Graceful Movement: Revision Spine Surgery Gets Retired Nurse Moving Again
August 19, 2025
If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That mindset is usually reserved for riding a bike or interviewing for a job.
In Grace Sorrentino's case, it could apply to her journey with leg and foot pain, which resulted in two lower spine surgeries to get her back to her normal, active life.
Grace, a 72-year old retired cardiac ICU nurse from a large hospital in Springfield, Illinois, is no stranger to the medical profession and the potential for high-quality care to impact the lives of patients.
After nearly 45 years in the field, she retired in 2018.
"I loved every minute of it," she said.
Steps Toward Surgery
Following her retirement, Grace started experiencing leg and foot pain that twisted its way into affecting her daily life.
The pain eventually got so bad that she could only walk 20 feet before having to sit down to relieve the pressure.
After seeking care in her former hometown, she checked the boxes for all the conservative measures, including physical therapy and shots to reduce her pain, and she was ultimately scheduled for surgery on her lower spine.
Her Illinois surgeon performed L4-L5 fusion surgery to stabilize her spine — the fusing of the L4 and L5 vertebrae located in the lower, "lumbar" spine, which is a procedure that can provide relief for conditions like spinal stenosis, disc degeneration and herniated discs.
Grace thought she was out of the woods. Her pain had subsided, and she and her husband Dave prepared to make the nearly 900-mile move from Springfield to the Lowcountry, a region that held lots of fond memories from past vacations on Hilton Head Island.
Second Verse, Same as the First
Not long after their move to Sun City, Grace's pain started again. She tried to minimize it initially.
"I thought, 'OK, it's better than it was, at least I'm walking,'" she said.
But the stubborn leg and foot pain, pain that she thought had been addressed by her surgery back in Illinois, stuck around.
"It got worse, and worse, and worse," she admitted, "to the point where I'd get 10 feet, and I'd have to sit."
Simple activities, such as grocery shopping with her husband, became excruciating as her pain persisted.
"I'd literally stop in the middle of the aisle and bend over like I was touching my toes," she recalled. "I'm sure people thought the only things I bought were on the bottom shelf of the grocery store!"
She wasn't sleeping at night, couldn't roll over in bed or sit up without her back freezing up.
Enough was Enough
Grace followed the same process when seeking care in the Lowcountry as she did in the Midwest, exhausting all conservative measures before turning, once again, to surgery. After her priamry care provider recommended Dr. Andrew Castro, board-certified fellowship-trained orthopedic spine surgeon at Beaufort Memorial, Grace decided to talk to him about her options.
"He spent so much time talking to me about it and answering my questions," Grace said.
She wasn't jazzed about the prospect of a second surgery to correct the first procedure — but if she wanted to be able to walk without experiencing debilitating leg and foot pain Dr. Castro told her, she didn't have much choice.
"She's a perpetual motion machine," Dr. Castro said. "Her nature is super active. She was kind of down when she came to see me because she couldn't do the things she wanted."
Round 2
In October 2023, Grace underwent a revision spine surgery performed by Dr. Castro to not only fix the original L4-L5 lumbar fusion done in her 2018 procedure, but fuse the L3 and L4 vertebrae as well.
"The procedure itself, I was quite wowed by it," she said. "I really, really had a good experience. I thank my lucky stars every day; I'm afraid I would have ended up in a wheelchair." Grace said that overall experience with Beaufort Memorial, especially Dr. Castro and his nursing staff was "fantastic."
"I'm a retired nurse, and people in the medical profession, we're tough on other medical facilities. We have a certain standard of care that we're looking for," she said. "I can't say enough about the care I got at Beaufort Memorial."
And, as for Dr. Castro, she "sings his praises" every chance she gets.
"Grace is a big of a dynamo," laughed Dr. Castro. "She was a great patient because she'll do what you say. She wants to get better."
He added that usual recovery time has patients walking a mile a day at four week post-op, and Grace was right on track and did a "super job."
"Before the surgery, I couldn't walk 10 feet. Now, there's not much I don't do...honestly, I gave Dr. Castro a hug. I told him 'I know you don't want to hear this' - because he's so humble - 'but you gave me my life back.'"
Back on Her Feet, Pronto
With her recovery complete and her pain-free movement restored Grace has been able to get back to enjoying her retirement: she does yoga once a week, a dance exercise class, walks three miles every morning with her husband, golfs to her heart's content and even picked up a part-time job a few days a week at Beaufort Drug Company's lunch counter.
A travel opportunity arose in October 2024 — Grace and her husband were a part of a large group of family and friends that got to experience "la dolce vita" on a Mediterranean cruise that took them to destinations in Italy (think Rome, Naples, Sicily and Venice), plus Greece and Croatia.
That trip involved lots of walking and being on her feet — and, 12 months after spine surgery at Beaufort Memorial, Grace was sightseeing with the best of them.
"Before my surgery, I could barely walk, and here was a trip where we'd be walking on cobblestone," she laughed. "We walked all over Rome — in Italy, wherever you go, it's uphill one way and uphill the other!"
Without her care at Beaufort Memorial, Grace said she could never have dreamed of traveling or being on her feet — or doing any of the things she loves that make up her lifestyle here in the Lowcountry.
Call 843-522-5485 to discuss your symptoms or request an appointment with a board-certified spine specialist in the Beaufort Memorial Advanced Orthopedics & Spine Program.
