[Cynlite]

Ahhhhhh thanks Colorado Babe! The strength comes from being raised as a military brat LOL. I learned a lot about life way sooner than I would have liked to have but, those lessons came in handy so, I'm not complaining

I hope that my threads will someday help others as the ones before me helped me! This is really a great community. I am really DETERMINED to be a success story. Living in constant pain is no way to live life. But, for those of us that do, I learned something along the way and then observed it in my dogs. My dogs don't have any emotional attachment to feeling pain so, they just keep on truckin' after a major surgery. It's pretty amazing. I just try really hard to keep my emotions happy and not let the pain get me down.

BTW, I like your surgeon's slogan. It's something like "friends don't let friends get fused." I love it! I tell everyone I know about the alternatives but, sadly so often it falls on deaf ears. People seem to be really convinced that the surgeons doing the "golden standard" know what they are talking about and that's as far as they look.