[scduggan]

Dear Mac,
Welcome to the Website and I am sorry you have to be here. I am about three weeks away from my one year ADR anniversary. You can see the details in my signature. Ken made some great points....especially about knowing when it is time for surgery. It is quite terrifying because back surgery is usually considered elective. I am your age and I also have three boys (WooHoo). The difference is I am female and my issue was L4/L5. Before deciding to go forward with ADR I had also tried all kinds of conservative treatment.

Are you by chance seeing one of the docs at Texas Back Institute? I had a wonderful experience there. I have heard a lot of folks on this website say they will only have ADR with a surgeon with LOTS of experience. I am better than I was before the surgery and I would do it again. In a strange way I still think I am improving. I am finding I am still learning what to do and what NOT to do. Mac, I will close now and I am feeling like I did not answer very many of your questions. Everyone wants to help, but this spine stuff is a nightmare with not a lot of crystal clear answers. Like Ken wrote, the majority of the negative ADR outcomes resulted from improper patient selection or surgeon error. You will learn so much from just snooping around the forums and reading LOTS of surgical outcomes. Good Luck!
CD