[CindyLou]

Hi everyone,
I am new here. My name is Cindy. Not quite sure how to do this, or create a signature, but this is a start anyway. I am scheduled for 3 level lumbar adr on April 17th, 2007 with Dr. Bertagnoli. I am very excited to finally have a date. Nervous of course. Quick summary of my story: I was involved in a bicycle accident June of 2001, that left me with two compressed fractures, T12, L1. In September (yes it took them three months to figure out what was wrong with me) of 2001 I had vertibroplasty of those two levels. It was right after 9/11 so in addition to being wildly in pain, I thought the world was ending. Over the years since then, my back has not been the same. I have run the gamut of epidurel injections, facet rhizotomies, nerve blocks,orthotics, etc. My surgeon here in my home state finally recommended considering adr. I have DDD and herniations at mutiple levels, and probably things deteriorated more rapidly due to my vertibroplasty. Since my doctor has not performed alot of adr's,(especially multi-levels) he recommended Dr. Bertagnoli, who he knows personally. I do feel I am going to be in the best hands with Dr.B, having researched so much on him. A question I do have for anyone is: is it possible to have cervical adr at the same time as lumbar adr? I have multi-level degenerative spondylosis with my C4-5 and C6-7 being the worst. My C6-7 has severe foraminal stenosis, and that reads from a two year old MRI. My neck has just over the past few weeks, really been bothering me. Very tight, headaches, almost nauseated on and off, and a throbbing pain down front of my leg when I lay down. I've had numerous injections in my neck, including percutaneous rhizotomies, which gave me some relief. Just wondering. I would hate to get all the way over there and not deal with this if adr could be a reasonable solution for me cervically, as well. Thanks for listening.