Mckinney Courier-gazette > News
'I've got my life back'
TRIUMPH: A Collin County woman beats back adversity.
By Jim Kilpatrick, McKinney Courier-Gazette
When Kelli Cough woke on her 27th birthday on February 11, 2004 she didn't know a head-on collision with another car would soon send her life into a hellish, four-year, spiral of continuous pain.
"I saw him (the car) coming and couldn't do a thing," Cough remembered of the accident. "When I awoke I was looking at the EMS guy."
What followed was a period of anguish.
"I started having a lot of pain, stiffness, and decreased movement of my neck and arms after the accident," Cough said. "There was a lot of aching which eventually led to numbness."
She said she was not initially diagnosed with a ruptured disk when she was in the hospital.
It wasn't until October that it was discovered she had cervical spondylosis without a myopathy disk at C6-C7 - which was pinching the C7 spinal nerve.
Cervical spondylosis is a term used when the degree of degeneration of the disk is severe, usually from aging. The nearby muscles, ligaments, and nerves may become irritated by these degenerative, according to the cervical-spondylosis.com Web site.
Cough next waded through a series of doctors proscribing hot and cold compresses, physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication. Among the doctors she visited were an orthopedic surgeon, two pain management specialists and a neurologist.
"The orthopedic surgeon was very conservative in his treatment," Cough said. "He chose to avoid surgery at all costs and I never got any better."
She was told that she would not be a candidate for surgery until she was 30.
"Of course I believed him, which goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you hear," Cough added.
When she couldn't feel her right arm she decided it was time to seek out another doctor.
"It was numb most of the time and I couldn't function as a mom," Cough said.
She said she couldn't pick up her children or be a mother to them because of the pain.
She finally went to the Texas Bank Institute in May 2007 where she met Dr. Renato Bosita.
At the institute she continued physical therapy along with add shoulder injections and epidural steroid injections. The pain, however continued, and Cough could not lead a normal life as a wife and mother. At this point surgery became the last alternative.
Bosita performed disk replacement surgery which was approved by the FDA for the lumbar spine in 2005. Disk replacement in the cervical spine is still investigational, Bosita said.
Cough is part of the FDA trial to assess the efficacy of the disk replacement compared to spine fusion, Bosita said.
Bosita has been performing the operation since 2003.
"Kelli had failed non-operative treatment, including spinal injection, physical therapy and oral medications," Bosita said. "She wanted her life back and this (the surgery) was the only option."
As the day of the operation came closer Cough was a little nervous.
"I was afraid of going under general anesthesia, and scared that I would feel worse after having the surgery," she said.
The 90 minute surgery went smoothly according to Bosita and Cough is recovering very well.
"She recovering very well," Bosita said. "She's happy and that means I'm happy."
Cough remembered Bosita saying that "after the surgery everybody hates him but in two weeks I would love him."
"At first I did hurt a lot after the surgery but after the one month appointment every thing got better," Cough said smiling. "After six month I can't even tell I have a new disk in my spine."
Since the surgery Cough has been able to function as a mother for her children and also to try-out for the Dallas cheerleader squad.
There 1,900 girls trying out and I made it to the 150ish or so," Cough said laughing. "It was the second time I have tried out."
Cough was thankful for Bosita and his work.
"I'm grateful to the entire staff at TBI, especially Dr. Bosita," Cough said. "He had the courage to perform an amazing surgery because he knew it would help improve the quality of my life. I thank him for giving me my life back."
Her husband, Mark, is glad it all turned out all right.
"It's good to have her back like she was," Mark said. "I felt for her all the time she was in pain."
He added the most frightening part for him was during the surgery.
"It was scary waiting for the doctor to tell me how it went," he said.
Kelli and Mark, 31, have been married eight years and have a son, Dillon age 7 and a daughter, Ashlie age 2.
Contact Jim Kilpatrick at jkilpatrick@acnpapers.com.
By Jim Kilpatrick, McKinney Courier-Gazette
When Kelli Cough woke on her 27th birthday on February 11, 2004 she didn't know a head-on collision with another car would soon send her life into a hellish, four-year, spiral of continuous pain.
"I saw him (the car) coming and couldn't do a thing," Cough remembered of the accident. "When I awoke I was looking at the EMS guy."
What followed was a period of anguish.
"I started having a lot of pain, stiffness, and decreased movement of my neck and arms after the accident," Cough said. "There was a lot of aching which eventually led to numbness."
She said she was not initially diagnosed with a ruptured disk when she was in the hospital.
It wasn't until October that it was discovered she had cervical spondylosis without a myopathy disk at C6-C7 - which was pinching the C7 spinal nerve.
Cervical spondylosis is a term used when the degree of degeneration of the disk is severe, usually from aging. The nearby muscles, ligaments, and nerves may become irritated by these degenerative, according to the cervical-spondylosis.com Web site.
Cough next waded through a series of doctors proscribing hot and cold compresses, physical therapy and anti-inflammatory medication. Among the doctors she visited were an orthopedic surgeon, two pain management specialists and a neurologist.
"The orthopedic surgeon was very conservative in his treatment," Cough said. "He chose to avoid surgery at all costs and I never got any better."
She was told that she would not be a candidate for surgery until she was 30.
"Of course I believed him, which goes to show you shouldn't believe everything you hear," Cough added.
When she couldn't feel her right arm she decided it was time to seek out another doctor.
"It was numb most of the time and I couldn't function as a mom," Cough said.
She said she couldn't pick up her children or be a mother to them because of the pain.
She finally went to the Texas Bank Institute in May 2007 where she met Dr. Renato Bosita.
At the institute she continued physical therapy along with add shoulder injections and epidural steroid injections. The pain, however continued, and Cough could not lead a normal life as a wife and mother. At this point surgery became the last alternative.
Bosita performed disk replacement surgery which was approved by the FDA for the lumbar spine in 2005. Disk replacement in the cervical spine is still investigational, Bosita said.
Cough is part of the FDA trial to assess the efficacy of the disk replacement compared to spine fusion, Bosita said.
Bosita has been performing the operation since 2003.
"Kelli had failed non-operative treatment, including spinal injection, physical therapy and oral medications," Bosita said. "She wanted her life back and this (the surgery) was the only option."
As the day of the operation came closer Cough was a little nervous.
"I was afraid of going under general anesthesia, and scared that I would feel worse after having the surgery," she said.
The 90 minute surgery went smoothly according to Bosita and Cough is recovering very well.
"She recovering very well," Bosita said. "She's happy and that means I'm happy."
Cough remembered Bosita saying that "after the surgery everybody hates him but in two weeks I would love him."
"At first I did hurt a lot after the surgery but after the one month appointment every thing got better," Cough said smiling. "After six month I can't even tell I have a new disk in my spine."
Since the surgery Cough has been able to function as a mother for her children and also to try-out for the Dallas cheerleader squad.
There 1,900 girls trying out and I made it to the 150ish or so," Cough said laughing. "It was the second time I have tried out."
Cough was thankful for Bosita and his work.
"I'm grateful to the entire staff at TBI, especially Dr. Bosita," Cough said. "He had the courage to perform an amazing surgery because he knew it would help improve the quality of my life. I thank him for giving me my life back."
Her husband, Mark, is glad it all turned out all right.
"It's good to have her back like she was," Mark said. "I felt for her all the time she was in pain."
He added the most frightening part for him was during the surgery.
"It was scary waiting for the doctor to tell me how it went," he said.
Kelli and Mark, 31, have been married eight years and have a son, Dillon age 7 and a daughter, Ashlie age 2.
Contact Jim Kilpatrick at jkilpatrick@acnpapers.com.
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