[phylly]

Hi Cathy,
Welcome to the forum. Your story sounds like so many of us who struggle with pain and the decisions of whether to do one disc or two. I also had the same levels of DDD. I went to five surgeons and also was given the choice of fusion, hybrid, or double ADR. My insurance would not cover any ADR's and we had to pay out of pocket for both the ADR's and the hospitalization. I felt that I had only one chance to go in through the front and could some day fuse if this did not work. I was really optimistic that I would be pain free.

I chose to get two ADR's on the recommendation of the surgeon who had put in over 700 of the discs. He said that I looked like a good candidate event though I was slightly on the older side. I have had these discs for 1 year and sadly have not ever been totally pain free. I chose to have a decompression surgery after 6 months to help the sciatica pain that did not go away and since then have had pain in the 6-8 range in my back. The more I do the worse it gets. So, I now have to get opinions on whether to fuse these discs due to the mechanical pain.

I know there are so many successful members on this site. I have found out that the prodisc allows a lot of movement and can create more facet pain and they put more strain on the back. The most recent surgeon I went to said that I may have more movement in my spine then when the discs were first placed. I am not sure why this is so and will keep searching for answers. I hope that you make sure that you are a good candidate for the discs and go with a Dr. who has had a lot of experience. Even though my Dr. had a lot of experience I still had these problems.

It sounds like you have a good Pain Management Dr. and your pain is somewhat manageable. Keep getting educated on these discs as newer and better ones are coming out all the time. There are so many threads on this site for you to get tons of info.
Keep posting!
Phylly