Florida, USA
Hello! My name is Asheen and I am 27 years old. I am originally from Port Antonio, Jamaica where I was born and raised until I migrated to the US back in 2016. At the age of 13, I was diagnosed with Scoliosis. I immediately started to see my old doctor back home in Jamaica who was monitoring my scoliosis. He said it was fine because I only had a 15 degree curve. However my scoliosis kept on progressing, especially after child birth. I flew to the US that same year but I never met with Dr. Feldman until 2017, when he began to monitor the progression of my curvature (spine). He had me doing physical therapy since I wasn't mentally ready for that kind of surgery. The therapy helped somewhat but I was starting to have pain and then I finally made up my mind to do this surgery once and for all. So sometime in 2021 I scheduled to have my surgery the following year which would be February 16, 2022.
I was very scared because I am a single mom and my son only has me but Dr. Feldman always reassured me that I would be fine. He also is a family doctor in the sense that he will ask how my son is doing and how everything is. He is not like a lot of doctors who rush through the appointment. He takes his time to get familiar with his patients. Prior to surgery, after reviewing my MRI, he realized that I had another medical problem with my spine and if I did the original surgery (which was a spinal fusion) I could be paralyzed. Dr. Feldman helped to recommend the best neurosurgeon in the area. That surgery was a success. I am just very happy that Dr. Feldman spotted the problem before the day of my spinal fusion.
On the day of surgery, I was nervous because I knew it was a major surgery but I trusted Dr. Feldman. His words were very comforting so I began to relax and knew that I was in good hands. My sister in law saw me off and I met the team of doctors and nurses and everyone was awesome. I remember waking up seeing my sister in law, smiling telling me I did great even though I felt like a truck ran over me. Haha!
The next day, I was up walking. I didn't use any walker because I refused to. I told myself I was going to be strong and I did just that. My entire stay at the hospital, which was seven days, I never once used a walker. I got up and used the restroom on my own. I took about two to three walks a day, sometimes more because as the days went by I was walking pretty strong by myself. Once I took my pain medicine I was okay to do just about anything. I did OT and PT while I was in the hospital which was very helpful. The staff was really amazing there.
With that being said, after my spinal fusion I felt like a new person; like life had begun in a sense because my spine was straight. Once I saw that, I cried because I never felt quite normal when I had scoliosis. Dr. Feldman did an awesome and amazing job, my scar is beautiful and I feel confident again in myself and wearing certain types of clothing again.
It was a journey and still is because I am still recovering. Its been about 4 months now. There are days when I am a bit sad/down because I can't do as much yet, but I look on the bright side that now I have a new image, all thanks to Dr. Feldman. I am also doing physical therapy with my therapist Brian at the Paley Institute Rehabilitation and he is a wonderful therapist.
I would recommend Dr. Feldman any day. He is truly amazing as well as his team. Thank you guys for everything and now I get to live my life to the fullest.
