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Old 11-23-2019, 10:14 AM
JackBauer JackBauer is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 92
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Hey Emily.

Sorry you are going through this.

My journey started 7 years ago (approximately) with some lumbar herniations / bulging. It got somewhat better, but returned and even though the pain was not horrible, I could not see myself living with it forever. (In the end I delayed my lumbar surgery but just had two cervical ADR's implanted... Long story)

I found a YT video on the M6 and was intrigued. (I'd personally stay FAR away from that disc today) Then I found this site and slowly become comfortable with the idea of having surgery.

The problem for me was that the best disc out there, in mine and many others opinions are... The LP-ESP. Been in use in Europe for like 13 years, but not available in the USA yet due to the effort and cost associated with the FDA approval process.

Over time I realized that the benefits of the ESP - for something that will likely be in my body for 30-50 years... meant that a trip to Europe - he hassles of traveling and the extra cost... (as it's hard to get insurance coverage)... Well those costs and hassle (and I do not enjoy traveling) were totally insignificant compared to a 40+ year lifespan.

Plus surgeons in Europe literally have done THOUSANDS of these implantations compared to what most surgeons here in the US (using inferior discs) use.

So my thoughts for your situation are:

1) Consider traveling to Cologne, Germany... Barcelona, Spain... Zurich, or Dusseldorf... Getting what many consider to be the best technology in discs implanted by surgeons who have done thousands of them.

2) If you can delay it with other means (PT)... Then maybe in a few years the ESP discs are available in the USA and a bit more convenient.

There are surgeons in the US who have done a lot of ADR implantations - and some pretty highly respected... Like Texas Back Institute. And if the ESP was available in the USA, I certainly would have considered going to someone here.

But my judgement was the ESP was far and away the best, and was worth the extra effort and cost.

EDIT: I just re-read your comments and saw your point about muscle weakness. To me that suggests sooner rather than later intervention. I also wanted to recommend you join the FB ADR support group. There are people out there that will disagree with my advice; that other ADR models are "fine". Again for me it came down to this device being in me for a very long time... And I was also cognizant of the risk to adjacent discs if I used a device with fewer degrees of freedom.
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L4-L5 Broad Diffuse Bulge, mildly contacting left L5 nerve root
L5-S1 Broad Central Disc Protrusion mildly impinging left S1 nerve root
"Mild scoliosis of lumbar spine".
Four central disc protrusions in thoracic spine.

C5-C6, C6-C7 bulging, bone spurs. Imaging not looking good. Successful CP-ESP's placed in Oct 2019 by Dr. Desai.

Delayed lumbar surgery to work on bone density. Considering options now, some but minimal bone density improvement. Will only use LP-ESP.
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