I've been to a spine doctor who has a teaching position at a medical school, and when I asked about ADR he told me that 'you're not a car, you can't go around putting in spare parts, you know'. When I pointed out that they do knee and hip replacement, he said that they 'have had some success with that, I suppose' :insane:

He knew nothing about it, and told me it was the most ludicrous thing he ever heard of.

So yes, we often know more than these high priced 'experts'. Sometimes it doesn't take much.........

Sorry for the sarcasm...I'm having a rough day, red tape wise.

Well, I just found out that Dr Balderston does not do consultations or appointments ovre the phone:(

Just thought I'd give everyone an update on what I have going on.

I can not get in to see a long term pain management doctor. Apparently no one in this area wants to do it long term :raspberry: The doctor I was seeing does, but he's leaving his practice and doesn't know where he is going right now. So I went to my primary care doctor and he put me on the fentonyl (sp?) patch since the hydrocodone wasn't working. Wow, what a difference. I feel normal again. Very minimal pain, on my 4th day of the patches. I haven't had any side affects really, so I've been able to come off of the phenegran I was taking with the oral pain meds. I'm not as sleepy and more alert now! I feel so much better. I also got a water pill for the swelling in my feet and that has helped a lot also. My feet are normal now. I know all this is just masking my problems until I make my decision, but it's nice to be pain free for a little while.

And I have done my research on the patch. I know it's going to be a pain to come off of. No matter what surgery I have, I'm going to start wheening off of it before the surgery and tell them to not put it back on after I have it.

I have 3 doctor appointments set up, 2 local and one in chicago. The chicago one is first on June 19th.. Watch me get 3 different opinions, even from what my original surgeon said...

So here's a question for ya... Do you think it would be alright for me to walk? I wasn't cuz the pain was so bad, but now with the patch the pain is minimal, so do you think walking would be alright for my disc or could it do more damage?

yes weight bearing movement like walking or ellipitcal is very good. Don't push it but bed rest is bad. It's important to keep as much core muscle strength to support your back. Just listen to your body and watch your posture.

Are you driving while on the Fentanyl patches? I went from Vicodin, to Percocet, to Fentanyl Patches to Morphine pills to deal with increasing pain when trying to return to work post 2 level ADr ...I didn't realize how "fuzzy" I was on these serious meds and I hit a parked car. So I had to seriously re-evaluate the situation. I tried all those hard core meds and they didn't really help. I had better success with a combination of Vicodin and an anti-inflammatory called Relafin. I was surprised how much the anti-inflammatory helped rather than uping the narcotic levels.

I'm not fixed, but I'm trying hard to get off the serious meds. I spent too many years uneducated about my pain and lying in bed as much as possible to minimize the pain. I really didn't do myself any favors. The trick is to learn how to move and exercise in healthy ways for your back and do as much therapuetic exercise as you can tollerate. You probably need PT to help guide you...and if your lucky enough to find a really good pilates instructor...you could try private pilates sessions but things need to be modified in order for you to get good results. I've discovered that there are a lot of pilates instructors who are unable to adjust and accommodate people with back issues, but if you find one, they are priceless.

so here's an update...

I went to my original surgeon Monday to get some answers to as to way he wants to do another discetomy when he said he couldn't and instability issues and all that.

The interesting things was while we were in the waiting room, his nurse was acting as receptionist and tells one of his patients he is getting aways from back surgery and leaving the current practice to start one with a few other specialists, like an oncologist, that focuses on tumors of the brain and spine. All this is to happen in like the next month!

Now I'm just thinking he wants to do a quick fix by doing the discectomy so he can go on to bigger and better things.

we get back there and he goes on to tell me nothing about what i just over heard, but that he doesn't want to fuse, as if I'd let him, since I'm so young, and thinks the discectomy can at least give me some more time. "it could be 1 yr or 20 yrs before you have to have surgery again" instability should not be too much of an issue according to him....

i'm think quick cash grab honostly....

Symara,

I think one discectomy is enough. I don't know if there was a partial laminectomy(hemilaminectomy) that came with your discectomy but if there was, you probably have a lot of scar tissue that doesn't help matters and alo if they took too much of the lamina, their could be some stability problems. I'd skip the offer of another discectomy and go straight for the ADR if the disc is your only problem.

Mark

Mark,

That's what I'm hoping to do, but only if I can get the insurance to cover it. So we'll see what happens.

I have 3 more dr's to get opinions from in the next 3 weeks. Pretty much one every week until July 4th. So That weekend I'll probably be making my decision on what to do and start proceeding that way.

So went to Dr Mather in Chicago...
 

and wow, what a difference between Doctors! Apparently the Dr I was going to doesn't know what he's doing... Even the staff at M&M Orthopaedics seemed to know more.

They did an x-ray as soon as I got there, and then Dr Mather came in. He told me I was not a candidate for ADR for 3 reasons:
1. Weight
2. Nerve compression
3. I have a facet joint cracked

I know the facet joint is the main reason he won't do it, and I wouldn't want to do it with everything I've researched. I'm just mad that my previous surgeon didn't pick this up.

He also said that my disc is completely collapsed and a discectomy would do nothing for me and only make it worse. I'm getting very close to bone on bone. He wants to do a fusion, which at this point I understand completely. I just wish there was another option. He wants to do the fusion with the screws and cage and instead of a full bone graph, he just takes marrow out of the hip. He said I would only be off 4-6 weeks because of that, not longer due to a bone graph healing.

I really trust this Dr, he put me at ease and since he does ADR I know he was being honost with me.

I have two more Drs to see in the next two weeks. I'm going to see what their suggestions are and how they do their fusions. Depending upon that I will make my decision on who to go to.

And for those of you that asked about him specializing in failed back surgeries, yes, he will do revisions. He has only had to do one, and didn't specify if it was his own patient or not, but will work on others who saw another Dr for the ADR.

He has only done 11 ADRs due to insurance not covering them, but I would say if he's only had one revision out of that, it's a pretty good success rate. He was talking about how difficult it can be to place them and having to make sure they are correct, so he seems pretty compitent (sp?) even though he hasn't done many.

Local Dr
 

Went to the local Orthopaedic surgeon this morning. He was also better than my original surgeon.

He wants to do two level fusion though!!! He doesn't think L5-S1 can handle the L4/L5 fusion and will end up going out also.

Oh I think I forgot to mention before, the Dr in Chicago also recognized that my L5/S1 is starting to degenerate, but as long as I lose weight after my fusion I should be good.

I have gone from one disc having problems to two discs and a cracked facet joint. I have learned my lesson about getting multiple opinions, never automatically trust the first Dr you talk too!!!!

I have one more Appointment July 2nd with another surgeon. I guess this will help me decide which way to go.

In the mean time, the local surgeon today has a nerve test scheduled for me to see what kind of permenant damage I may have.

another doc
 

.. but now is the best time to find out exactly what is wrong with you so that you get the right treatment. Hope you are coping ok with all the different opinions and just focus on the fact that you are getting closer to being able to decide properly.