Who did your surgery
Abarco,
Really glad to hear that TRICARE finally relented and covered your cervical TDR. Had a couple quick questions I was hoping you might be able to answer (at your convenience):
- What is your status relative to the military? Are you active duty, a dependent, or a retiree? The reason I ask is that I'm a veteran who recently left active duty after 13+ years, and TRICARE will no longer touch me (ie I have to deal with the VA for my service-related back issues).
- Who did your procedure at WRAMC? Dr. Michael Rosner did my L5-S1 discectomy back in July 2007, and used to use the Charite for TDR. While I last met with him (this past May/June), he advised that he no longer performs TDR, as he has lost faith in the practice (believing TDR is not effective for mechanical back pain). If he is no longer doing them (as head of Neurosurgery) I'm curious who is still performing TDR there?
- How did you ultimately convince TRICARE to relent and authorize the procedure? From my experience, they drag their feet at any/every opportunity, so you must have some sort of effective strategy/approach to overcome this.
Hope you have a smooth recovery, and wish you the best for continued improvement!
Best regards!
Alan
P.S. Feel free to PM me with any/all information if you prefer....
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4/07:LBP + radiculopathy=severe L5-S1 herniation , 7/07:Micro-D, 08-09:Reherniation, 09-17: periodic residual symptoms (conservative modalities to maintain "stability" = prolotherapy, ESI/nerve blocks/facet injections, chiro, massage, phys ther), 7/17 pain in neck/right shoulder radiating into hand (no trauma involved), 7-10/17 Conservative treatment to date include physical therapy/dry-needling/facet-injections (C4/5 to C6/7). Researching surgical options should progression continue.
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