Neurourgery Patients
Rita Pildis
New Bedford
Balloon Kyphoplasty patient
Rita Pildis reads to children each week at the Greater New Bedford Community Health Center.
She does philanthropic work with the National Council of Jewish Women, reads to pediatric patients at the New Bedford Community Health Center and exercises in the pool at the Southcoast Wellness Center.
She is always on the go.
But not long ago she was stuck at home in severe pain — unable to walk, exercise or even sleep in her bed.
She had suffered from a compression fracture in her lower back, a problem that over 50 percent of women experience with age.
What helped was a new, minimally invasive spine surgery offered at Southcoast — balloon kyphoplasty. The procedure, Pildis said, "gave me my life back.
"I was washing dishes in my kitchen, which has a tile floor, and I slipped and fell. I thought I was okay, but a few days later I felt tremendous back pain. I couldn't sleep on my back, I couldn't get out of bed. It was murder! I had to sleep in my recliner over a period of seven months.
"I wasn't myself, not at all. The gleam, the glitter, faded out. You could see it. And I felt as if I was aging overnight."
Pildis was referred to Matthew Philips, MD, a spine surgeon at Southcoast and part of Southcoast Neurosurgery.
"I asked if he could help me and he said, 'Yes, we can.' It was like music to my ears.
"Balloon kyphoplasty is what he performed and it didn't take more than a half-hour. They make tiny holes in different parts of your back and then they go in with a balloon and open up the fracture. Then they pull that out and put in cement. When I woke up, the pain was gone. I put my feet on the floor and I felt steady. When I went to push myself up on the bed rail I didn't have that excruciating pain.
"And the people at St. Luke's — the nurses and everyone — were wonderful.
"It's natural to be a little apprehensive about surgery — no one wants to have it. But there are a lot of people that are hurting, and they're not aware that by seeing a neurosurgeon that something can be done to relieve them of pain — and something very simple.
"And you don't have to go to Boston. It's all right here at Southcoast."
Rita Pildis is an energetic, "77 years young."
Watch our TV spot featuring patient Rita Pildis. [Click on the image above to view the TV spot in QuickTime, 7.2 MB]
Photos by Corinna Raznikov.
