[hey_look_its_dave]

Hi,

I had an L5-S1 herniation (left-side) since 1997. I toughed it out until January 2009 when I had the herniation trimmed.

That significantly improved my sciatica, but didn't help with lower back pain. I knew this would be the case beforehand, however, so I wasn't complaining.

I had a good summer walking and bike riding etc, but unfortunately in late July 2009, I reherniated the disc. The latest MRI shows another bulge in the disc.

I don't understand why trimming the disc ever works for anybody, since it loses all it's hoop strength once it ruptures, and trimming it only weakens it further. Regardless, apparently that's all some people ever need. I was told to do lots of walking after the surgery, and I did TONS of walking. Which, it seems to me, just peens the disc; of course it failed again!

Anyway, everytime I go in for surgery, I risk infection, surgical misshaps etc. Clearly this disc is going to continue all the way down to bone-on-bone. I don't want to repeatedly roll the dice and get discectomies. And none of this is addressing the fact that it feels like someone swung a baseball bat into my lower back.

EDIT: All other discs are in perfect condition. Just L5-S1 is messed up.

My question: Am I a candidate for ADR? All the investigations I've done say "no" because I have nerve compression due to disc herniation. I don't understand this. Do I need to keep having discectomies until it's bone-on-bone, and then if I have pain, pursue fusion or ADR?

Dave