After more than three decades of back pain, Harold Ruch was ready for a solution.
And though he wasn’t sure it was possible to become pain-free, that’s exactly what happened.
Harold, 60, of Williamsport, Pa., underwent spinal surgery in late fall 2023 with neurosurgeon Fadi Sweiss, MD, at the UPMC Neurological Institute in Williamsport.
“After he got done doing the surgery, I didn’t hurt anymore,” Harold says. “I’m back to walking.
“I still have, to this day, no more pain.”
A Deteriorating Injury
Harold first injured his back while on the job in the early 1990s. He worked with heavy machinery and suffered an injury to his back. Over the ensuing 32 years, the injury got progressively worse.
“As things are breaking up and crumbling down, you start to feel pinches. I was getting nerve damage,” Harold says. “You can imagine (what it looked like) after 32 years of abuse on an injury that was never taken care of or looked at.”
The last eight years of that 32 were especially painful.
“I started out every morning with my eyes opening up at a level 8 on pain,” Harold says. “It never went below an 8. I started out every day at that — my pain level was way out there.”
Harold’s pain reached the point where daily tasks were a struggle. Although he continued to walk and do work around the house, the pain made it difficult. He says he could only walk 35 yards before needing to stop.
“It finally got the best of me, to the point where about a year before I had my surgery, I was pretty much done with walking,” Harold says. “It was really rough to do anything.”
When a friend died, Harold inherited their pug, Zeus — “he’s 16, and I’m no spring chicken,” Harold says — and that motivated him to get something done about his back.
Harold initially didn’t plan to have his surgery at UPMC. However, someone he knew and respected recommended Dr. Sweiss.
“They said, ‘If I were in your shoes, I would have (Dr. Sweiss) do it. And that’s the only person I’d have touch me,’” Harold says.
Getting Care at UPMC
After getting the recommendation about Dr. Sweiss, Harold learned more about the neurosurgeon. And what he learned impressed him.
Earlier in 2023, the Pennsylvania Medical Society had named Dr. Sweiss one of its “Top 40 Physicians Under 40.”
Harold also heard that Dr. Sweiss got excellent results.
“From what I was understanding, he does not get bad reviews,” Harold says. “Everybody he touches loves his work. And they notice a big difference and big change.”
Dr. Sweiss says Harold had extensive degenerative damage and misalignment in the lower portion of his lumbar (lower back) spine. These issues were causing the exit nerve channels to get narrow and nerves to become compressed.
“(He) had tried and failed multiple nonsurgical modalities without lasting relief, and his pain was significantly impacting his quality of life and activities of daily living,” Dr. Sweiss says. “While this was an elective surgery, the goal of surgery was to return some function and quality to his life.”
Dr. Sweiss had an opening on his surgical schedule because of a cancellation. Harold took over the spot, even though it meant he had to speed through the presurgical process.
“I had doctor’s appointments like you wouldn’t believe,” he says. “One after another. Let’s face it — that’s something you don’t take lightly.”
On the morning of his surgery, Harold had one question for Dr. Sweiss.
“I looked right at him and said, ‘Not to be smart, but this has been 32 years. What makes you think you can fix it?’” Harold remembers.
He’d soon get his answer.
Pain-Free After Surgery
Dr. Sweiss used a spacer to correct the misalignment in Harold’s lumbar spine and performed spinal fusion to stabilize the spine. He also decompressed the central canal and exiting nerves. The procedure took less than four hours.
When he woke up, Harold felt no pain.
“They kept an eye on me. They thought maybe I was still somewhat under the anesthesia, but no,” he says. “I actually took no pills, no pain medication while I was in the hospital.”
A day after the surgery, Harold was working with a physical therapist in the hospital.
Living Pain-Free
About 18 months after his surgery, Harold no longer feels pain in his back. He says he has a full range of motion. He walks, kayaks, fishes, does yard work, and more.
“I can go for a walk anywhere I want, as long as I want,” he says. “I don’t tire out.”
Harold says he has already recommended Dr. Sweiss to several people he knows.
“He does very well,” Harold says of Dr. Sweiss. “He’s got an eye for detail. He’s not in a hurry.”
Dr. Sweiss says he’s pleased to know that he helped Harold recover.
“Stories and outcomes like this are why I do what I do,” he says. “For Mr. Ruch, regaining mobility, daily function, and quality of life was his primary goal going into this, and I was privileged to be a part of his recovery story.”
Harold encourages people who are experiencing back pain to seek care at UPMC. He has nothing but good things to say about his surgeon.
“Everybody hears the negative side, but you don’t hear the good side of things,” Harold says. “If people out there have an issue with your back or your walking, go to UPMC and have them do a little workup on you and see what they can do.”
“You’re liable to end up just like me: pain-free, able to walk, do what you want, and not be limited to, ‘I wish I could do this, I wish I could do that.’”