Hi everyone

[Kerry F]

Hi All,*

Thanks again for your responses. I saw Dr. Blumenthal's PA yesterday and the news was as expected- 4 levels is just too many to operate on.*

The only course of action it would seem (regardless of the surgeon), is to get an updated discogram, and hope that the only 2 levels that are causing problems are L4/L5 and L5/S1. At that point, Dr. Blumenthal (and this is just preliminary discussions with the PA) would most likely suggest a fusion at L5/S1 and a new disk at L4/L5. If all 4 levels are causing problems, then I am completely out of luck. The only option at that point is some kind of pain managment- and I've tried so many things and have very little faith that it will do any good.

Jeff,

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely do my homework on the hardware if it comes to that. I'm starting to get worried that no one is going to want to operate on me at all.

Liz,*

To answer your question, IDET didn't help me at all- it was just a long, painful recovery. The hybrid you mentioned is probably the course of action with Dr. Blumenthal if the discogram comes back the way I hope it does (mentioned above).*

Juli,

I am getting a CD made of my films today so I can send them to doctors if necessary. What is the "patient network service?" this may be something I need to look into. Also, how did your doctor(s) feel about operating on 3 levels? I'm running into a lot of resistance with this. I just don't "look" the part.*

I'm starting to feel a little bit hopeless with all this; and I'm surprised I still have a job after all the doctor appointments I've had to run to. Do doctors in other countries work on more than 2 levels? What about doctors here? I suppose I'll have a better picture of what I'm up against after this discogram next Tuesday.*

Any more thoughts? Thanks for the help.*

[Juli]

Hi Kerry,

No problems for multiple levels once I got to the right doctors, except my insurance would not have covered it, this was back in 2005 though. We would have probably done 3 level ADR except for the fact that my L5/S1 was partially congenitally fused. It actually worked out better for me, because insurance covered everything except for the two discs and surgeons fee for that, still not cheap but better than the whole thing. And from everything I have read, if you are going to have fusion, then L5/S1 is probably the best place and it definitely worked for me.

[Kerry F]

Juli,

Thanks for the response. I will definitely look into this. The monkeywrench that's been thrown into all this is that I developed fibromyalgia symptoms about a month after my back problems started- also in 2002. My symptoms include extreme muscle soreness and tightness. I switched pain medications and it's not working at all.

These symptoms have gotten so bad that I'm not sure if I can stay at my job- which is obviously a problem since that's where I get my insurance.

The advice I've been given is to address the fibromyalgia symptoms first- as many spine surgeons consider fibromyalgia a contraindication for spine surgery. All that to say that I made an appointment with the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Center here in Dallas for this Monday. Hopefully they can get my symptoms under control enough to not lose my job.

I've kept my appontment with Dr. Richard Rhim at the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute (on Monday also) just to get another opinion.

By the way, how does the IM feature work?

Kerry