Josey Robert A

Dr. Josey saved my life.
To be clear, I’m not referring to a heroic intervention, in the nick of time, that saved me from imminent demise. That’s what I do.
You see, I’m a rescue paramedic. I’m trained in prehospital advanced life support emergency medicine, high-​angle rescue, swift and open water rescue, confined space rescue, and trench rescue. I’m also a motorcycle paramedic. During SXSW, New Year’s, Mardi Gras, Halloween, Formula One, R.O.T. Rally, and numerous other events in and around Austin, I ride lights-​and-​sirens through gridlock traffic to get to my patients before any ambulance could.
I’m not telling you all of this to blow my own horn. I’m telling you all of this because there was a year or so during which I could do none of the aforementioned things. I couldn’t stand for more than about four minutes before I had to sit down due to terrible pain. It felt like I was impaled on a piece of rebar through my buttock. Some days it was the left one, some days, the right. As if that weren’t enough, the pain radiated to my groin and most days I lived with a constant ache I likened to a swift kick to the testicles.
After over fifteen years of lifting patients into and out of ambulances and hauling gear into and patients out of all of the austere environments listed above, my back gave out. Shocker, right? Specifically I suffered a L5-​S1 intervertebral disc rupture after a particularly heavy and awkward patient lift. It hurt and I was miserable, for a very long time.
I insisted on Dr. Josey from the beginning. Two colleagues of mine, also rescue paramedics and former patients of Dr. Josey, had both returned to full duty after undergoing spinal surgery and both sang his praises. As a worker’s comp patient I was prepared for the inevitable bureaucratic foot-​dragging but I was also prepared to be treated like a second-​class citizen by Dr. Josey and his staff. I know worker’s comp cases can’t possibly pay as well as other cases and I would never blame any business person for prioritizing his or her most lucrative accounts. That’s just good business.
Dr. Josey and his staff never made me feel like a second class citizen. Not once. I was treated compassionately, every procedure was explained, and every question was answered. Dr. Josey’s surgical PA Carlos was fantastic. My knee-​jerk «Why am I talking to you and not the doctor I came to see,» reaction went out the window the first time I talked to Carlos. He answered all of my questions until I asked one he didn’t know the answer to. Instead of making something up that sounded good he admitted he didn’t know. He left to interrupt Dr. Josey who was probably with another patient and returned with the answer. If you ever want to know if you can trust someone, ask them something they don’t know. The liar and cheat will tell you what they think you want to hear. An honest person will admit they don’t know and the competent person will not rest until they get you the answer. That’s Carlos.
Very, very long story short: Dr. Josey performed a L5-​S1 ALIF (anterior lumbar interbody fusion) on me in July of 2011. I am now nearly four years post-​surgery and I still marvel at how good I feel. I had suffered for so long I had forgotten what it felt like to be pain-​free. I’m back at work and enjoying life again. Two summers ago (2013) my wife and I went on an 8,225-mile motorcycle trip. I suffered myriad aches and pains during that trip but my back felt fine.
Thanks Dr. Josey. Thanks Carlos. Thank you everyone at Orthopedic Specialists of Austin. You are the best.
You saved my life.