[Back2life]

Hey there everyone, new to the fourms, not so new to back problems. I think this is a great place for people to come together and share stories, give support and advice.

After being involved in a car accident, I was left with a ruptured L4-L5. Give me some time and I'll get around to scanning in my MRI's. I went to a local neurosurgeon in my area, Dr. Ali Najafi. He suggested a discectomy surgery to remove the pieces of disc that had broken off. Being I was in such severe pain, I was ready to try anything. At this point I was on 10mg Norco 12 tablets daily. I could not stand straight, I was hunched over terribly. The more I would try and stand straight, the more painful it became. I had radiating pain into my legs, etc. I literally would cry myself to sleep at night I was in such pain, never able to find a way to get comfortable. The pain had taken over my life. I had dropped out of college As I was unable to walk from class to class.

SO... Fastforward to the surgery. I go under, expecting the best. I wakeup, the first few days are great... Pain free, standing tall. Then BOOM. The pain is back.... I go in for another MRI, and the disc had re-ruptured. SO, discectomy #2, one week after the first. Once again I woke up and was doing much better... After about a week, it happened again. At this point my surgeon realized there was not enough disc left to perform a third discectomy... He then suggested lumbar fusion.

Okay.. So here I am, 22 years old, facing a fusion that would limit my mobility. I wasnt really looking forward to that. He then referred me to Dr. Christopher Ames at UCSF Spine Center. Dr Ames informed me of a new procedure, ADR replacement surgery. Unfortunatley my insurace would only cover a fusion, so cash payment it was. Dr. Ames informed me of the costs, which I could not afford.

It was then my father began researching day and night. We found Dr. Bertagnoli of ProSpine. Talk about a life saver... I flew to Straubing germany, and underwent ADR replacement. I was pretty nervous going overseas for the first time, let alone for surgery.

I will post another thread on my experiences in Straubing and with the ProSpine team, but let me tell you... They are great. I know there can be complications, but this was the best option I could have ever have chosen. Within two weeks of my surgery, I was walking more in one day that I would have in a whole month prior! I can't say enough about the team at ProSpine...

I am now going on four years post-op, and am doing wonderful! My pain has been reduced 95-99 percent, and that's not exaggerating.

I wish everyone the best.

If anyone has any data on the lifetime of the ProDisc, let me know. I assume I am going to have complications in the future, just curious when I may expect that.

Regards,
Ben