[steve55]

Saw Dr Delamarter yesterday. His first comment to me was "well, you certainly get around". LOL. I guess he said that because I have been to the very top doctors thus far (Dr Peloza, TBI, and of course Dr B, then Dr Mignucci whom he knows). As it turns out, he has agreed with Dr Bertagnoli that Dr Mignucci's reccomendation of removing the ADR's and doing a corpedectemy is extreme and completely unnecessary. Dr Delamarter said he is familar with this doctor (Dr Luis Mignucci), and said that this doctor has a bias against keeled ADR's and often recommends their removal to patients who have them. And of course, Dr Mignucci is associated with the Bryan disc and does not support the Prodisc design due to the keel.

Secondly, Dr Delamarter alleviated my concern from the two other doctor reports that seemed to state that the top c4/5 ADR might appear to have no movement. Dr Delamarter took a marker pen and ruler and measured out the distances between my vertebrae in the flexion extended positions and measured them with his ruler. Once he showed me this, it became abundantly clear to me that I do have some movement, though limited, at that location.Dr Delamarter said that the normal ADR movement range is 4-7 degrees, and I have about 2 degrees of movement. He said that my 2 degrees of movement is still significantly beneficial in preventing adjacent level stresses and degeneration. He stated that any movement at all is beneficial compared to no movement that one gets with a fusion. One thing I forgot to ask is why he thinks my top ADR is moving so little. Ill need to follow up with that question. Dr Mignucci stated in his report that he thought the reason was that the top ADR was too large for the space. But who can believe what he says after all this. Anyways, Im just so pleased to learn that it does have at least some movement.


He further stated that the apparent slant to my top c4/5 ADR appears due to my natural vertebral slant at that location and not due to any subsidence at that level. Of course this matches what Dr Beratagnoli told me at our meeting at DFW airport last June.

Overall he said my ADR's look good and that my current symptomology (numb forfinger and middle finger and deep dull pain around the c6/7 area) seems to match what one would expect due to a subsiding c6/7 disc. He does not believe any of my symptoms or discomfort are coming from c4/5 and c5/6 locations.

He is fully confident that fusing the c6/7 as planned will fully resolve my current discomfort and symptoms.

Lastly, he asked me how I ended up going to La Crosee, WI. I told him that was arranged through Dr B. I mentioned to him that Dr B's first choice was doing my surgery at the TX back Institute as Dr Ziglar and Dr Guyer had welcomed Dr B to do it there while they met in a conference in Vienna. But my guess is that after they got back and saw I had failed their Psyche tests, they withdrew their offer. Dr Delamarter just smiled and chuckled. It was quite clear he found that funny and bemusing. I went on to say that I guess that TBI has their studies supposedly showing that depressed patients dont have as good surgical outcomes, ....Dr Delamarter was just nodding his head side to side (in what appeared to me as disbelief or amazement) as I was talking about it. It was clear by his reaction he doesnt buy into TBI's psyche testing stuff and refusing to treat people who they think may be depressed.

Ill end in saying that I was extremely impressed with Dr Delamarter, WOW! He is so personable, and freindly and unlike some docs, is very patient in letting you ask all the questions you want. Maybe it was because he knows I came all the way from Dallas, TX , who knows. ANyways, he was the only one of the 3 docs I saw in Dallas recently who was able to show me (with a marker and ruler) exactly how much movement the top ADR was having. He made it so easy to see and understand! Why didnt the other 3 docs I saw do the same? It set me back $400 but it was so worth it to give me PEACE OF MIND in what I am moving forward with. I walked away from that meeting feeling AWESOME!! He has alot of experience, I even met 1 of his patients who was checking out at the same time I was and this guy had a 2 level ADR and 2 level fusion all at once!!