Friday, July 5, 2013

Joseph A. Tosti
1813 Dunham Rd.
Rome, NY 13440
315-336-0252
jtthunder25@gmail.com



July  2013


To Whom it May Concern:

This statement is intended to provide facts to persons responsible for decision-making with regard to my personal health care.  

Background: I am a 73-year-old male whose health has been a concern for several decades.  At various times in my adult life, I have been diagnosed as having lung cancer, urinary bladder cancer, COPD, a gall bladder infection, and gout.  I have undergone lung surgery, several procedures to remove tumors from my bladder, treatment for a staphylococcus infection and an emergency appendectomy.  I have also battled obesity since my mid-twenties.  In other words, my experiences with health issues, while less severe than with some less fortunate people, has been extensive.  I know what has worked and what has not helped with various health issues. 

For the most part, with each concern, I have been fortunate to have been treated and counseled by dedicated and competent professional medical, therapeutic, and chiropractic providers.  

Current Issues: In September 2012, I was hospitalized with severe nausea and leg, back and joint pain.  Although I insisted that the issues had not been resolved hospital doctors insisted that all I needed was physical therapy at a skilled nursing facility.  I knew better and pleaded for a sonogram of my bladder.  After the doctors complied with my request, I was immediately transported to surgery where emergency surgery removed the badly diseased organ.  

Subsequent to the gall bladder removal, medical doctors directed that my recovery from surgery as well as  the leg, balance, and back issues would best be addressed by a rehabilitation stint in a nursing home.  At the time I entered nursing ohm.  At the time I  entered the nursing home, I needed a wheelchair to get anywhere at all.  When I left, I used both the wheelchair and a walker, but I still had great pain in my legs (particularly the right one) and lower back and could not walk any significant distance.  The physical therapy at the nursing home had provided some relief, but I was far from pain-free.  I was released to my home where I continued to undergo physical therapy under the guidance of a therapist, and then was released to engage in therapy as an outpatient.  

Stenosis of the Spine Diagnosis While at the nursing home, I consulted an orthopedist whose diagnosis was that I suffered from stenosis and osteoarthritis of the right knee.  He recommended pain management treatment which I learned might include chiropractic.  Since I felt that the physical therapy had provided limited success, and since I had benefitted from chiropractic in the past, I decided to investigate that avenue to recovery. (See below)

Outpatient Physical Therapy: After completion of the home physical therapy, (and in the early stages of my chiropractic treatment which began while I was still a resident at the nursing facility), I was referred to a physical therapy program run by the Rome Hospital.  There I was introduced to more strenuous exercises, some that required the use of machines.  Each session resulted in greater pain, until finally I had to cease with the outpatient program and I resorted to the less stressful home exercises I had become accustomed to.  I continued to consult Dr. Daniel Burgdorf DC, on both the exercises I had been while he provided guidance on several additional exercises that have continued to help in  my recovery to this very day.
  
Chiropractic Treatment: Dr. Burgdorf, was highly recommended by a trusted family member.  After extensive interviews that included a detailed medical history and a reading of the x-rays   he had ordered, Dr. Burgdorf, became convinced that I was a candidate for his treatment.  He has treated me now for more than six months.  During this time my pain has greatly diminished, my balance has improved, and the amount of oxygen I require has diminished significantly.  I believe it is important to note that the greatest progress we have made together was when he was seeing me two and even three times a week.  During my treatment by Dr. Burgdorf, I should mention that I have fallen two times, each setting back my progress.  Pain accompanied the aftermath of the falls, but Dr. Burgdorf’s treatments have put me back on the right track.  His treatment has renewed the progress we had been making together.

As I said, I had been treated by chiropractors in the past, and, though I had reached some desired goals, I had never experienced the thoroughness and concern that Dr. Burdgorf has shown.  I have every confidence in his knowledge, his ability, and his diagnostic skills.  I urge you to allow me to continue treatment with this dedicated provider as I believe this is the best path to my recovery.  I have no doubt that I would be further advanced in my recovery if I could see him more often, if only for a few weeks, or until I feel fully recovered.  



____________________________________________
Joseph A. Tosti


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