[RabidJ]

I took a drive to Zurich the other day and spoke with Dr. Rischke face to face for the first time.

His recommendation for me was to have discs replaced at l4-l5 and l5-s1 with dynamic rods at the L3-L4 level. He said that my schmorl's nodes would not be an issue whatsoever.

My disc at the L4-L5 level is trashed, he said that the dis at L5-S1 is protruding and causing pain, and the disc at l3-l4 is at the beginning stages of degeneration.

Overall I'd have to say that I felt pretty confident with him and may decide to move forward but will be talking to a few other doctors first.

He said that he has done over 3,000 disc replacements and was in charge of a spine department in Germany at one point in his career. He seems to have a lot of experience.

I had the opportunity to see and hold the LP-ESP and it seems to be a pretty good disc although I am no expert. I did try to squeeze the disc as hard as I could to see if I could see the shock absorption but it was not evident. I was not strong enough to squeeze it (probably a good thing). The disc is very stable and seems to be very tough and rigid.

He also let me see and hold the Freedom Lumbar disc even though he does not use this disc right now. He said the core of this disc is great but the plates are very aggressive. When I held the freedom disc, I was able to confirm how sharp and aggressive the endplates were.

He is very expensive although I believe that the VA will pay for the operation as long as I front the money.

His recommendation was to stay in Zurich for two weeks after the operation so that he can follow up to make sure everything looks good.

Again, I will be seeing another Doctor in Marseille, France in two weeks to see what he thinks.