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Old 01-18-2012, 12:58 PM
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Cirobi Cirobi is offline
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Sorry you had to come looking for us but also glad you found us. This site is full of really helpful people with a wide variety of issues and outcomes. Hopefully you'll find some good useful info for your particular situation.

Unfortunately, the US doesn't make it easy on multi-level patients. Heck, single level are still having issues with insurance companies, which I personally think is very sad for as "advanced" as this nation is supposed to be. But that's a different rant.

When I had my single level lumbar ADR almost 4 years ago, the one surgeon I spoke to before getting to my actual ADR surgeon within the practice, said that thankfully my particular insurance was very likely to approve a 2-level ADR if I had needed it. But, even though he said that, I'm sure it would not have been a guarantee as insurance companies seem finicky about approvals. 2-level ADRs are definitely done in the US and there are numerous surgeons that are well practiced in it, but the insurance/payment end of it would be the trick. My own surgeon seemed pretty proud of the positive outcome of several 2-level patients he had. In fact, there was a nun in the waiting room the same time as me on several occasions who had just gotten a 2-level ADR from him. She looked to be doing extremely well so early in her own recovery. I'm not sure now since my follow ups are now very far apart. I'm due for a 4-yr follow up this summer.

I think, and someone more knowledgeable is welcome to correct me, that 2-level ADR is approved but only in very limited circumstances and very limited disc models. I think Prodisc is allowed at 2 levels in the lumbar but I'm not sure about cervical. I think trials were still in progress when I got my single lumbar Prodisc. I could be wrong or have that backwards though.

Definitely ask tons of questions of your surgeon or even other surgeons in your region to get as much info as possible pertaining to your specific physical condition. As Jeff mentioned, there's a lot of factors in play to ensure one is a truly good candidate so it never hurts to double check with a doc if they haven't mentioned already during a consultation.

Hopefully you'll find a good clear path to resolving your spine issues!

~Sara
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31 yrs old
Lumbar herniation L5/S1

- Did mild PT, some chiropractics and self regulated pain management since initial sports injury in Spring 1997.
- XRay and Bone Scan Jan/Feb 2007
- PT March to May 2007
- MRI Jan 2008
- Disco positive at L5/S1 Feb 2008
- ADR surgery at L5/S1 on June 23rd 2008 - Prodisc
- Recovery - so far so good!

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