[Maddie]

Steve, I'm sorry to see you in such a position at such a young age. I have been looking at Stenum as well, but had conflicting diagnosis from two other doctors....all different.

I bit the bullet and went to see one of the top surgeons in the US this week, Dr. Bitan from NYC. He spent about four hours with me and came up with this plan that I am happy with.

I need five level surgery...C4/5 & 5/6 as well as L3/4, 4/5 and L5/S1. I was after ADR as well, but he convinced me that I would be best served with a combination of fusion and ADR at both levels. Fusion at the C5/6 with ADR at the higher level to preserve motion, but to significantly reduce the swelling at the very compressed spinal cord at 5/6.

He also wants to fuse L5/S1 and L4/5, as he said there is very little motion there now, but to do ADR at L3/4. I was very concerned about fusion, for the same reason as everyone else, but he made a very good argument for this plan instead. He both listened and answered all my questions very will, with understanding and compassion. I have never met a doctor that I was more comfortable with.

Since I am from Canada, I have the added complication of getting this approved with our government provincial health board. Fortunately there is another case that won in appeal with a very similar scenario, with risk of paralysis or death, the same as you, because of the compression at the C5/6 level.

I had been very intent on getting ADR at every level, but decided that this did make more sense after all. It is very difficult making decisions when you have so many different answers. Do your homework and trust your gut feelings. I only changed my mind after a year and a half of research and good luck at finding the right doctor.