When Mich Wagner tells you he’s had 23 surgeries it seems incredible, then he tells you stories from his 20+ years as a police officer and SWAT team “Breacher” (the team member that breaks down the doors), and it starts to make sense. In 2003, Mich breached a door that was reinforced, which ruptured several vertebrae and caused him to undergo his first surgery. Mich’s surgeries haven’t been limited to his back - he’s also had two double knee replacements - but his back has given him the most trouble. He had seven back surgeries by age 30 and was getting used to always being the youngest guy in the doctor’s waiting room with the worst situation.
Mich’s life was busy outside the police force too, he and his wife have 18-year-old triplets and 8-year-old twins. All five conceived at once through in vitro, Mich says they have “quintuplets…born 10 years apart.” The twins were only two years old, and his wife, Rebecca, was a full-time attorney, when Mich’s pain and mobility slid from bad to worse. Mich had to quit the SWAT team but was still working full-time as a police officer. Slowly over the years, and six more back surgeries, he had to quit coaching his kids’ little league football - or even throwing a ball with them, they had to install a step-in shower so that he could shower by himself, and Rebecca had to miss a jury trial one day to take Mich to the hospital when he couldn’t get off the floor.
Mich’s in-laws knew he was struggling and suggested he try a new doctor; they recommended Dr. Sanjay Jatana. “Dr. Jatana is a different kind of doctor,” Mich says, “he changed my life.” Dr. Jatana realized how important Mich’s wife was to him and would be to his recovery. Dr. Jatana carefully recorded diagnoses and drew diagrams for Rebecca when she could not attend appointments. Mich was well past non-surgical options like injections, but they tried a few just to be sure. Then in September of 2022, Mich underwent an L1-L2 lumbar decompression, T11 – L2 fusion, and L2 – L4 hardware removal surgery with Dr. Jatana. Heather Weber, Dr. Jatana’s PA, explained the surgery took longer than expected because of extensive metallosis (metal debris embedded into his muscle and tissues from breakdown of his old spinal instrumentation).
Heather and Dr. Jatana “held on to me after surgery,” Mich says. Because of his condition prior to surgery, they knew his recovery would be harder than usual, so they saw him every two weeks and exchanged emails weekly discussing what pain was appropriate and what pain was cause for concern. And then, right when Dr. Jatana said he would, Mich began to feel better.
Rebecca, a partner in her law firm by now, finally convinced Mich to take a medical retirement from the police force, which was the best thing for his body and for his family. Now Mich gets to coach little league again, and volunteer at the twins’ school, and his flexibility and mobility are better than they have been in many years. Even with all his past medical challenges, and even though he says he “has more hardware than Robocop,” Mich feels blessed, “I don’t know what I did to deserve my wife, Rebecca,” he says, “and I don’t know where I would be without Dr. Jatana.”
