I’ve lived a full life and I’ve been very blessed.  I have a supportive wife (we will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary this year) we have 4 great kids and 9 wonderful grandchildren.  I have had a rewarding 40-year long career as a teacher, coach and high school principal.  I retired 7 years ago and I had spent the last 30 years of my career working as a high school principal.  I loved working with the students and guiding and mentoring them during those years.  I’ve always been a physically active person too.  I played basketball and baseball in high school, I played 3 years of college basketball at UNI and I coached 9 years of high school basketball.  I’m now 68 years old and I have remained active.  I enjoy farming, camping, traveling, golfing, walking and biking.  

Things changed for me about a year ago, however.  I was camping and I woke up with a sore neck.  I didn’t think much of it because I’d never had an injury to my neck.  I figured the pain and stiffness would eventually go away, but it didn’t.  The worsening of my pain was fairly gradual, but it definitely intensified over the next 6 weeks. I had more and more stiffness and pain in my neck, shoulders and upper arms, and it eventually got to an intolerable level.  I spent the next 3 months working with my family doctor trying to figure out what was going on with me.  The pain level had progressed to a 9 or 10 on a continual basis.  My symptoms got so bad that I couldn’t even pick up a pair of glasses or raise my hands anymore.  I couldn’t drive and I was losing my independence.  I had also lost about 40 pounds during this period and had become very weak.  I was on several pain medications and trying to just get through the day.  I was hospitalized 4 times during this period as well, for up to 5-6 days at a time.  I probably spent $75,000.00 or more in treatments prior to my surgery and countless hours at medical appointments and in the hospital.  Eventually, my family doctor suggested that I go to UIHC for further evaluation, and I was referred to the Department of Orthopeadics and Rehabilitation UI Spine Center.   

I was skeptical about my future, and I really wanted answers about what I was up against long term.  After all I had been through for the past 3 months it was probably not easy for any doctor to gain my confidence, but Dr. Smucker did.  He diagnosed my problem and was able to communicate my medical options with me in an honest and straightforward way.  I could tell that he was experienced and that he cared, he gained my confidence.  He started with a C5 nerve root injection where I got a few days of relief, but then the pain returned.  He then recommended a C4-5 diskectomy and fusion.  I had faith and confidence that Dr. Smucker had the expertise that I needed, and this helped me face my surgery and recovery.  The surgery went extremely well.  In recovery I had to wear a neck collar for about 6 weeks and learn my physical therapy exercises.  Initially, I had lifting restrictions, which I found to be frustrating because my wife had to lift things that I generally would have handled.  I am happy to say that I have no restrictions now.  I continue to workout at home with my bands, walking and biking.  I’m traveling, spending time with family and enjoying my life again. In closing, I really can’t say enough about this staff - and that includes everyone, Dr. Smucker, the nurses and the receptionist.  They were all so good to me and made me feel at home during this difficult time.  I couldn’t have asked for better care.  It was totally worth it.