After spine surgery, ‘I’m a new man. It’s just a miracle.’

Retirement wasn't turning out the way Dave Steinard thought it would.

Sure, a bit of back pain was to be expected after a 30-plus-year career as a carpenter, but this was different.

He was doubling and then tripling up on the recommended doses of over-the-counter pain relievers, but he might as well have just been eating candy, for all the good it did him.

The pain kept him awake a lot. He couldn't bend over to tie his shoes or put on his socks.

Occasional trips to see a chiropractor became frequent. The relief they brought was fleeting, and then nonexistent.

"It was kind of a gradual thing," the Fayette County native said. "That constant pain escalated to the point of the worst pain I ever had, and it was like that all the time.

"If you've never had it, you don't know what it's like. I've got 10 grandchildren, and I couldn't pick 'em up. I couldn't play with 'em. My little ones would say, 'Get down on the floor, Grandpa, and play.' I couldn't do it. I couldn't get back up.

"I was at the point where I thought I was going to be in this pain the rest of my life. I retired just a couple years ago and now I'm going to be miserable the rest of my life."

But a conversation with a friend set Steinard on a path to the retirement he'd always imagined.

"A year after surgery, I'm a new man," Steinard said. "I definitely feel younger. I can work longer.

"It's just a miracle."

Steinard had just about given up hope of ever finding real relief from his back pain, catching himself wondering whether a life lived largely from a wheelchair might be in his future. Then a friend told him about the Ortho Walk-in NOW service at the Reid Health Comprehensive Bone & Joint Center.

"I put it off so long because I figured I would have to go through my doctor to get a referral to a surgeon or somebody to even look at me," Steinard said. "Then I found out from a friend you could just walk in at the orthopedic place at Reid with no appointment.

"The day I went, I saw a provider, we talked to a surgeon, I had X-rays, and they set me up for an MRI. All that happened that same day in about an hour and a half. That was the best -- and quickest -- care I've ever had. It was awesome.

"When I was a little kid, my doctor made house calls on his way past our house. That's what it reminds me of, that kind of service. It's just so personal and willing to help people who're hurting. These doctors and staff take an oath to help people, and it shows big time."

An MRI confirmed the source of Steinard's pain as arthritis in the sacroiliac (SI) joint on the left side of his pelvis. When a series of pain management injections didn't bring lasting relief, it was time for surgery, an SI joint fusion performed by Reid Health Spine Surgeon Ted Kostiuk, DO.

Steinard felt an immediate difference.

"When I woke up, I had no pain," he said. "They actually told me I could go home that day if I wanted, but my wife wanted me to stay overnight. I was gone from home 24 hours. And it's been a year now and I have no pain.

"Since my surgery, my life has changed to the point where I can work in my shop or on the farm for an eight-hour period without having to cry or sit down or lay down on the ground in the woods and pray for my pain to go away. I get up in the mornings and want to do things. I think about it the night before -- what I'm going to do tomorrow -- and before surgery I was thinking about all the things I couldn't do.

"It just seems like a miracle to me that something so simple as putting two screws in that joint makes my life worth living again. And before I thought I was going to be miserable forever."

Reid Ortho Walk-in NOW is open 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Friday at 1400 Highland Road in Richmond and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Wednesdays at 1101 Jackson St. in Greenville, Ohio. The team there treats pain in muscles, bones, joints, and ligaments as well as sprains, strains, and chronic orthopedic issues.

To make an appointment to see Dr. Kostiuk or any of the other providers at the Reid Health Comprehensive Bone & Joint Center, call (765) 962-4444.

"A year after surgery, I'm a new man. I definitely feel younger. I can work longer. It's just a miracle." -- Dave Steinard