[dshobbies]

Hi Carla and welcome,

We understand you just fine.

If I may give you a little more detail than Mark - fusion is - the complete removal of your disc material between two vertabrae - then a substance that will eventually turn into bone, sometimes cadaver (dead person) bone chips are used and kept in place with a wire cage (which is held where it should be with screws) until these chips solidify into solid bone. This last part is like the healing of a broken bone. Once the bone is solid, this cage and screws are no longer needed but rarely are taken out unless there is a problem.

Once this is solid, there is absolutely no movement from between these two vertabrae as it is now one piece of solid bone. And artificial disc replacement allows for the movement to act like almost normal. However, if you have very little disc space left, you may not be able to have an ADR and/or you may autofuse at that level.

I'm glad your doctors are staying on top of a possible infection - but as for the ultimate decision on what to do - please ask a lot of questions until you're satisfied with your understanding of what is wrong and the possible fixes. Please don't make a final decision until you know what you're talking about. Your decision will be final!

Good luck to you, Dale