When pain caused by neck problems became more than he could bear and threatened his job, Jim Wiese visited his primary care physician in Iowa Park, Texas, and was diagnosed with a bulging disc. His doctor immediately referred him to Texas Back Institute.
Living with daily pain, Jim had to exercise caution in everything he did. At age 54, Jim’s day included pain and discomfort he described as tingling, cold and crushing pressure sensations in his left shoulder and arm. He couldn’t drive long distances or look down on the road while riding his motorcycle. Jim was miserable.
Initially skeptical of back surgery, Jim was hesitant to consider surgery. Under the care of Dr. Jack Zigler, Jim found the reassurance he needed to undergo an anterior cervical fusion between his C6 and C7 cervical vertebrae after non-surgical options were exhausted.
After surgery, Jim felt an immediate difference. “I knew as soon as I woke up that Dr. Zigler had repaired my damaged neck. I was not in any pain and didn’t have to use pain medications at any point after the surgery. I could feel a warm sensation in my left arm that I had not felt in over a year. I could not believe that I had waited so long to have something done about it. I had forgotten what it was like to physically feel good. I am back at work and can enjoy everything in life that I had been doing before my surgery.”
Offering advice based on his experience, Jim says anyone suffering pain shouldn’t put off seeing a specialist and concluded, “I have been given my life, as I once knew it, back to me.”