This testimonial concerns the care and support we have been given by Abundant Life Chiropractic, 3000 Research Forest Dr., The Woodlands, Tx, 77381. This clinic is owned and operated by Dr. Chris Zaino.
I spent over 20 years working in the medical field in the U.S. Navy. I was an independent duty Hospital Corpsman who served several years on submarines and amphibious ships. Chiropractors were basically not a part of my world. Osteopaths perhaps. The Navy had them but no Chiropractors.
After my retirement I did several things including starting an air conditioning company and going through the alternative certification program to become a special education teacher. Since I did not feel old, I wasn’t. One day when I was 62 years old all of that changed. I was working on the furnace in the attic of my church when a piece of the decking turned out to not be screwed down. I fell 10’ to a concrete floor and lit on my butt, back, and head.
There was a crack in the left transverse process of my C2 vertebrae. My T12 vertebral body was crushed. There were several cracks in more than one lumbar vertebrae. The doctor said later that some might have been pre-existing. I was transported to the hospital by ambulance where they found the C2 fracture but nothing else in the ER. That was a Saturday night and since they didn’t find anything else I was back at work on Monday but felt miserable. That is something that didn’t change for a long time.
After a couple months the Doctor found my T12 fracture and couldn’t understand why nobody did before. I was, perhaps an inch shorter than before the fall. He told me that he thought it was too late for surgery since things were healed (?) in place. The following year he sent me to a pain clinic. They decided that there was a procedure that would help. They put me in traction and shot a medical epoxy (medical jb weld) into the vertebrae. That helped quite a bit as I was able to get back into the yard and play. However, I had to continually go into the house and rest again. Rest from the pain, not fatigue.
I continued to teach but the lack of exercise was telling. Members of our family heard about Doctor Zaino and invited us to the free get acquainted supper. We listened with skepticism but decided (in view of my back problems) to pursue things further. We had our x-rays and on the followup visit something extraordinary happened.
Sally and I taught a program called pioneer club at our church. We had two children there that we could not keep in their chairs. It took an extreme amount of patience and discipline to deal with these youngsters. We lost touch over the summer and they did not come back.
On our followup visit to Dr. Zaino a little fellow came over to us and said Hi to Sally. We were amazed. It was the same child I just described but he was calm, polite, and you just wanted to hug him. His mom said that she had removed him from Ritalin and he was on no meds. I have never asked Dr Zaino for an explanation and won’t, but he did something.
Due to my injuries I had ballooned to 250 lbs. I had early symptoms of type 2 Diabetes and Hypothyroidism. On my xrays I noted something on the adams apple and asked what it was. I was told it was calcification of my thyroid which explained (to me anyway) the symptoms of hypothyroidism.
Nobody made any promises but looking at my back there was subluxation, or perhaps one of the fractures, in the area with the nerve feed to the thyroid. My neck was lacking the proper curve and was almost straight. My spine was straight till you hit T12 and it went scoliotic (bent) below the epoxy. Obviously, it was set crooked.
We took the plunge.I cannot recall if it was at the 3 month or 6 month visit when I noticed that the calcification had disappeared. The spine still bends at the point where I had the surgery. I often wonder what would have happened had Dr. Zaino been available after my injury. I realized at the time that my type two diabetes and thyroid symptoms had disappeared.
I can work outside without much time taken in breaks. I just put a roof on the front porch Saturday. After going through all that I don’t feel very young anymore but I do feel capable.
Chiropractors are supposed to be good for backs but what about the thyroid? Well I have another story. It makes me appreciate this clinic even more.
Several years ago my wife developed hepatitis C. She took the chemotherapy treatment, twice. The second time worked. There is a liver clinic downtown that took on the difficult process of managing her liver health. By the time she was through with the second chemotherapy treatment she had stage 4 cirrhosis. The doctors say that she has about 25% of her liver remaining.
About the time the second course of chemo was over she became extremely ill. I took her to the ER and they kept her. She went into the ICU and a diagnosis of Medically Resistant Staph in her blood was established. She had pneumonia and kidney failure with cysts breaking out all over her body. She spent about a week/10 days in the ICU and went to rehab. She lost about 60 lbs while she was in the hospital and was taking a basket of medicine when she was released. If you can recall, there was a 16-17 year old baseball player at New Caney High School that died with the same diagnosis while she was in the hospital. She was taking all this medicine for about a year when something else happened.
We were in Lake Jackson and had just had a good day. We were returning home when Sally told me that she felt bloated. Then she passed out. Because we were still in Lake Jackson I knew where the hospital was. We were close and I wheeled into the ER.
When you have Cirrhosis there is a thing that sometimes develops due to high blood pressure between the liver and the heart. It causes something called Esophageal varices which is a varicose vein in the esophagus. These things had to be tied off and cauterized or sometimes they burst. If they burst, statistically there is about a 20% survival rate according to the doctor. That is what had just happened. We had just started going to Abundant Life.
Since that time she has had an esophageal tube passed every six months and varices tied off. Funny thing happened though. For the last 2 years there hasn’t been anything to tie or cauterize. Now they only want to check every year. She has also gotten rid of her thyroid and high blood pressure medicines. She has perfectly normal liver function tests with only 25% of her liver remaining. Thats about how long we have been coming to this clinic.
I cannot prove that this is because of chiropractic but we have family members who come here. One daughter with a rod in her back (and extreme depression until her chiropractic treatments) is now without meds and happy. I am willing to say that Dr. Zaino has been a Godsend for our family.
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