I recently had surgery on my lower back performed by Dr. Matthew Hannibal at Caldwell Memorial Hospital, and I'm glad to report success! I can't begin to express my gratitude, however, I can at least give a public "THANK YOU" to all involved in that experience. Thank you, Dr. Hannibal, for choosing Caldwell County to bring your expertise and family as a place to settle. I feel confident that you had other opportunities, but I am so glad you chose here.

Additionally, I want to thank all involved at Caldwell Memorial Hospital for their wonderful help throughout the process! The surgery team was excellent, and I felt at ease. My experience on the surgical floor during recovery was also great!

Thank you all for your prompt, professional, attentive and tender care! It can be easy for us to remember a place for what it may have been in the past. I don't know what CMH was in the past - I'm not from here - but I can tell you that I'm proud and comforted to know that it is a place of excellence today! I have been so very blessed!

Diane Prather Palmer, Lenoir

You would think that being an interior designer of homes wouldn't be tough on your back, but don't ask Lynne for her opinion.

"Carrying all those heavy wallpaper books, tile samples, and rolls of heavy fabrics from the car to the clients' homes for twenty years really hurt my back," Lynne said. "I loved my career in interior design and worked for some famous people like golfer Fred Couples and Dallas Cowboy running back Herschel Walker, but one day I noticed my right leg was getting really numb. I was concerned about what was wrong."

At her annual checkup, Lynne informed her doctor about the numbness she felt in her leg. "Well, Lynne," her doctor said, "you're getting a little older."

This conversation happened ten years ago when Lynne was 60 years old. Nor could the pain in her back be dismissed lightly. One day, she was out and about with her interior design businesses when her right leg felt like it wasn't there at all. A tumble and a fall scared her, and this happened twice before getting home.

Tests were run, and her orthopaedic surgeon explained that she had a herniated disc that had exploded down her spinal column. If she didn't have surgery, she ran the risk of becoming totally paralyzed.

That diagnosis got Lynne's attention, and she submitted to traditional back surgery in September 2003. She had to wait four months before her doctor cleared her to begin physical therapy. "The pain was just excruciating," she said. "When I told my doctor that my back still hurt a lot, he said that I needed another surgery with lot of rods and screws to straighten things. That wasn't appealing to me."

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