Welcome to the Patient’s Stories Project! 

Here you will find stories of real life patients who have been treated at the Oasis Spine Center San Diego.  Their stories are grouped by diagnosis and type of treatment/surgery.  Just click the links below to read Real Patient Stories , as well as more information about Common Spinal Conditions and Treatment Options available.

 
Remember these are real people, real patients, and these are their real stories.

Common Spinal Conditions / Treatment Options:

Click the links below to read Real Patient Stories: 

Lumbar Herniated Disc / Microdiscectomy

Lumbar Spinal Stenosis / Laminectomy

Spondylolisthesis / Laminectomy and Fusion

Cervical Herniated Disc / Stenosis / Cervical Discectomy

Epidural Steroid Injection

Why a Patient Stories Project?

Many patients with recently diagnosed spinal problems wonder and worry about their condition and agonize over the decisions they face.  We are constantly working to improve our communication skills and better explain the medical science and treatment options in understandable terms, but sometimes it’s more useful to hear things directly from another patient’s experience.

Doctors in some specialties have historically organized “support groups” to connect newly diagnosed patients with more experienced patients who can answer questions and give advice from a “patient’s perspective”.

We have on occasion arranged phone calls between new patients and other patients  who have already gone through treatment.  This has proven helpful, but raises logistical problems of respecting privacy, coordinating schedules, and ultimately only one patient’s experience can be shared at a time.

As we searched for a better way to connect patients, we came up with the idea of a “Book of Patient Stories” that could be reviewed by new patients visiting our offices.  Recognizing that many patients have busy schedules, and sometimes no extra time to spend in the doctor’s office, we decided to also publish summarized versions of these studies on our website – a kind of virtual spine support group!

We have begun with a small pilot project and will expand and fine-tune things along the way.  We’ve tried to ask the kind of questions that will generate meaningful and useful answers for our all patients.  This is a work in progress, so please let us know if you have ideas.