Harrison,
Thank you for responding. I appreciate any & all thoughts on how to best proceed.
In answer to your comment:
Quote:
Originally posted by Harrison:
Some percentage of fusion patients may need to get an another fusion down the road because of adjacent level degeneration – but 12-18 months would be very unusual. Then again, it depends on
the actual pathologies of the disease(s) affecting the spine.
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Currently C3 is the level causing me substantial disability, I will have to have surgery very soon or go on disability until I do have surgery.
C4 and C7 have deteriorated primarily due to adjacent disk degeneration as I had fusion on C5 & C6 in 2002. My doctor verbally recommended the optimum approach would be ADR on all three levels if I could wait until the Bryan artificial disk becomes available. Since only the Prestige was approved by the FDA, the planned surgery on 10/07 was ADR on C3 & C7. C4 shows deterioration similar to C7 but is causing little or no symptoms at this time. C7 has caused significant symptoms that can be partially controlled by cervical selective nerve root blocks for some indeterminate period of time. My phsycian advises me that if C3 is fused in addition to C5/C6, that C4 level would be lucky to hold out for 6 months given the degeneration already present. C7 "might" hold out longer (12-18 months) provided the nerve root blocks continue to provide partial relief.
After all 3 levels are addressed in the near future, if fusion is the only option then I would have C3--T1 completely fused at 46 years of age. Cervical ADR is the better path for me at this time.
I've been told if I self-pay for ADR, "complications" would not be covered. I'm concerned that the insurance company would label any future problems at other levels as "complications", essentially leaving me uninsured for all neck problems. This is the only thing that has stopped me from already getting ADR on C3 and paying myself, the pain & disability has been so great.
I would seriously consider an ADR trial if one was open that I qualified for, but I'm not aware of any currently.
As a side note, my surgeon was involved in the 2002 clinical trial (which only applied to single-level procedures at the time, so I was ineligible). He is one of the leaders in using cervical ADR and well-known at the forefront of his field. Last time I inquired, there were no open trials I qualified for but I'll research that again.
I'm doing everything I know to do in order to get insurance approval, but if that fails I'm faced with a difficult decision.
What are your thoughts?
Thank you,
Jayne.