Dr. Long was referred to me thru a family friend! It was not an easy task to find a Neuro-Surgeon that took my insurance. My very first visit Dr. Long put me at ease as we spoke about his education, internships at various hospitals under some top surgeons in the Tri state area and Philadelphia and to be accepted by Hackensack University Hospital to perform surgeries. He describe what I would be going through with the procedure. I opted to do an L4 surgery instead of a cervical procedure of c5,6 and 7. I have had 2 lower back surgeries 25 and 30 years ago and felt I would recover much quicker with the lower back.
My surgery took place on the 16th of February of this year. All went well as expected and was home within hours of the surgery and actually walked around my block with a walker with my daughter! I felt that I made the right choice and feeling great! Dr. Long followed up that night and I had nothing but praise! 10 days later, I saw Dr. Long for a follow up and he said I looked great and I did feel great! Observing my incision, he noticed a bit of secretion and said keep an eye on it. 5 pm that day, I was unable to walk, my wife called Dr. Long and he advised her to get me to the hospital if things got worse. No pun intended, Long story short, I ended up back in the hospital with Dr. Long having to do surgery again because of the secretion in my back. He explained to my wife that I may have come down with serious infections due to my high white blood cell count! All thru the process, Dr. Long continued his communication with my wife on how serious the situation was and with in days of all of the cultures coming back with very high positive infection results, Dr. Long communicated with me and my wife that another surgery was needed asap to install drains into my back because of the infections. Both Staph and blood infections took over my body and for nearly 2 months, I laid in the hospital in Hackensack! There wasn't one day that Dr. Long didn't visit or call me or my wife with the latest on my blood test for the infections! I can't say enough for his bedside manor and the group of doctors he used to get me better! I missed one of my favorite holidays, St. Patrick's Day and he brought me in a dinner that his wife cooked! That is bedside manor!!! It has been 4 months now since my last surgery and I am still on antibiotics but feeling great with therapy and very strong! We stay in touch and I do very much thank him for taking care of me! Thank you Orthopedic Spine and sports Medicine Center in Paramus, New Jersey for accepting Dr. William D. Long III into the group!
David Foudy
Hawthorne, New Jersey read more