Injured on the Job - A Patient Success Story
THE DOCTOR
Dr. Donald G. Hope is one of the most experienced spinal surgeons in the Northern Virginia region. A thirty-year practitioner, Dr. Hope has performed over ten thousand spinal surgeries. Each patient is treated with personalized attention to achieve their best outcome, which may not be surgery.
Dr. Hope and his staff are renowned for providing meaningful advice and prudent solutions for those suffering from back pain. The primary goal is to get patients back to living their life, without pain and limitations.
THE PATIENT
Justin Stubblefield, a first responder for the Virginia State Police, was on duty when he was in pursuit and hit head-on. He was treated for a concussion and returned to work, but he continued to have pain.
An active lifestyle, including a physical job and working out, was now near impossible. The pain was too intense. Driving for an hour was unbearable and left Justin feeling near paralyzed.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT DOCTOR
The State Police sent him to a spinal surgeon who wanted to do surgery immediately before looking at an MRI. Justin wasn’t comfortable with the initial meeting with this doctor.
A friend referred Justin to Dr. Hope, who was out of network. Justin and his fiancee researched Dr. Hope and found he was highly rated throughout the region and set up an appointment and an MRI. The MRI revealed a problem with Justin’s C5 disc.
At their first meeting, Dr. Hope was very straightforward, and where other doctors wanted to immediately perform surgery, Dr. Hope wasn’t “cut happy” and recommended starting with pain management and physical therapy. Justin felt Dr. Hope really took an interest in him and his lifestyle by determining what was best for him and not recommending surgery simply from a monetary standpoint.
THE RECOVERY
After having the MRI that indicated a problem with his C5 disc, Justin decided to forgo surgery discussions, follow Dr. Hope’s advice, and he chose physical therapy and pain management for the next year and a half.
The pain management techniques specialists used included epidurals, of which he had three. The first provided relief for about 6 months, the second a bit longer - he could feel the epidurals wearing off - but the third didn’t help at all.
Justin was completely incapacitated without the epidural.
Dr. Hope sent him for another MRI, which revealed the problem at Justin’s C5 disc had progressed, and recommended surgery. Justin shared that the pain was so intense he would have done anything to make it even 10% better and decided to move forward with the surgery that same day.
The surgery took place on September 28th, 2020. Justin is still surprised by the fact that he went in for surgery in the morning, went home in the afternoon, and was up and walking around in just 3 days.
Although he is still in recovery and experiences some muscle spasms, shoulder pain, and changes to his previous lifestyle, he feels much better post-surgery. His mobility is better, and he’s expecting to make a 100% recovery.
GOOD ADVICE
Justin advises anyone going through a similar situation to look for a reputable doctor, research who you are meeting with, check their ratings, and ask around for referrals from friends and family.
“Dr. Hope is one of the best surgeons,” says Justin as he described how even the nurses in the hospital were talking about how good Dr. Hope is and their experiences of their own family members’ treatment and surgery. Being able to text Dr. Hope on his cell phone was an added bonus that Justin felt kept him in the loop. He never had to wonder about his care plan and felt very much empowered to advocate for himself throughout the process.