[Throttlejockey]

Dear All,

After years of neck and arm pain, my wife was recently diagnosed with cervical spinal stenosis and myelopathy. My wife is 47 years old, with a fairly active life style. We also have a Son who is 3 years old and a daughter of 7. She has had symptoms off and on since the early 1990's, and even had X-Rays done in 1998 by a Chiropractor that indicated she had issues in the C5/6 and C6/7 levels.

We have seen four different doctors here in Chicago and have four different opinions. The first doctor from Illinois Bone and Joint suggested we move forward with 2-level ACDF asap, did not mention ADR (we did not know about ADR at that point either).

The second doctor from Rush said that we should hold off, continue treatment, and try to put off the surgery as long as possible. That doing nothing was better due to the slow development of her disease and the risk associated with surgery.

The third doctor from Rush (big shot) did not offer ADR, even though I knew he was involved with Medtronic on the Prestige and Bryan. Then after I prompted, he backtracked and suggested a 2-level with the Bryan Disc (not FDA approved and Medtronic is not marketing right now??) or a hybrid with the Prestige on top and a fuse on the bottom at the C6/7. He also hedged on needing to do it right away and suggested PT (even though his nurse said we are probably going to have to do surgery).

The last surgeon suggested she was a good candidate for the 2-Level ADR using the Mobi-C device and that we should not postpone the decision at all as he did not want to see the condition deteriorate. However, after we went to see him the second time, he admitted that he has never done a 2-level Mobi-C and has only done a handful of 1-level Mobi-C's under supervision at TBI in Plano, and the rest of his experience is on the Prestige.

Now we are at a crossroads as to what to do. I am sending her stuff down to TBI to see if we can get into see Dr. Hisey who was on the Mobi-C clinical study. But now I am getting cold feet for the following reasons:

1) Can we get the 2-level ADR with the Mobi-C reimbursed by BCBSIL? The current policy is to only cover 1-level. Can anyone help with the process?

2) Is the Mobi-C the right solution? I have seen no posts on this forum, or any forums for that matter regarding outcomes with Mobi-C. Why is that??? If anyone is reading this and can direct me to outcomes on the Mobi-C (that are not from LDR marketing/sales departments) please do. Also, a couple of "anti Mobi-C" micro sites have popped up recently on the web saying that the lack of cushioning and the unconstrained design of the Mobi-C makes it a poor choice. These are generated by folks connected to Dr. Clavel and Dr. Ritter-Lang in Europe. Whats up with that???

3) Should we attempt to go to Europe and do a 2-level M6? Can we even hope to get BCBSIL reimbursement?

4) Are there any resources available from LDR or Spinal Kynetics that can help us with insurance? Do you guys have any NAMES/NUMBERS of people to talk to?

5) Even though two of the doctors said we haven't a moment to wait and need to get this done right away, are there benefits to waiting in terms of insurance reimbursement policies or maybe approval of the M6?

I know this was a long email. But we are really nervous about the whole thing and need help.

Thanks!

Dave