[NJ Gene]

Sewing Violinist,

Welcome to the forum. I'm very sorry to hear about the pain you've been going through for 24 years. What concerns me the most is that you mention that at C4/C5 you have a protrusion that almost touches spinal cord. In my opinion, seek out several surgeons in the U.S., as well as Europe who perform ADR. I had a similar situation twice, in 1998 and in 2010, but my protrusion was pressing against the spinal cord each time. I had fusions at both levels. I was not familiar with ADR in 2010 and might have elected to go that route had I known about it. Fortunately, I have good range of motion even though 2 levels are fused.

Many members will give you suggestions. I recommend that you contact Texas Back Institute (TBI) and have Dr. Zigler or Dr. Blumenthal review your MRI. They are one of the best places in the U.S. for ADR. They also have a good record with insurance reimbursement for ADR. It might turn out to be a situation where you have a hybrid approach (ADR one level, then fusion the level below that and ADR on the bottom). Even if insurance covers one level of ADR and the fusion and you have to pay for one level of ADR yourself, you will save a lot of money, as compared to paying the entire cost yourself. However, I do recommend that you get the opinion of some European surgeons as well. They have more experience in ADR than most U.S. surgeons and they use some of the most advanced devices (i.e. the M6 is one of them), many of which aren't approved yet by the FDA in the U.S. It's kind of ironic that the M6 is produced in Sunnyvale, CA, but is not approved by the FDA, yet it's been used in Europe for a decade.

I wish you the best of luck whichever way you end up going.

Gene