[oldnoah]

My condition was pretty stable after recovering from laminectomy in 2000. In 2019, pain got worse, and mobility got a lot worse. I found that I'm not doing the kinds of things I used to do to keep active.

I talked to doctors at Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC. They ordered a CT scan, and found that where I originally had one herniated disk, I now have 4 disks degenerating. They offered fusion of all 4, and said that disk replacement was not possible due to the previous laminectomy.

In early 2000, I heard that disk replacement was possible, just not in the U.S. I started looking into German surgeons, and sent a fairly current MRI to three teams, each of which gave me a quote. But then COVID hit, and I didn't have the money for any of the surgeries they suggested. The MRI that I had was also over a year old by that point. So I waited, and saved my money.

At this point, I've got enough money, and I got a new MRI, so I went to my physiatrist and discussed the three quotes, and the new MRI. He's interested in the whole disk replacement in Germany thing, but he's concerned that the stenosis at L3/4 won't be addressed by the disk replacement.

All this, of course, is on top of plain old fear that the surgery will be painful, or that it will go wrong, and just plain fear of making a huge financial transfer to someone that I only know through the internet.

From what I can tell, these surgeries don't have any kind of "warrantee," so if it goes wrong, I have to pay for revision myself. I don't have that kind of money.

I don't really know where to start asking questions. But here I am.