Erin Andretsos

A former gymnast, Erin Andretsos had experienced back problems for as long as she could remember. But in 2011, her pain suddenly grew worse, exacerbated by lupus and a work schedule that required her to travel for weeks at a time.

“It got to the point where I couldn’t sleep through the night and it would take about three hours for me to stand up and really get moving in the morning,” remembered Erin.

Initially, she tried both spinal injections and rhyzotomy, a procedure which destroy nerve roots in the spinal cord through tiny electrical pulses. Unfortunately, those approaches, as well as physical therapy, failed to provide much relief.

After moving back from Texas, Erin visited a pain management clinic in the Denver area, which ordered a lumbar discography to better identify the source of her pain. The test revealed degenerative disc disease and Erin was referred to Dr. Jatana.

“My first impression of Dr. Jatana was that he was able to see what the problem was right away,” Erin said. “He moved quickly and was finally able to provide an answer and a solution to years of agony.”

Erin had no qualms when Dr. Jatana recommended a fusion surgery to resolve her lower back issues and credits the confidence of Dr. Jatana’s staff for her high comfort level. Although her surgery required a two-day hospital stay, Erin says she was “pleasantly surprised” by how easily she bounced back.

“It’s been a much better situation since surgery. It’s really a night and day difference,” said Erin.

Today, Erin is sleeping better, getting more exercise and back to playing with her dogs. While she continues to experience some pain, she says it’s nowhere near the level she experienced before having surgery.

“Dr. Jatana was very honest with me from the beginning and let me know that I am always going to have a certain level of back pain, so my expectations were set,” said Erin. “His goal was to make sure I was never in as much as pain as I was previously and he has more than met that goal.”