Former nurse is finally pain free thanks to successful spinal fusion surgery

Dianne Kohn was a teenager when a car accident left her with three fractured vertebrae. As a result, the 77-year-old Lansing resident has endured a lifetime of back pain and sciatica leading to pain from her lower back to her right leg.

“Back then, they didn’t really do spinal surgery to repair my condition. I was in a back brace for several months and eventually had a couple of surgical procedures in the 1980’s, but it didn’t help,” Dianne remembers.

The former nurse who retired in 2000 after working 25 years in a local hospital nursery takes pride in being a close-knit family with her husband John who she has been married to for 40 years, along with three children, six grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Her hobbies include spending time on her son’s farm, going to Derby races and watching her grandkids and great grandkids activities. At home she loves to make homemade jam and is a prolific sewer, quilting blankets for her family while staying active by walking and scrapbooking.

Active lifestyle put on hold due to increased back pain

Dianne’s back issues increasingly took a toll on her and prevented her from leading an active lifestyle.

“I got to the point where I was hunched over and could not go to the grocery store if I didn’t have a cart to hold onto and couldn’t walk from my car to the store,” she expressed. “My sewing machine is also upstairs, so I had to put my sewing on hold since I could not walk up and down the stairs.”

Time to seek the care of a spine specialist at Henry Ford

When she went to an appointment with a local orthopedic surgeon, he recommended that Dianne seek an evaluation for spinal fusion surgery with Kevin Taliaferro, MD, chief of orthopedic spine surgery at Henry Ford Health.

“I hesitated for years to look into surgery with a spine specialist because I did not want to be so far away from my family. Even though the hospital was about one hour from my home, as soon as I met with Dr. Taliaferro, I felt confident in his ability to treat me given all the patients he had treated with a similar condition,” Dianne expressed. “He also mentioned he had treated a patient whose first name was the same as my best friend who had recently passed away and I took it as a positive sign that he was the right surgeon for me.”

Dr. Taliaferro explains that despite previous surgeries that were not successful, Dianne was an excellent candidate for spinal fusion surgery, which took place at Henry Ford Hospital in May 2022.

“Although spinal deformity surgery requires a lot of work up front for the patient and the surgeon, by correcting the spine from the front, side and back into a position of sagittal alignment (side profile), studies show patients in the long term do excellent and return to a fully functional life,” Dr. Taliaferro noted. “We’ve found each patient’s spine is unique, and by using cutting-edge advanced pre-operative planning, patient-specific custom implants, and robotic navigated screw placement, we have been able to perform these complex surgeries safely and can custom tailor them to the patient’s needs,” he adds.

Major surgery with minimal pain

Dianne was in the hospital for several weeks after surgery. And despite a couple of setbacks due to infection, she was amazed that she had very little pain after the spinal fusion surgery considering the complexity of the surgical procedure.

“After I left the hospital and went into rehabilitation for several weeks, the only pain medication I asked for was Tylenol for a headache,” she says.

Dianne underwent physical and occupational therapy at home to gain strength and mobility as well and is happy to say that after undergoing the surgery, she is pain free for the first time in decades.

“I am so thankful to Dr. Taliaferro and the entire staff at Henry Ford. They took care of me every step of the way,” Dianne gratefully expressed. “I’m now able to sit in the bleachers to watch my grandkids play sports, and I’m back to making a quilt for my newest grandchild and walking without pain.”

Only regret

After decades of back pain that progressively got worse, her only regret is that she did not have the surgery at Henry Ford Health sooner.

“I just went to see Dr. Taliaferro and he basically said I’m done and it’s all good, Dianne said. “He gave me my life back so that I can spend quality time with my family, and I will be forever grateful.”