Hi am a 35yo gal. Was involved in a minor MVA in Nov 2002. Took a conservative approach for my herniated discs in lower spine. And joint issues in my neck.
Started with Chiropractic. Went on to PT and steroid injections for next year and a half. Sent onto a surgeon who started with a discogram(9-14-04) which showed that my lowest herniated disc had ruptured. He was suggesting a Tlif fusion. I did not want to settle for that. Have since learned I am a canidate for the ADR. My surgeon locally had only begun to learn how to do the ADR. I did not want to be his first.
I am now seeing a surgeon (Schnieder(sp?)) at the University Hospital Utah.
Has anyone had ADR at University Hospital Utah?

I am glad to have found this group. I am appreciating the information. It helps to know that I am not alone.

Hoping for low pain days for everyone.
Katrina :-)

Katrina,

Welcome and I hope you find lots of info here, as I have. I live in Nevada and was the first to get the insurance coverage for ADR for my local doc then I found ADR-Support. I took off on a doctor tour its all a plane flight away for me. I saw a few ADR docs but will share my favorite with you. Dr Regan in LA and he was involved in the US trials for the Charite and he said that there is a learning carve to ADR and their have been problems with being someone�s first. He has had no problems after the first 20 and is up to 150+. Sorry don't know anyone in Utah. But you can read more about Regan here:

http://www.spinesource.com/about.html

Good luck and again welcome! http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_smile.gif

A possible place to search would be here:

http://www.depuyspine.com/chariteloc...ults.asp?st=UT

and

http://www.depuyspine.com/chariteloc...ults.asp?st=ID

Keeping in mind that:

a. The above lists are not all inclusive
b. Even if a surgeon is on the list, it doesn't necessarily mean that they have actually done any Charite ADR procedures

Welcome to the forum!

David

Katrina,

Ditto to what everyone has said so far. Best thing to do is keep an open mind and make absolutely sure that you are a candidate for ADR by finding out everything that is going on with your spine AND researching all of your options out there.

I am one year post-op from a 2 level Prodisc ADR (lumbar) and so far so good. BUT - I must mention that I went abroad to have this done and paid out of pocket. However, I have my life back again(keeping fingers crossed).

Greetings and welcome! We can always use more people to help paddle this boat! http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_smile.gif

Thank you for the welcome. I am glad to have found this group. I look forward to getting to know ya all.
Katrina :-)

Katrina, don't forget about the other resources, like papers, available here:

http://www.adrsupport.org/content.asp?cid=198

Welcome to our Internet family!

http://adrsupport.org/groupee_common...icon_smile.gif