Angie Jacobson was a woman on the go. The mom of a teen son and preteen daughter was a small-business owner who played keyboards in two bands and unwound with a brisk game of tennis or bracing swims in the Bay.
![Angie Jacobson looks out of a window in a boathouse wearing a swimsuit](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-05/awake-spine-surgery-boathouse-mobile.jpg?h=8fbd3932)
![Angie Jacobson looks out of a window in a boathouse wearing a swimsuit](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-boathouse-01.jpg?h=2d44e782)
That changed a couple of years ago when a backache suddenly escalated, spasming down her leg in ripples of intense pain.
![Angie Jacobson sets her head down on the keyboard of her piano](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-piano-head-resting-mobile-02.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson sets her head down on the keyboard of her piano](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-piano-head-resting-02.jpg?h=2d44e782)
Unloading the dishwasher or prepping food required sitting on a stool. Walking from her car to the store meant stopping every 10 feet to take a deep breath.
![Surgeons operating](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-surgeons-mobile-03.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Surgeons operating](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-surgeons-03.jpg?h=2d44e782)
The diagnosis was lumbar spondylolisthesis and stenosis, narrowing of the spinal canal due to slippage of the disc and bone, resulting from age-related wear and tear.
Physicians suggested spinal fusion or decompression, which required general anesthesia and a hospital stay of up to three days.
![Angie Jacobson puts her hands to her heart and bows her head in an exam room](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-patient-room-mobile-04.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson puts her hands to her heart and bows her head in an exam room](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-patient-room-04.jpg?h=2d44e782)
That didn’t sit well with Jacobson who, when faced with a double mastectomy after an early-stage breast cancer diagnosis, sought a less-invasive lumpectomy.
![Angie Jacobson stares out across the city from a balcony railing](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-balcony-mobile-05.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson stares out across the city from a balcony railing](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-balcony-05.jpg?h=2d44e782)
“I’d become a self-advocate and learned that with medical treatment, less is sometimes more.”
![Praveen Mummaneni wears a surgical mask and face shield during an operation](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-surgeon-mobile-07.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Praveen Mummaneni wears a surgical mask and face shield during an operation](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-surgeon-07.jpg?h=2d44e782)
This time, Jacobson interviewed several surgeons, including Praveen Mummaneni, a co-director of the UCSF Spine Center, located at UC San Francisco’s Parnassus Heights campus.
![Praveen Mummaneni holds a model of the human spinal column](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-doctor-mobile-06.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Praveen Mummaneni holds up a model of the human spinal column while talking to patient Angie Jacobson](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-doctor-and-patient-06.jpg?h=2d44e782)
Since 2018, Mummaneni has been conducting and researching “awake spine surgery” at UCSF – one of the first hospitals in the U.S. to offer it.
![Praveen Mummaneni conducting a spine surgery](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/Mummaneni-Praveen-spine-surgery.jpg?h=8abcec71)
The surgery is done with a spinal anesthetic, and there’s no need for a breathing tube or ventilator, which saves time. Patients also avoid the fogginess and short-term memory issues associated with general anesthesia.
![Angie Jacobson laughs as she jokingly bumps elbows with a doctor](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-doctor-and-patient-elbow-bumping-mobile-08.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson laughs as she jokingly bumps elbows with a doctor](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-doctor-and-patient-elbow-bumping-08.jpg?h=2d44e782)
This fit Jacobson’s “less is more” philosophy. She went home within 23 hours. Four days after surgery, she was walking daily.
![Angie Jacobson walks with her son and daughter down a street in San Francisco](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-family-walking-mobile-09.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson walks with her son and daughter down a street in San Francisco](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-family-walking-09.jpg?h=2d44e782)
Being back on her feet means Jacobson can focus on the issues that matter most to her.
![Angie Jacobson raises her arms above her head while she stands in the water of the bay, ready to dive in](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-swimming-mobile-11.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson raises her arms above her head while she stands in the water of the bay, ready to dive in](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-swimming-11.jpg?h=2d44e782)
She now looks forward to rejoining Swim Across America Team Susan Survives to raise funds for pediatric cancer at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals.
![Angie Jacobson floats on her back in the bay](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_square_card/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-floating-bay-mobile-13.jpg?h=f0d95172)
![Angie Jacobson floats on her back in the bay](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-04/awake-spine-surgery-floating-bay-13.jpg?h=2d44e782)
“As a cancer survivor and as a mother, children battling cancer is a subject that’s close to my heart.”
![An aerial view of the Parnassus campus as it would look with the new hospital](/sites/default/files/styles/full_width_news_package_banner/public/2022-10/new-hospital-aerial-parnassus-mount-sutro.jpg?h=4362216e)
UCSF is transforming its Parnassus Heights campus so that patients like Angie can continue to benefit from the convergence of world-class research, education, and patient care.