Thread: Mac - TN
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Old 01-29-2011, 10:04 AM
marmca marmca is offline
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Posts: 7
Default Mac - TN

Good Morning,

I just joined the ADR Support Community yesterday and this is my introduction. I am already grateful for this site. I will quickly introduce myself and then provide a summary of events that led me to this community.

I am 44 years old. I have a wonderful wife and 3 boys ranging from ages 2 - 16 years old. God has blessed me in more ways than I can possibly begin to mention.

My back pain moved to a whole new level in the Fall of 2008 when I was working in the yard, installing 110 bushes and 5 trees. I had intense pain in my low back, buttocks, and my feet. There was no pain down my legs which had my local neurosurgeon stumped. An MRI a minor buldge but no compression on either of my two nerve roots. My doctor said that he didn't think my pain was related to my back. He thought my problem wass more general, maybe a nervous system issue. I stayed with this doctor for 2 years, had several epideral shots with no relief. I began conservative programs (i.e. chiropractor, physical therapy, etc.). Over time I could tell that there was a direct correlation between when I aggrevated my back and my foot pain intensifying. So I KNEW that the two were related despite what my doctor was telling me. Recently (Dec. 2010), I changed doctors and my new neurosurgeon put his finger on the problem in 3 weeks. As confirmed by a discogram, I have Internal Disc Disruption in my L5-S1. The nucleus of my disc has been leaking out onto my nerves and lighting me up. My doctor recommended that I have a posterior disectomy lumbar fusion at L5-S1. I scheduled surgery for Thursday, Jan. 27th. While waiting for the fusion, I reached out to an orthapedic doctor in Dallas. A doctor there was kind enough to return my call. After the call with him, I called and cancelled my fusion surgery and flew to Dallas to learn more about Artificial Disc Replacement. In the literature that I received from this doctor was the site for this support community. So here I am.

Here is what I hope to get out of this support community:

- I want to help others who come to the site who learn that my symptons are like theirs.

- I need help determining if ADR is right for me.

- I need help in determining when is the right time for ADR.

- I need help to determine how to pick the right doctor for ADR surgery. I think I may have found the right doctor, but I want to confirm that.

- I need to know which ADR device is superior. I do know that my insurance will cover Charite and Prodisc-L.

- I need to speak to people who have had their ADR for the longest periods of time so I will know how they are doing over time.

- I would like to know how Harrison is doing since his surgery in 2004. I got his update message 6 weeks after surgery, what about now?

- I want to help others in any way I can. I don't want to simply get my benefit and disappear. Helping others is paramount.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. This is the my first posting on any site and I'm glad to do it.

Mac
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