Anna Overton – Testimonial

I am so grateful to Mr Pal and all of the staff at Spires Leeds Hospital for the outstanding treatment I received at the end of 2019 / start of 2020.

At the relatively young age of 48 I suffered increasingly intense pain in my right shoulder and arm. An MRI scan revealed that there was nothing wrong with my shoulder at all but that I had nerve impingement at 2 levels in my cervical spine.

Unfortunately, for me, conservative treatment did not resolve the issue. My life (and sleep) were significantly impacted by the level of pain that I was in.

Mr Pal was a consummate professional, guiding us through the MRI scan and what it showed, explaining the cause of my pain and the risks / benefits of undergoing surgery. At no point did we feel pressurised into me having the surgery. If anything, the opposite. Mr Pal made it clear that the surgery, whilst quite common, was not without risk and should not be undertaken lightly.

After time to reflect, I elected to go ahead with the surgery and had ACDF (anterior cervical discectomy and fusion)at 2 levels. The results were nothing short of miraculous. I now have no pain whatsoever in my right arm or shoulder (this was the case as soon as I came around from the surgery) and recovery from the surgery has been far easier than I had anticipated bearing in mind what I had done.

At my post-operative follow up Mr Pal showed me the X-ray taken before the surgery and the X-ray taken for the follow up appointment. He explained exactly what the surgery had achieved and checked on my recovery.

Four weeks in and I am ready to go back to work and get on with my life. People are commenting on what a huge difference the surgery has made to me and I couldn't agree more. It is so nice to have my life (and sleep) back,

I cannot thank Mr Pal and all of the team who were involved in my treatment enough. Making the decision to have the surgery was a difficult one but I am so very glad that I did.