L5 rupture at age 30, 11 years later need to do something

[ckessel]

Thanks Kirk, it helps to know you were in the same odd boat of being still active and athletic, yet also severely limited. I've been trading voice mails with Kitchel's assistant for two days. I'm hoping to talk to her in the next few days and get an idea of what to do next.

[ckessel]

I'm going to see Dr. Kitchel on 4/13. I talked to his CMA, Erica, and Dr. Kitchel was one of the doctors in the clinical trials and she says he's done over a 100 of the surgeries. I imagine that's both cervical and lumbar, but it certainly sounds like he's been around the block enough times to be a good choice. On the personal interaction front, it's been encouraging. Kitchel himself responded to my initial email and Erica called me after hours (from her house I think) after playing phone tag for a couple days.

On the insurance front, my current insurance has a "Department Procedure" specifically about ADR. It's covered on a case by case basis (single level), with a host of disqualifications, but based on my reading I'm a qualified candidate. Well, assuming it's still just the one disc that's the problem. I'll start working towards finding that out on 4/13.