[Maria]

I can't see removing a healthy disc tho what do I know ...however I know that I'm real concerned about leaving my disrupted disc at L3 just hanging out to pick up the slack even tho it's not a pain generator "now" according to last discogram which has been months since now.

I'm afraid from experience I will learn that working on only symptomatic levels and leaving a potentially problematic level will later lead me back into more back surgery.

Just thinking about this keeps me from moving forward quite honestly. Sort of like better the devil I know than the devil I don't. My 2nd failed surgery really left me with horrific lingering burning pain bilat from waist down pretty much (groin symptoms did disappear within first month, buttocks and legs took up to 5 years to mostly resolve while some lingering pain exists).

But to work on healthy discs to me would be like planning on doing a fusion on L3-L5S1 but just to be sure that the domino effect doesn't hit L2, then fuse that and L1 as well.

I guess the idea might be that topping off a necessary fusion with ADR will prevent the demise of the rest of the spine... maybe science/data would bear this out if it were performed tho surely insurance wouldn't pay for this as it's hardly paying for what's necessary re ADR here in US ~ so we are looking to Europe and other places where ADR has been performed for years and all kinds of cases?