Well, we're going ahead with surgery next month. My surgeon said that he'll see how bad/soft my bone is when he opens me up. If it's hard enough, he'll go ahead with the ADR, but it's greater than a 50% chance that it'll be 2 level fusion. I'm happy with that - at least he didn't totally reject the possibility of ADR. I have 100% confidence in this doctor - he's very good, and very honest, and very experienced. I realize no one's perfect, but I know he'll use his best judgment.
He did say that he'd phone his "colleague in Germany" and discuss options with him, so that made me even more confident.
The big lesson that I've learned is how fast Osteoporosis can set in. He said it's surprising how fast we lose bone density with inactivity. Catch 22- my back hurts too much to exercise, but without exercise, my back's going to get even worse. So if there's anyone out there wondering if they should bother to get up & walk, since it doesn't seem to be doing any good, my message is: do it. Your bones need the exercise, even if it isn't helping your joints/discs.
Oh, and my insurance is Aetna. They apparently accept ADR as fairly standard treatment.
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