Barbara Chambers

After a complex back surgery, Barbara Chambers could be herself again. “I have absolutely so much more energy. I’m dancing, I’m skiing, I’m gardening…”

Lumbar Fusion

Barb had severe scoliosis as a child and, at age 17, had two eight-inch rods inserted into her spine and fused into place with grafted bone. Years of living in a log cabin in Alaska, and working in very labor-intensive jobs, eventually resulted in constant back pain. The pain was severely impacting Barb’s quality of life and her ability to parent her daughter the way she wanted to.

“I actually interviewed a couple of different surgeons but I knew that Dr. Eule was my guy. He was very helpful.

This was a very, very big revision. We were looking at ten to twelve hours of surgery. And those old rods had to come out and a whole bunch of new hardware put in. I did end up working with Dr. Eule. He was absolutely on board, understood my fears and said there was no hurry. We tried a few things along the way. I had a couple of epidurals but it came to the point where I knew I was ready.

I was motivated by wanting my quality of life back. I had the surgery last summer and in retrospect it feels like I had it 10 years ago. I just have absolutely no pain. I have absolutely so much more energy. I’m dancing, I’m skiing, I’m gardening. My daughter has wanted a puppy forever and I didn’t have the energy. Now we have a puppy!

Life is good. I absolutely wish I had had surgery earlier.”

Questions?

The OPA team includes Alaska’s leading specialists and offers some of the latest, most advanced treatment procedures available today.

OPA treats a wide variety of conditions and offers comprehensive treatment options — including many non-surgical solutions, minimally invasive arthroscopies (repairs) and total joint replacement.

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