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Old 03-09-2011, 06:19 PM
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Davo Davo is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 4
Default Double ADR Surgery

Hello all!

I'm really happy to have found this amazing community! What a wealth of knowledge and information.

I've been suffering from back pain for about 14 years. 10 years ago I had an MRI and was diagnosed with DDD. I was told that I would probably need surgery when I was older (I was 23 then). Stretching, PT, and drugs were prescribed to help with the pain. My back would still "flare up" a couple times a year and cause me severe pain for a week or so. These became more and more frequent. A couple weeks ago, I had another one while bowling, but this one was different because of the pain, numbness, weakness and tingling going down my right leg. (Side note: I don't have insurance.) I was scared enough to go to a doctor and get an MRI (I posted some pictures on my profile). Turns out that I my L4/L5 was severely ruptured and pushing on my spinal cord. My L5/S1 was very degenerated as well. The doctor said that I needed surgery very soon. My only options were a discectomy or spinal fusion. I asked him about ADR and he told me that I had 2 bad discs and that only doing 1 ADR wouldn't help me. So why not do 2? He said it was impossible. I was not happy with these options. If I was going to go under the knife, I wanted it done right the first time.

I did some research and determined that a double ADR is what I truly wanted, despite what the doctor told me. During my research, I found Dr. Bertagnoli and was very impressed by the testimonials on youtube and his website. I sent him my files and Tim Vicknair called me the next day and said that they wanted to see me immediately for double ADR and that they would expedite the process by bumping less critical patients. I was risking permanent nerve damage with the herniation pushing on my spinal cord. I was a bit scared, but relieved that my I was a candidate for ADR.

I can't get insurance coverage now because of my preexisting condition, so if I was to pay for a discectomy or fusion it would cost well over $100K. Not to mention that I didn't want a quick fix type of surgery, I wanted a long term solution. So I decided to bite the bullet of the high price tag of $50K, and I'm headed to Germany on Monday (3.14.11) and will have the double ADR procedure on Friday (3.18.11.) $50K is a lot, but considerably less than what I would pay in the US for a surgery I didn't want or believe in.

I'm excited and anxious about this 2 week adventure. I will update next week after my surgery. I don't really know what to expect when I get there or what will happen after I am discharged. Until then, if anyone has any advice from their German experience I would greatly appreciate it!

Cheers!
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