T.O. man gets implant in his spine
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

Unbearable pain brought Thousand Oaks resident Don McFarlin, 31, to Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center to have a stainless steel surgical implant put into his spine.

McFarlin is the first person in Ventura County to receive a mechanical vertebrae that pivots and allows him to turn his head, said Kris Carraway-Bowman, hospital spokesperson.

"I've been in a lot of pain with a herniated disc, and I want to be active again," McFarlin said before the surgery.

A 1994 graduate of Thousand Oaks High School and now a salesman, McFarlin loves to ride dirt bikes and play golf and softball.

But with so much pain shooting down his arm, he hadn't been able to enjoy those activities, he said.

He didn't want to have the fusion that's typically performed when someone has a herniated disc with compression on the spinal cord and nerve root because of what occurs after that surgery, McFarlin said.

With fusion, the patient cannot turn his neck afterward, which may cause future degeneration, according to Dr. Kapil Mosa of Westlake Village.

The Prestige (restricted) cervical disc implant allows rotation that replicates the motion of a naturally functioning cervical spine, he explained.

Also, recovery time after the implant is shorter that after fusion, Mosa said.

"He was discharged within 24 hours with full strength in both arms."

McFarlin didn't have to wear a rigid cervical collar for eight to 12 weeks like he would have if he'd used the fusion method to relieve the herniated disc.

He didn't have a collar on at all.

"We don't want it to fuse. We don't want to immobilize him- we want him to keep moving to preserve the motion," Mosa said.

The patient can go back to work in three to four days after the surgery- much sooner than with other spinal surgery methods, the doctor said.

The best news, of course, is that the sharp, burning pain shooting down McFarlin's arm has been relieved, Mosa said.