[johnb]

I was originally a biology major in college, then I realized a 3.3 with no experience at a vetinary clinic was gonna get me into vetinary medicine school. There was so much demand to get in, it really ratcheted up the requirements. The undergrad anotomy classes gave some foundation to understand. I did manage to change majors and graduate with a degree in business. I was still in college when I got my diagnosis so I spent some time in the library to learn more about my it. The internet was in its infancy back then so the library was the place to go for self study. I was extremely fortunate to meet a physical therapist that had such a gift for spines. He taught me what my MRI abstract meant and why we did this particular exercise and that. Lately, I've just been researching on the internet. Most physicians don't like when you bring print offs from the internet. I believe quite a few want us to remain ignorant. There was a surgeon that I saw about 7 years ago that said a two level fusion would be good for me. My disability scores were no where near a level where a fusion was merited on top of me being in my late 20's. When I declined, he just warned me about future flare ups. The same guy warned me about injections and the evils of hydrocodone. He was a good salesman though. I'm of the mindset that spine surgeons should be consultants and not salespeople but they are out there.

Johnb