Originally Posted by dshobbies
jamie,
we do care. And though i had a successful surgery with dr. B and think very highly of him, i too have read his follow-ups with unsuccessful surgeries are wanting. I get emails daily from unsuccessful patients of dr. B. He overlooked my subsidence and then wants to charge me quite a bit of money for the dss. I fell through the cracks and my x-rays were ignored until mark mintzer said, "jamie, you have subsidence!" otherwise, i was just told over and over, "you are fine and all is in alignment." well, it was not.
You mentioned dr. Regan, some good and not so good. Though i think his people skills could improve, from what i've heard, his hands are quite skilled and he has more revision experience than most others. If nothing else, it would be worth a consultation for his opinion. I am going to do that this week. Waiting on an x-ray from tbi. Takes seven days to just make a copy.
Also, though not medically savvy like others on the forums, i have to wonder, did i read correctly that dr. Blumenthal at tbi suggests fusing a perfectly healthy disc on top of your 3 level? Yes, he does. This does not sound right. Well, l34 had some subsidence, but was caught with cement, but still subsided, so this is why he wants to do all three. If it ain't broke, don't fix it - but instead concentrate of the disc(s) that are causing your pain. I agree and he will do just l5s1, but the group at tbi all said fuse all three. I guess they don't want a fusion, an adr and then another fusion.. Odd combo i guess. They also don't do dss at tbi, but pettine does, but i hear mixed reviews on him and dr. Spivak said dss is okay, but bulky and no so necessary. He said for what i need, a regular fusion is fine. I am just afraid that once it is fused, i can never get it out if needed.
And if you have no pain in walking, i'd keep it up. I am afraid i will hurt my back and now my legs feel heavy and i have sciatica, which i never had post surgery. This tells me the disc is subsiding more.
Just for the telling, after 4 years i still have problems with sitting for longer periods of time. If a chair fits, i'm usually ok, if not, like a movie theater, i have trouble after just a few minutes. What makes it fit or not, damned if i know. Just letting you know that even if some revision is successful, your 100% may very well have a different meaning. Having said that, living a pain free life should be sop, not a luxury. Do what you feel is best but get a lot of opinions before deciding. I am trying. It is costly and time consuming and the doctors are all so busy. It is sad, but when dr. B wanted my money, i got all types of attention; now that i am a failed case, much less attention.
Dale
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