[Cindylou]

Hi everyone,

An update on what is going on here. Mark and I have been talking, and to put it as succinctly as I can, he was able to get me in front of the SI joint guru doctor, Dr. John Stark, who he met last fall at a spine conference. As luck would have it (or more likely, some higher power at work....), Dr. Stark lives and works in Minneapolis, and Mark not only brought this to my attention, but was able to secure a 3 way conference call with the 3 of us, Wednesday evening, going over my condition, with all my latest films in front of him, again thanks to Mark. We were on the phone close to an hour. Unbelievable. He said he, of course, needed to exam me in person, and "found" a spot on his calendar the very next morning, which was yesterday. I spent well over an hour with him again, looking at films, a thorough physical exam, and we have both come to the conclusion that my SI joints are significant pain generators. Not to say my hip joint doesn't have issues, because I know it does, but what he threw out there was, why not have the lesser invasive procedure of fusing my SI joints, which has been having incredible results with hundreds of his patients, relieving their back pain. Now, believe it or not, one big hurdle I still have to jump, is yes, once again, will insurance cover it? My healthcare provider sucks. He said he has been having some problems with them, but the last patient had my provider and his fusion went through. So, I have hope. I really cannot pay for another procedure out of pocket. It is out of the question. My husband made that very clear last night when we discussed this new, possible turn of events. So, when I left there, I went straight to have another Cat Scan done, this one of my pelvis and SI joints. (which also had an opening, that day, right then.) My Cat Scan of a few weeks ago was addressing my L6-S1 fusion, so he couldn't get a good pic of my SI joints. So, we tentatively have a surgery date scheduled for March 16th, and their holding March 9th for me too, in case my grandbaby arrives early. I meet with him again on March 5th to go over this latest Cat Scan. I am holding my breathe about coverage, and desperately ask for your prayers. I'm afraid to call Betty back (his right hand office lady) and find out, but eventually I will get up the nerve to call her and see if she has heard anything. So, at this point, I haven't called and cancelled my hip joint replacement, but I will postpone it if this is covered, and cancel it, of course, if all my pain goes away. I am not going to attempt another appeal. I don't have the stamina to, and my husband does not want that, since he is a high up executive. It put a big strain on his relationship with the owner of the company when I appealed 3 times, two years ago, for my 3 level prodiscs with Dr. Bertagnoli. (company is self-employed) So there you have it. I am so grateful to Mark for helping pull this whole thing together on such short notice. And when I was talking to Mark last night, Dr. Stark was attempting to call him to debrief him of his appt. with me, so Mark hung up and called me back. This doctor is pretty amazing. All he wants and takes are the really difficult cases. He just wants to help folks like me get their lives back. So I pray this surgery is covered. And thank-you Mark, from the bottom of my heart. I have hope again.

Cindylou