“Before, I couldn’t travel too far and couldn’t go international. When I went to Washington D.C., I was limited by my ability to walk,” says Jose Eduardo Vazquez Bonano. “But right now, with spring coming up, I’ll be happy to do the inside loop of Prospect Park.”
Jose Eduardo Vazquez Bonano, 62, started having trouble walking a few years ago. “I noticed as I was getting older, my walking was starting to slow down,” he said. “I thought it might be age, or diabetic neuropathy, which I do have.”
But when the diagnosis started pointing to spinal issues, Mr. Bonano looked into several spine programs in New York City before settling on Divaldo Camara, MD, at the Spine Program at Mount Sinai Morningside. “I always do research before I take an important step, and when I saw his profile and read some of his history, I said, okay, this is a man I can trust.”
Now, he’s looking forward to long, leisurely walks.
“When I was younger, one of my hobbies that I loved was walking distance. But it got to the point that I couldn’t even walk half a block,” said Mr. Bonano. “But I’m recovering from my surgery very quickly. Right now, my goal is to walk the inside loop of Prospect Park, which is 3.5 kilometers. That’s what I’m looking forward to this spring.”
Divaldo Camara, MD, the Spine Program at Mount Sinai Morningside
Dr. Camara started seeing Mr. Bonano in January of 2023. He had severe back pain and pain running through his left leg. He also had a “foot drop” which means he had trouble lifting his left foot because of the nerve. Dr. Camara usually sees patients two or three times before recommending surgery unless it’s an emergency. They normally will first try physical therapy and other non-surgical treatments, but they weren’t working in his case. Doctors ordered imaging and saw evidence of degenerative disease on his MRI.
“By March, the compelling findings in his images led us to discuss surgery as the next best step in his case,” Dr. Camara said. “He had a severe sagittal and coronal imbalance which was compressing the nerve, which means the curvature of the spine was off both front to back and side to side.”
“I was hesitant about surgery,” said Mr. Bonano. “It took about a month to make sure this is the right thing for me. I talked with my partner and considered my age and my health condition. But I went for it. I said, at this point in my life, why not?”
Part of Mr. Bonano’s decision was based on discussing his goals with Dr. Camara. “I try to establish a relationship, understand the patient’s complaints and their goals for treatment,” said Dr. Camara. “When I asked Jose what things he’d like to do, he said that he would like to drive to Florida to see relatives. And that was one thing he couldn’t do in his current condition.”
Because of the severity of Mr. Bonano’s case, he needed two spinal surgeries, one from the front and one from the rear. The front surgery, an anterior lumbar interbody fusion, or ALIF, removed one of the damaged discs. The rear operation provided the corrective bracing.
“It was a complex surgery, but we were confident of a good outcome,” Dr. Camara said. “And the two surgeries allowed us to correct much more than we would have been able to otherwise.”
Mr. Bonano had the first surgery on a Monday and the second one on Thursday. He remained in the hospital between surgeries and was able to begin rehab in the hospital. He was in the hospital about a month.
“It’s an advantage when patients go to our rehab program,” said Dr. Camara, “because if there’s any concern about the patient’s improvement or wound healing, we can follow up easily.”
“The doctor did an excellent job. I recovered very fast,” said Mr. Bonano. “I’m not 100 percent back to normal, but so far, so good. Even the cut from the operation is just visible as a line. To see how well they did that was phenomenal.”
Now Mr. Bonano is looking forward to being able to walk and travel.
“Before, I couldn’t travel too far and couldn’t go international. When I went to Washington D.C.—there’s all the monuments to see and you’re always trying explore as much as possible—I was limited by my ability to walk. But right now, with spring coming up, I’ll be happy to do the inside loop of Prospect Park.”