Mike Russo knows many people delay getting back surgery because they're worried about complications.
As someone who has undergone many of those procedures, he has a simple message: Don't wait.
Since first injuring his spine in a 2004 car accident, Mike has had nearly 30 spinal surgeries to correct various issues. He doesn't regret any of them.
"This is the question I get asked all the time: Would I do every one of these surgeries over again?" says Mike, 53, of Pittsburgh. "And the answer is 'yes' because every one of them has solved a problem that I was having. Every surgery, the chief complaint has been solved."
In 2023 and 2024, Mike underwent spinal reconstruction surgery at UPMC to correct a deformity in his spine. The procedures fixed the alignment of his spine, correcting his deformity. It also has helped improve his quality of life.
"This reconstruction surgery gave me back my lumbar curve, fixed my neck, and straightened me out," he says.
A Traumatic Injury
Mike was living in Texas when his injury occurred in 2004.
While stopped in his car at a traffic light, Mike saw a vehicle in his rearview mirror that was moving too quickly to stop. Knowing that he was about to be rear-ended and with another vehicle in front of him, Mike jerked his steering wheel to the left.
"I turned the steering wheel and put both feet on the brakes to go into oncoming traffic because the car in front of me was full of kids, and to the right of me was a giant tree," he says. "My hope was whoever was coming would stop and not hit me head-on, and it worked out."
The quick action prevented a larger accident, but it led to Mike's ongoing spinal problems. He went home after the accident but woke up in the middle of the night in severe pain.
The accident caused inversions in the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lowback) portions of Mike's spine. He spent the next two years going through physical therapy to work through the pain in those areas. He also was experiencing unusual chest pain.
Mike, who worked in human resources at the time, did what he advised many employees to do: He talked to his doctor about the chest pain.
It turned out that the twisting of his body during the car accident caused facet joint inflammation in Mike's thoracic spine (mid-back).
"(My doctor said), 'You just completely changed the issue,'" Mike remembers. "'That twisting of your spine is what's causing the problem, and that's not your lumbar and your cervical spine. It's your thoracic. And that's why you've got this pain there, and we haven't been treating that.'"
Mike had his first fusion surgery in 2006 to correct a curve in his thoracic spine. His surgeon took a piece of his rib and cadaver bone to fix the curve.
Frequent Fusions
Over the next two decades, Mike underwent procedure after procedure to fix problems in his spine that kept cropping up.
"Some people have problems with their knees all their lives. Some people have problems with their shoulders. I have a problem with my back," he says.
"For whatever reason, when I have a fusion, normally it would be five to seven years before the segments above and below would need to be fused. Mine just keeps collapsing. And, so, ultimately, I've ended up with most of my spine fused over something like 27 surgeries."
Mike moved from Texas to Rhode Island in 2007, and in 2014, he came to Pittsburgh. He was unfamiliar with UPMC at the time, but Bayer, his employer, offered UPMC Health Plan.
"It was absolute luck," Mike says.
Mike researched doctors and came across John Moossy, MD. Dr. Moossy is a senior spinal surgeon and director of UPMC's Center for Pain Management.
"It was a good thing because the first thing he said to me was, 'I understand what your condition is: You have facet joint syndrome,'" Mike says. "Very few doctors have experienced patients with facet joint syndrome."
For almost the next 10 years, Dr. Moossy cared for Mike and performed fusion surgeries. One lumbar procedure fixed sciatic leg pain that was making it difficult for Mike to walk.
"Dr. Moossy is just fantastic," Mike says. "He's a good guy, and he's been great to work with."
Mike says he also appreciated UPMC's integrated health care system, where he could get an imaging scan taken and be able to have his care team review it immediately.
"The neurosurgery department at UPMC is the largest in the country," he says. "I had no idea when I moved here that I was walking into such a great opportunity with the doctors there and a practice that was extremely strong."
A Complete Reconstruction
Mike didn't let the constant pain and other challenges of his spinal condition stop him. He continued to work, sometimes returning to his job within two weeks of a fusion procedure. He also traveled frequently: In 10 years working for Bayer, he flew 1.4 million miles.
He also was an open book about his condition. For example, if he shook hands with someone much taller than him, he would explain why he couldn't lift his neck to meet their eyes.
"I chose not to let this get in the way of my life," Mike says. "Often, people would say, ‘I can't believe you have a back problem because you don't show it. You don't act like it. You talk about it openly, and you do it with a smile on your face.'"
By the middle of 2023, however, it became clear that Mike would need a full spinal reconstruction. Dr. Moossy told Mike that he had a deformity in his spine that couldn't be corrected with a simple fusion.
The deformity made it so that Mike couldn't stand straight.
"I was bent over," he says. "I'd look like I should be walking with a walker. So, if I went to the grocery store, which I rarely could do, the cart was my walker."
Dr. Moossy referred Mike to Nitin Agarwal, MD, for reconstruction surgery. In August 2023, Dr. Agarwal performed a reconstruction of Mike's lumbar and thoracic spine with David Hamilton, MD, assisting. In February 2024, Dr. Agarwal reconstructed the upper part of Mike's thoracic spine and reinforced his cervical spine.
"Dr. Agarwal has been very honest and very open about, ‘You're going to live a life that's different when I do this reconstruction surgery,'" Mike says. "He was very honest about the risks with the surgery, and his team has been fantastic."
Improved Quality of Life
Just as Dr. Agarwal told Mike, his life is different now. He has less flexibility — to turn his head, he has to move his whole body because he can't turn his neck.
However, he's noticed many positive differences. He can walk longer distances now: The day after his first reconstructive procedure, he walked 3.6 miles in the hospital. He also can sleep through the night, which he couldn't do before.
Because the surgeries straightened his spine, he's also two inches taller.
"People look at me, and they say you would never know that you have complete fusion until you go to turn your neck," he says.
Now on long-term disability, Mike is still finding ways to stay active. He's learning German, he recently took up gardening, and he's volunteering.
“The worst thing I can do is just go sit on the couch and watch TV," he says. "I've got to remain active. So, there's lots of things I can no longer do, but I find alternatives to be able to stay busy and keep myself moving.
And so, that’s how I live my life. As I’ve stopped being able to do certain things, I find alternatives to just keep going."
Mike advises patients to be their own advocates — to not be afraid to ask their doctors questions. He also tells people to listen to their doctor's advice and to always do physical therapy.
Most of all, he urges people who are experiencing back issues to seek medical care.
“If you're experiencing back pain, you shouldn't ignore it — it's going to get worse," he says. "And don't be afraid. Go see a doctor and figure out what the best course of action is."