[nickanderson]

Well, it's been almost 8 years since I originally said hi back in 2010 when I
was first diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and herniation at L5-S1

I live in KS. In 2010 I had visited several neuro and orthopedic
surgeons in the area. I was only offered 2 level fusion at L4-S1 and L4-L5.
These forums were a great find for me. I kept searching and ended up going to
Los Angeles to see Dr. Rick Delamarter as I had seen he had done a number of
multi-level disc replacements.

He recommended and performed a micro-discectomy with the hope that it would get
me by for about 10 years. The 2 hour surgery ended up taking 5, and after my
surgery he said he wasn't sure how I walked in. It looked like I jumped off the
empire state building.

The micro-discectomy helped a lot, but was no cure. I travel internationally for
work and it always seems to be the return flights that kill me. About 2 years
ago my back flared up after a return flight from Europe. It calmed down with an
epidural.

Late last year the pain became constant again and started to increase. A
flare up would take me down for a few days to a week. I called to schedule with
Dr. Delamarter but found that he has now retired from active practice. So I
needed to do more research and decide on a new physician. I did some research,
but I also was dragging my heals. I was functional, and I didn't want to think
about having back surgery again.

After a flight in March I was down for a week and had an epidural. Then in April
my symptoms became unmanageable on a trip to Europe. I ended up visiting an E.R.
in Germany for pain management.

Since I returned from that trip things have degraded further. I can walk for
minutes at a time, but unpredictably can have a pain onset and be taken down. I
have only left the house 3 times in the last 4 weeks.

Now I am pursuing a hybrid L5-S1 Fusion, L4-L5 ADR with Dr. Huyn Bae (worked
with Delamarter) from The Spine Institute. Date unknown, trying to schedule.