[Mike33]

Good Evening everyone, as my names says, I am Mike and I am a 37 y/o male from PA. I fell 20 feet off of a roof in college and landed on concrete on my tailbone. From there I had a drop-foot in my right foot and had an old-school right-sided laminectomy with partial discectomy which corrected the nerve pain and drop-foot immediately (even left the hospital the same day). over the past 18+ years I have dealt with flare-ups, muscle spasms, tight hamstrings, and sciatica/numbness in the legs (primarily right). I continued playing hockey and heavy lifting over the years but have backed off substantially due to my back (and an irregular heartbeat that I developed over the years as well - now corrected mostly via cardiac ablation).

As time passes, I seem to be having more and more flare-ups where my lower back completely spasms and gives out. It used to be 1-2x a year, now its 5-6x a year. I had an MRI in 2012 and just last month, both showing DDD in L4-S1 with scar tissue at L4/L5 pressing on the right side of the nerve. I am actually in a spasm now - just last Saturday I leaned to get something out of my car that weighs maybe 1lb, yes 1lb, and boom it seized and it's been floor or bed for 2-3 days, ice-packs, heat, etc. I am almost to where I won't even lean over at the sink any more just to brush my teeth. I am so frustrated and fear that my back will just seize/spasm up again. With my job (cover 26 states) and the flying that I do (2x a week) I cannot afford to do extensive PT, injections (never worked anyway), pain pills, etc.

Brings me to now - I met with a local surgeon and he say pain management or 2-level posterior fusion. I met with Dr. Zigler recently and he suggested a hybrid L4-S1 ALIF and ADR. My insurance is out-of-network so I am probably looking at 30K + for surgery at TBI. Does anyone have experience with hybrid ADR/fusion in the lumbar region? I need my life back and while I expect to be patient with recovery, I cannot miss more than 8 weeks from starting to travel again. I appreciate you all reading this and any potential advice that you can give!