[jss]

Amy,

Condolences on such a miserable story and on your continued pain.

Surgeons seem unwilling to admit a mistake. We've seen xrays posted here where malplacement of an implant was such that the error was evident even to our untrained eyes; the surgeon all the while claiming it was perfect. If all your current surgeon can do is look at the images and admire the immaculate nature of his work, then it's time for a review by another surgeon; you will get nowhere with this one.

Many on this board have undergone testing for metal allergies before accepting an ADR. From your story I'm left to wonder if you have such allergies. If so, it would seem that only having the ProDisc explanted will help. There are ceramic and carbon plates and screws that can be used for the subsequent fusion. They don't have to be aluminum, vanadium, cobalt, titanium and the other metals in the implant alloys.

If y'all do finally go the fusion route, whatever you do, DO NOT allow a fusion over the ProDisc. A number of posters here have had fusions with their ProDisc-C's left in place either by smearing BMP over the device or by posterior instrumentation; and the outcome is almost always very bad.

The size of the implant is extremely important; so much so that Synthes came out with new version of the ProDisc specifically for people with small bones. In correct sizing can cause subsidence, auto-fusion, spurring and even the locking of the joint into extreme hyper-extension. Do you know if you got the ProDisc Nova?

Good luck, Jeff