Barry kept his back pain at bay for seven years with numerous injections and a steady diet of medications. But, on a hot summer day near Spokane, Washington in 2007, he reached his breaking point when he felt a knifing pain in his spine.
On this day, Barry was co-leading and in week two of a 19-day survival course, also known as SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) that works with all branches of the military, teaching them how to survive in any environmental condition. Needless to say, Barry felt an obligation to keep up with and successfully lead this group of men on a grueling and very physical course. It was when they took a five-minute break from their expedition and he took off his 80-lb. backpack that he realized things would have to change when he got home. In those five minutes he felt some of the worst back and leg pain of his life and had so many thoughts and emotions running through his mind.
Am I going to be able to make it through the next few days, or will they have to carry me out of here? Am I really just over the hill and fooling myself? Is my career over because of my back? What will I do if I can’t handle this?
When Barry made it home he knew something had to change, but surgery was not an option in his mind. He instead turned to a regimen of aspirin, physical therapy, and more epidural injections to remedy the pain, but unfortunately these only provided very temporary relief.
“I’d get out of bed and drop to my knees,” recalls Barry. “My back would lock up and I couldn’t move. The medications would only mask the pain for a while and I’d feel like a million bucks. I’d even think I could run a marathon. In reality, though, I knew I was doing much more damage to myself.”
It was in 2008 when Barry’s wife, Tammy, sat him down and asked him to get his back fixed once and for all. Reluctantly, he went to see a spine specialist and found out that he indeed needed surgery to fix his back. Barry was pleasantly surprised at how personable his doctor was and felt as good as one can going into XLIF® surgery on May 19, 2008.
Because Barry’s job was so physical, it did take him a little longer to get out in the field again but he returned to classroom teaching almost immediately. To reach his goal of getting back to the great outdoors he launched into an intense exercise program to regain his stamina and muscle strength. Almost one year post–op, Barry was outside in the hills of Spokane, Washington again leading a new group of guys and was pain-free while doing it.
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