PHILIP ANSELMO To Undergo Back Surgery On Monday

Former PANTERA/current SUPERJOINT RITUAL frontman Philip Anselmo is scheduled to undergo back surgery on Monday, November 21. If all goes well, Anselmo will be in the hospital for no more than three days before being allowed to return home for a longer period of recuperation.

In an interview with Hard Radio conducted a couple of years back (Link#1, Link#2),Anselmo spoke about his back problem which has reportedly plagued him since the late 1990s.

"Man, the percentage is 13%, successful, as far as success means no more pain in a regular life," he explained. "That's not very much to look forward to if you ask me, so I'm going to do what I can do until... and believe me, I had doctors tell me straight up, 'Wait as long as possible to have this particular operation.' What they mean by that is, 'Wait until you can't walk anymore,' because it's a very hard operation to come by and get through. The recovery time is from six months until up to a year, and I don't have a year to take off. You know, I really don't. I wish I did, but I don't. It's something I'm just going have to deal with. . . I'm hoping that one day this doctor has this incredible breakthrough on back problems and it's real for a change and maybe really help me out. If not, then I suppose one day I'm going to go until I can't go anymore. I'm going to go and go and go until they have to put me on the slab and do what they gotta do."

In an August 2004 interview with Anselmo, KNAC.COM's Sefany Jones described Philip's condition in the following way: "What you may not know about [Anselmo] is that a while back he crushed two vertebrae in his back — just from years of headbanging on stage, and other self-inflicted abuses. It causes him great agony on a daily basis, and he does take pain medication once every morning to relieve this pain. The only other option is surgery, which would require — and let me paraphrase Phil here — for his guts to be removed from his body through a large incision in the front of his body. They operate, and stuff his guts back in. Then they flip him over, do another operation, and stuff his guts back in. What he is left with is the 50/50 chance of being permanently paralyzed for the rest of his life. Behind where Phil is sitting, there is a shelf with over 30 bottles of vitamins, which he says he takes every single morning. He works out every single day to keep his back healthy. If he misses a day, severe pain wreaks havoc in his body and he is unable to function."