[wilsonia@comcast.net]

I began having leg pain last May - thought I'd worked out too hard. I began to see a chiropractor, which was fruitless. I finally went to my regular G.P. and he immediately seemed to know what was wrong. He initially sent me for an xray, which was inconclusive. I then had an MRI, which revealed spinal stenosis at V 4&5 and no disc left at V3. I had a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon in my hometown, whom I found to be arrogant and flip. At that point, I was not in a lot of pain, so I didn't even wait around to here what "his" surgery would entail. He crossed his arms and said he'd wait to hear from me, as my problem would definitely get worse. I then had an out-of-town(Fresno, CA) consultation with a neurosurgeon that instilled a lot of confidence. Because I'm retiring soon, and hoped to wait until then, I had an epidural at Christmas to buy some time. It was miraculous. We had a family vacation to Hawaii in January, and we walked and hiked, and worked out in the resort gym. After about six weeks the pain returned with vengence. At that point, I determined that I was ready for surgery. The surgeon that I'd seen earlier, and liked, wanted to do TLIF surgery. My description of this probably isn't accurate, but he basically wanted to go in, remove bone at 3.4.&5, fuse the vertebrae and put small cages in with material that would allow the bone to regenerate. The pain dr. that did the injection and the physical therapist that I saw at a later date were surprised at this invasive procedure, as they said that my range of motion, symmetry, and flexibility were all good. As the pain increased in February, I decided to proceed with the surgery, and was scheduled for March 8th. The scheduling nurse called 5 days prior to say that my insurance (Anthem Blue Cross) would not approve the surgery saying that it was too invasive. The dr. and his staff appealed it, and it was denied again. They then took it to the "peer to peer" appeal, and it was still denied, saying it was unnecessary surgery. Because of the intense pain, I had another injection on March 17, which is still effective, thank goodness. I have another consultation on April 12th with a southern CA doctor, who gets good reviews from folks I've talked to. If anyone could chime in on this, I would appreciate it. Has anyone else experienced a similar situation? The doctor that I planned to have surgery with feels that my insurance is suggesting a minimal procedure, which will likely call for another surgery several years down the road. He feels that everyone is looking for a non-invasive or minimally invasive surgery, but that they are rarely effective. This TLIF surgery would require a 2-3 mo. recuperation. Reviews that I've read on "Healthgrades", and other websites that review doctors, gives him rave reviews and comments. What to do???