Apache,
Welcome, and glad to hear your son survived these disasterous events..
I've been with WC lifetime future benefits since the mid 80s tho when my case was in litagation I felt the same about the inhumane treatment and every once in awhile have this recurring thought when the wait is so long to get anything in gear going thru the red tape..
Your son is very fortunate to have parents that are willing and able to pay for the ADR surgery should he be a candidate and able to brave going abroad for this surgery.
I can understand his fear re the follow up doctor situation but he would be able to find someone as more ADR surgery is being done in the US and there are some very experts here even in the US in various states.
With WC he should be able to designate his Primary Treating doctor here, tho if some kind of ADR addition to previous fusion type of surgery is not done in the US yet, if going to Europe for surgery WC may deny it, and possibly will not pay for anything with regard to benefits or follow up afterwards... at least that's how it will go for me if I were to go to Europe for surgery.
However, if he were to get his life back with regard to his spine and be able to return to work w/o problems/pain, that would be wonderful and worth every inconvenience I would imagine~
I too have 3 discs with problems tho no fusions to date on any although it was suggested multiple times for L3-L5S1 (global fusion/anterior/posterior).
Also two level ADR has been suggested, and a combo ADR and fusion..
I'm hoping to finally end up with the multiple level ADR surgery authorized and paid for by WC tho we shall see ...
If it were me, and I were your son's age I'd want to be assessed by surgeons doing ADR both here and abroad to see what options he might have besides more fusion as I was told that even if I fused L3-L5S1, I would likely need L1 and 2 fused as well, and no certainty could be given as to how soon or long after the 3 level global fusion was done..
I hope your son will give it some thought before considering seriously more fusion.. I know I would faced with a similar situation altho I do understand his concerns~
Please tell him to come here and visit with us and read the surgical outcomes part of the forum as well as maybe post himself and talk directly with people if he will...
take care and sending my best to you and yours, Maria
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