Who I chose
In the end I chose Dr. Baines of Kaiser, Oakland....I can hear everyone screaming!!! Believe it or not he was recommended to me by Dr. Berven (UCSF) who in the end chose not to do the surgery. Also Dr. Reynolds of Seton Medical Center and Dr. Derby recommended him. Some of this is obviously due to the fact I have Kaiser, but I looked for many recommendations.
Interestingly I went to see Dr. Bittan in NYC and he told me that he didn't want the kind of discogram I had if anyone in the future goes to see him. He wants provacative. I also saw Dr. Neuwirth in NYC also as well as some others.
I would have probably had Dr. Berven at UCSF do it but he tends to do pretty complicated stuff and UCSF doesn't do too much self pay anymore as a fusion he said starts at over $150,000. Insane, but they can get it apparently.
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Chemically sensitive disc/Annular tears, DDD, mild bulging, facet arthritus
Dancing accident in 96. tried PT, acupuncture, pilates, pain mgmt. nothing worked. Epidurals, facet blocks, caudal blocks, discogram. Opiates for ten years, oral prednisone, toradol inj. & more.
Two level spinal fusion with BMS, cages, hardware. due to bone density problems from chemotherapy, they had to go in front and back. Surgery Nov. 6, 2010. So far no regrets.
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