Published: April 3, 2026
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
Out on Nolin Lake is where Lisa Buckner feels most at home.
It’s where her family vacationed for years when she was a child. She remembers going there for the first time, learning to water ski at 6 years old and learning about the area from her late father.
Now 61, the Louisville native is retired and moved 90 miles south to Clarkson, Kentucky, just 1 1/2 miles away from the lake. Her mom and brothers moved to the area too.
“This is my happy place,” Lisa said. “I have so many wonderful memories associated with this place. Growing up, our dad would teach us how to drive the boat, how to take care of everything. He taught us all how to ski and tube. And then of course, as I got older, my own children came down here, and it’s as big a part of their lives as it is mine.”
But Lisa’s lakeside adventures were put on hold, starting in spring 2025.
First, came the falls. Then, the numbness in her hands and feet. She had no pain, but something clearly was wrong. Lisa chalked it up to the mild stenosis in her neck, which she’d been living with for years.
At the time of diagnosis, “I asked, ‘When will I know that I need surgery?’” Lisa said. “And the doctor told me, ‘When you get tired of falling.’ So, I thought it was the stenosis.”
The symptoms began to worsen.
The instability and numbness affected her day-to-day life. Walking, standing and moving around all became difficult. Lisa went to a few doctors who told her the symptoms weren’t coming from her neck, but from diabetic neuropathy.
She’d never heard that before. That answer didn’t sit well with her.
“Well for one thing, one of the issues you have with neuropathy is pain — the tingling, stabbing pain,” Lisa said. “And I didn’t have any of that in either my hands or feet.”
Lisa reinvestigated her options, turning to her sister — a Norton Healthcare employee — to point her in the right direction. Her sister suggested Norton Neuroscience Institute, where Lisa saw neurologist Richard A. Lewis, M.D., a neuromuscular specialist. Dr. Lewis ordered an MRI, which revealed advanced, multilevel cervical spondylotic disease, or advanced arthritis, which was causing compression of the spinal cord. Lisa also was dealing with big bone spurs on her spine.
At this point, Lisa’s symptoms were intensifying.
“By the time I got to [Norton Healthcare doctors], I couldn’t get anywhere without a walker,” she said. “I couldn’t shower without losing my balance. I could not get my arms above my head. I couldn’t walk out to the garage. It was bad. I was convinced that it was just beyond hope, quite frankly.”
Thankfully for Lisa, things moved quickly.
Within a week, Dr. Lewis referred her to Shawn W. Adams, M.D., neurosurgeon with Norton Leatherman Spine, on an urgent basis. Her first appointment with Dr. Adams was Nov. 5, 2025. Within two days, she was in surgery. Dr. Adams even canceled plans to leave town to perform the procedure.
“She had significant enough compression that I felt like it was severe,” Dr. Adams said. “And in these situations, when patients are referred to me with issues that are putting their lives on hold, I have to do what I have to do to get them right. Our group understands the urgency of neurosurgery, and we prioritize patients because it’s the right thing to do.”
“It was very scary,” Lisa said. “I was thinking — of course — that it was much worse than I had even thought it was. I was concerned about what my outcome would be. And Dr. Adams was upfront with me. He said with nerve damage, it’s hard to predict what [level of functioning] may come back. I may get back 50%, 60% or 100%. We just didn’t know. But I trusted him to do the right thing by me.”
On Nov. 7, Dr. Adams performed a three‑level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion using stand‑alone cages. In this procedure, he accessed the spine through the front of the neck, removed the damaged cervical discs, decompressed the spinal cord and fused the affected vertebrae. The stand‑alone cages serve as spacers to restore normal disc height and maintain proper spinal alignment after disc removal. Because these cages eliminate the need for an additional plate, they also help reduce postoperative complications — most notably dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing.
“If you pinch a nerve, it causes people a lot of pain,” Dr. Adams said. “But if you pinch the whole spinal cord, it doesn’t always hurt. So, people don’t always have that immediate urge to visit a neurosurgeon. The symptoms — balance issues, loss of feeling in their fingers and toes, trouble walking — all can creep up slowly. And it causes dysfunction, but not necessarily pain. But it’s amazing; you unpinch the spinal cord, and people get their function back.”
The results were instant.
“I’m lying there, and I have this neck brace on, and I know I’ve been through this big surgery, but I’m able to stand up,” Lisa said. “All the numbness and problems are not gone at this point, but they were already better. Just the walking I was able to do after the surgery was so much improved from what it was when I walked in. I could tell the difference right away.”
Recovery was slow, but steady.
Lisa wore a neck brace for the first few months. She couldn’t drive, nor get around all that well. She was mostly confined to the house, relying on a walker for stability. Frustrating, no doubt. But she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
“My mindset then, compared to my mindset before the surgery, was totally different,” Lisa said. “I used to be depressed. I didn’t know what to do. But then to know [my issue] was my neck, have the surgery, come out feeling so much better than I did when I went in was such a relief. I knew I was headed in the right direction.”
Now, four months after surgery, Lisa is up and moving and living almost like normal. She knows a full recovery could take up to a year but believes she’s already 70% to 80% better than the day she walked into Dr. Adams’ office.
She’s ready to get out on the lake again, to enjoy the life she so desperately missed. And now, with a young grandchild in the picture, she’s ready to pass on her family traditions to the next generation.
“Last year, I wasn’t even able to take him out on the boat,” she said. “And this year, I am so ready. I am so looking forward to being able to go out on my boat and just enjoy the lake, to have my freedom back. Because … it’s totally underrated.”
“Spinal cord recovery takes a while; it’s not a light switch,” Dr. Adams said. “But it is a blessing to have the patient come back into the office and show me pictures of them doing what they love. And for us, it’s not just about fixing the picture — the MRI or the CT scan. It’s about fixing the human, and have them regain function, decrease pain and improve quality of life. And when that happens, it’s a win for everybody.”