[LBP]

Also, Harrion, do you remember the story posted by a firefighter to Medicare -to encourage them to cover ADR? He had a moving story not so much about ins but how much ADR can help us. I wonder if it was easy or difficult for him to get his. Maybe I'll try to track him down see if we can get him to submit it our thread here. I don't think he's a member. If someone thinks he's a member...let me know...here's the story that was posted as a public comment to CMS:

Commenter: Kenneth
Title: Lieutenant
Organization: Westerville Division of Fire
Date: 09/13/2005
Comment:
I wish each and every one of the individuals who will be making the decision necessary to provide this surgery to medicare patients could have been in my body prior to September 30 2002. You would have been experiencing incredible pain from your lower back through your hip to your ankle with numbness. You would have found no position comfortable to sleep in or to drive a car. Sitting would feel like you had a knife in your hip. Your children would be suffering because you as their father would no longer be able to play and do the normal things fathers do with their children. You would most likely be home sick more than at work, which puts a hardship on your employer.That was where I was prior to having Dr. Brad Mullen in Columbus, Ohio save my life with the artificial disc implant. I have been a firefighter since 1980. Before that I was a hard-working farmboy. I had worn my back out from all of the work I had done in the past. Degenerative Disc Disease. I was 100 percent pain free the day after my surgery!! Four days after surgery I walked 2000 feet to get the mail and newspaper. 100 days after surgery I returned to full duty as officer on a firefighting engine company in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. I had investigated the other surgery option, fusion, and I would never have returned to the fire service. I would never have ridden horseback with my children. I would never have lived pain free as I have since September 30, 2002.The device is worth its weight in gold. I have put it to the test. Since its insertion, I have slipped off the side of the fire truck once while getting equipment off and fallen on ice twice. Per department guidelines, and for my own peace of mind, I had x-rays taken after each incident and no movement of the device was indicated. Nor did I have any discomfort from the device.Please do not deny others of this wonderful piece of life-saving hardware. I have two co-workers who love their job but also need this surgery. I also have two other friends, one police and one fire, who have had fusion surgeries and both never worked a day again after surgery and have nothing but unprintable words to say about their conditions.You or someone in your family could be in my position in the future. Do not deny them of the chance to live a better life.