The very first time that I experienced back problems was about twenty years ago. I remember it well because it all happened a short while after my father passed away.

I went to see my doctor and was told to rest and take paracetamol. The pain did not ease so I contacted an osteopath. After some treatment and several weeks later I started to feel better. Over the years the back problem kept on coming and going. I persevered, seeing the osteopath for the next seventeen years, with visits in between going back to my doctor. I managed to live some kind of normal life up until about three years ago. Strangely enough, just after my mother passed away, I started with severe back pain, worse than I had had ever before. It was so bad that I was afraid to see the osteopath because of my back being so painful, any tiny touch or move was excruciatingly painful.

I went to my doctor for some kind of medication to hopefully relieve the pain. I walked into his surgery, struggling to walk. The GP did some acupuncture that slightly eased the inflammation of the spine. I now found myself a chiropractor and had treatment twice a week and eventually it was slowly reduced to once every month. Thankfully this kept me going for the last two years.

Approximately eight months prior to the operation my back was at its worst. It felt as if it was breaking and I was unable to lift a kettle, get dressed or showered on my own. Walking, sitting everything was painful. I went back again to the doctor and I was only offered medication, that was it! Nothing eased the pain at this stage, not even the chiropractor could help me. I went back to my GP many times and I was only offered stronger pain killers. We asked for an MRI scan, but the GP did not see the need for that. Even with private health insurance he continued to refuse a referral for the MRI scan. His reasoning being that it would of no benefit to me, saying that because whatever the results, nothing could be done for my back problem.

Looking back at all this it makes me feel so sad that so many people will have to go through the same experience as I did. Luckily my husband met a friend at a party who is a surgeon at the local hospital where I live. The friend asked how I was doing and if I had seen a specialist or had a MRI scan. The answer was no. The friend pressed a few buttons and I was able to have an MRI scan done. We went back to the GP for the results and he told me I had a ‘Degenerative spine’ and that there was no treatment for that. The GP gave me more medication and at this stage I was on antidepressant tablets on repeat prescription! He told me not to put on any weight and try to live a normal life.

So this was going to be my life for as long as I was living. Of course I became more down and my back got worse. At this stage I could barely walk, sit or lie down. My quality of life went down hill rapidly. My husband went to see the GP again because he was worried about my emotional wellbeing.

The GP told my husband that “I should not use my back problem as an excuse for my depression”. Again we met our surgeon friend and he asked how it was going. We told him the situation and he again pressed some buttons and somehow we were introduced to ‘Mr Krishna’.

We showed Mr Krishna the MRI scan and after carefully examining the scan he told us “he could do something for me”. Understandably it did not take me long to decide to have the operation, mainly because of the trust he instilled in the operation.

In September 2010 I had a five hour operation and had L4/5 and L5/S1 Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion combined with L2/3 and L3/4 X Stop.

Since the operation I have not taken any kind of medication for my back and certainly not any antidepressant medication. I have no back pain.

I now do all the things I loved doing before, like gardening travelling and most of all being a mother again. I enjoy my life to the full without any pain whatsoever.

Thank you Mr Krishna for giving me my life back.