Back to Life

Dr. Jonathan Geisinger and the  ‘O-Arm’ help two Carroll residents find relief after years of pain.

Tom Haley has sold and serviced farm equipment for 40 years.

Linda Reiman was a hairdresser for 40 years.

You might not think these two have much in common, but they do. They are both from Carroll and both received long-awaited relief from debilitating back pain thanks to Dr. Jonathon Geisinger, McFarland Clinic spine surgeon who specializes in cervical and lumbar spine surgery while utilizing advanced technology at Mary Greeley.

“Seeing these outcomes is what motivates my team and myself,” Geisinger said. “Every day, when I walk into the hospital, I tell myself that the decisions we make and the things we do will impact the person we are treating for the rest of their life. All of us at McFarland and Mary Greeley work tirelessly to change lives for the better. My goal is to always leave somebody better than when they came to us. I always hope we are able to give something back to the patient, especially when that patient is putting their faith and trust in us. I want everyone to look back with pride that they had their surgery with our team.”

Leg Pain

Tom has dedicated his life to a job he loves: selling farm equipment. He’s been in the field for more than 50 years and has operated his own implement business since 1979. Haley Equipment has locations in Carroll and Rockwell City.

He started experiencing back pain about 5 years ago.

“I was losing strength in my legs. They’d go numb when I was standing up and when talking to a customer, I’d have to find a place to sit down,” he said.

He was referred to Geisinger after visiting his primary physician, Dr. Josh Williams, a McFarland Clinic family medicine physician based in Carroll.

Tom had what’s clinically referred to as a spondylolisthesis, or a slipped disc, at his L4-5 level which is one of the lowest levels in the lumbar spine. 

“This is when one vertebral bone slips on top of the other.  Nerves travel down the middle of the spine and the nerves are normally protected by the bones of the spine.  But when a slipped disc happens, the back bones shift on one another and this causes the nerves to be pinched,” Geisinger explained. “This led to Tom having a hard time walking.  He was having pain going into his thighs and buttock, that was especially worse when he was trying to walk.  Tom had progressed to an even more concerning condition where his nerves were becoming so pinched that he was beginning to have numbness into his legs.”  

“He looked at my X-rays and told me that I had severely pinched nerves in my lower spine and with surgery this could be corrected” Tom said. “Everybody tried to scare the heck out of me about the surgery, but it went so slick, I was up and walking around and doing whatever I wanted in a week.”

“He did a wonderful job,” Tom added. “I bet I’ve told 50 people what a great job he did.”

Complicated Case

As a hairdresser, Linda was on her feet every day. She retired 12 years ago and began having back problems 8 years ago. The pain was eventually severe enough that she was referred to Mary Greeley’s Pain Clinic where she received an epidural to help ease her discomfort.

“I was going to the chiropractor and physical therapy to get by, and it worked for years,” she said. “Then it wasn’t working, and I was having severe pain in my legs. To relieve the pain, I would make my hand into a fist and beat my leg where it hurt.”

Linda loves a good, long walk, but she eventually found that she couldn’t go as far as she once did. She had to call her sister once to pick her up because the pain was too great.

“I didn’t have any kind of life. I was in really good health otherwise, I always exercised,” she said.

Linda was suffering from concurrent neck and back issues. In her neck she had a pinch on her spinal cord that was leading to coordination issues in her arms and legs. She was also experiencing weakness and numbness.  

Multiple surgeries would be required to correct her spine conditions.

“He told me it was going to be a big surgery, but I wanted it,” Linda said. “I was a very active person. My husband and I go south every winter and I couldn’t walk the beach. Everything I enjoyed was being taken away, so I was going to do what it took to get that back.”

Two Surgeries

Linda had issues in all three areas of her spine.  The neck, mid back and low back.  Geisinger first operated on Linda’s neck last December to help relieve the pressure on the spinal cord that was causing symptoms of numbness in the hands and incoordination. 

The second surgery was done to address issues in the mid and low back. In her mid back, she had an area where her spinal cord was so severely pinched that it was bruising the spinal cord and causing it to scar. This can lead to permanent spinal cord damage. Linda also had severe pinching in her low back at several levels due to multiple slipped discs. She required a surgery from her mid back to the pelvis. 

“This was a major surgery to address 10 levels in her back and one of the biggest spine surgeries ever done at Mary Greeley,” Dr. Geisinger said.

Her neck surgery was a success and her second surgery, in April, went even better. The back surgery took seven hours, and she spent three days in Mary Greeley. After the first surgery, she wore a neck brace for four weeks, and after the second, a back brace for six weeks.

“They got me up and walking the very next day. The therapists showed me how to get into and out of bed,” she said. “They told me to move 10 minutes every hour when I got home. I started walking in my house and onto my deck. Within a week, I was walking outside. I live in a split-level home and I did the 16 steps up and down. I was proud of myself and Dr. Geisinger was very happy with me too.”

“I was happy when she messaged us three weeks after the surgery that she walked around Walmart for 2 hours without any pain for the first time in years,” said Geisinger. “It was amazing that she would be doing that well that soon after a 10 level spine fusion.”  

Like Tom, Linda is a big fan of her surgeon.

“He’s a very special doctor. He was loving and caring and very informative. He talked at my level so I would understand everything,” Linda said.

O-Arm

For both surgeries, Geisinger relied on the “O-Arm,” a highly advanced tool that is part of Mary Greeley’s spine surgery program. The minimally invasive O-arm system provides real-time, intra-operative imaging of a patient's anatomy with high quality images and a large field-of-view in both two and three dimensions. 

The images provided by the O-Arm are transferred to a StealthStation Navigation System, which creates a 3-D map of a patient’s anatomy using the O-Arm’s imaging data. Geisinger and his surgical team can view the StealthStation screen as he works on the patient’s spine or neck. The system enables Dr. Geisinger to safely and precisely navigate the placement of the instrumentation all leading to better outcomes. 

The O-Arm literally encircles the patient on the operating table. After it is in place, it is activated, “spinning” around the patient and recording real time 3-D images of the patient’s anatomy at the surgical site.

“The O-Arm was amazing,” Linda said. “It’s less invasive and it’s probably why I healed so fast.”

A Final Recommendation

Tom and Linda’s problem may have been related to the toll their respective careers took on their bodies. Genetics can also play a major role in people with back issues. Dr. Geisinger urges people who are having problems to consult with their physician.

“Often times, people can sense they are having issues with their spine or their nerves. They can feel something isn’t right, but for a number of reasons, people are hesitant to seek help,” Geisinger said. “My recommendation is if you’re having neck pain, back pain, weakness, numbness, incoordination, or pain radiating into the arm or leg then start the conversation with your doctor.  It doesn’t always mean surgery.  But if surgery is an option, then it may lead to pain relief and improved function.”