[Lisibug]

I believe Rick Delamarter, M.D., out of St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica (The Spine Institute) does multi level lumbar ADRs - pretty sure of it, in fact. I contacted his research department regarding my multi level cervical ADR requirement and they were willing to consider me for clinical trials, even with a previous fusion at one additional level. I ended up going to GY because insurance wasn't going to pay for either - and it was much cheaper to have it done by Bertagnoli. However, I know Dr. Delamarter's office has a department that deals wholly with working with patients' insurance companies. If your insurance would cover the one level ADR, which would include meds, hospital fees, anesthesiology fees and partial surgeon's fees, seems to me you might just have to pay for the two additional discs and extra surgeon's fees. This could be a cheaper option than going to GY. I personally know two people who have had very successful surgeries by him (one a three level fusion and the other a two level ADR - both 100% pain free now) and I haven't heard of a bad report on any of these forums from anyone who's had surgery by him. The research department wanted me to send in my MRI and any additional tests and they were going to look at it and let me know - so I'm sure they'd do the same for you and that in itself wouldn't cost anything, other than the cost of duplicating your tests and postage.

Sure wish you every success, wherever you end up having surgery - and that you feel much better.