James Painter's Story

I turned 40 this year, and have had on and off back problems for the past 20 years. However, during the last 5-6 years my pain has become more unbearable. Sport and everyday life was suffering. To combat the pain I had to have two epidurals over the last 4 years to deal with the shooting pains I was experiencing. When my last epidural finally ran out some 7 weeks ago I thought it was finally time to sort the core of the problem out and decided to go and have a consultation with Mr Knight in Kent.

I was recommended to Mr Knight by my BROTHER who Mr Knight operated on some 15 years ago!   My brother had terrible trouble with his back and to this day he has had his life back. He plays with the kids, plays football on the beach and leads an active life. He will always remember what Mr Knight did for him. This cannot be over emphasised enough.

I had a very relaxed consultation with Mr Knight. He told me I had an L4/5 protrusion, which was causing me my pain. The non invasive endoscopic procedure was explained fully to me. No pressure was put on me to go through with the operation but the odds looked highly stacked in my favour compared to conventional surgery. Being a man who likes an occasional gamble I decided to go for the better odds and that meant the date of 7th Feb 2012 was set with Mr Knight at the BMI in Huddersfield. I have to be honest, it was at this stage that I got very nervous about the procedure and what my role would be during the operation. I had suffered from panic attacks many years ago, and worried that they may come back whilst I was on the table! I had also never been to Theatre so thoughts swirled around my tense head that took me back to horror movies I watched as a youngster! I was also nervous about being only under a local anaesthetic and what pain I may feel and endure.

I left an emotional, heavily pregnant wife and 4 year old daughter back at home as I headed off to Huddersfield for my day of destiny.

I needn't have spent nearly three weeks putting myself through such anxiety. I had a consultation with an anaesthetist named Nischa just before my op who put me at ease straight away. She was calming, relaxed and told me everything would be fine. She emphasised that Mr Knight was the best at this type of surgery in the UK and possibly even Europe.  If that wasn't an endorsement I wouldn't know what is! A warming blanket was put over me, I held Nisha's hand for reassurance and it seemed only minutes later the op was over!!! It was In fact 2 hours later, but time flew by and Mr Knight deemed the op a success.  10 days on and my back feels a lot better already. I am walking without pain.  It is early days of course but I will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about! A great team, a great Surgeon and I am hopeful of a full recovery in time. I would certainly recommend the Spinal Foundation to anyone with back troubles as Mr Knight has over 20 years experience and his stats of success are second to none. Hope to play cricket at some point in the summer!