two doctors who specialized in SI joint pain in her area and made an appointment with one. The doctor told her that she wasn’t crazy, that she had sacroiliitis to the point that SI joint fusion surgery was her best option.

After her iFuse procedure, she knew that her pain was almost completely gone. That “severe pain in her buttock” was no longer there. While she had some limitations, she described herself as back to walking five days after surgery. Ten days after surgery, she drove to church, and realized that she had very little pain. Prior to her SI joint fusion surgery, she would have had pain just sitting in the car due to the vibration.

Now, she’s back to being a mom full time and doesn’t have to rely on her parents. She can lift her 10-month-old and crawl around on the floor with him. “I basically have my life back,” Lacey said.

This is one patient’s experience, results may vary.