Even though he’s retired, Richard Norman likes to stay busy. In fact, the 70-year-old tree crew veteran still works part time at Willie’s Chain Saw Shop in Rapid City, where he repairs two stroke engines. “Chainsaws, trimmers, augers, anything like that; and some oddball stuff that nobody knows how to work on,” as he puts it.
Partially because of his background in physical labor and partially because he spent his youth playing sports, Richard has experienced back pain for most of his life. “I used to do some pretty stupid stuff. I used to jump off the top of my truck like a paratrooper. I used to take 10 or so cases of cans — as much as I could pick up with my arms — and carry it. Plus, being on the tree crew for Wilson’s Tree Service and Black Hills Energy, I was always lifting and carrying equipment,” he says.
In 2019, Richard was diagnosed with cancer of the lower intestine. During chemotherapy, he gained over 30 pounds, which he attributes to making his back pain worse. “Usually, you lose weight,” he says. “After the second year of chemo, it was taking me 15 minutes to straighten up. And the back pain just got worse and worse.”
An oncologist suggested that Richard get examined for arthritis in his back and referred him to
Steven G. Frost, M.D., of the Pain Management Clinic in Rapid City. Dr. Frost determined that Richard had lumbar degenerative joint disease with lumbar radiculopathy (osteoarthritis of the back with sciatica). He elected to give Richard a lower spine steroid injection, which was administered as an epidural.
“Our goal at Pain Management is to help people and patients live in as pain-free a way as possible,” says Dr. Frost. “Sometimes all it takes is finding the right treatment to give relief for what otherwise might be a whole lifetime of suffering through pain. Richard is a great example of that.”
Richard received his first and only injection in early July. “The injection was painless. I was like, ‘That’s it?’” Richard says. “As I sat up on the table, I felt it; it worked that fast. It was unreal.”
Some friends that live down the road from Richard had previously asked him to remove a tree on their property. “It was probably about a 100-foot pine. I went over and looked at it and I told them I’d try to get to it, depending on how I felt. I felt so good that I went back and just took that tree down the same day as my injection,” Richard says.
Ever since his injection, Richard has been pain-free. “I can actually do what I want to now. I’m more active. I can go out and mow the yard and not suffer from it,” he says. “Before, I was walking like an old man. For some reason sitting on a flight tightened my back up. It would take me a while to get up and unfold from an airplane and stumble out. Well, we recently took a trip with a couple of the grandkids to Washington and that didn’t happen. The treatment has actually been totally life-changing.”
Story and Photo by Kory Lanphear