[Cynlite]

I had surgery with Dr. Clavel less than two weeks ago. Just a note for you for later, he has an excellent track record compared to the surgeries I've read about in the U.S. and in my opinion is the best Europe has to offer. I spent four months reading the post surgery forum here and spreading the data. I agree that surgery is what you do as a last resort so, if you can manage your symptoms with specific lumbar exercises and the drugs then that's a great plan. Lumbar surgery is much more difficult to recover from than cervical which is why I took a pass on it while I'm here. I have some issues with L3/L4 but, also know that the cervical and lumbar spine are interrelated mechanically speaking. I've already noticed an improvement in my back and legs since the surgery and hope to put off a lumbar surgery as long as I can. In my case, my facets are shot so fusion is all that was offered at this time for my lumbar spine and that would compromise the adjacent levels. A fusion just didn't seem like the prudent thing to do for me at this time either. I believe that the body will do its best to compensate and is a remarkable healing machine. Keep an eye on your facet joints because if they go, then getting an ADR kind of goes out the window unless you are successful at restoring them through stem cell injections. Still as you mentioned, technology and medicine move on and we don't know what the next year will have to offer.