Oh these are not the records I was waiting for, this is just the bone density results. I was frustrated that I was possibly going to have to wait until I had the appointment to find out these results though. The medical records I am waiting for, are all the notes from the radiologists and the injections (all the stuff I need to get other surgeon's opinions). But at least now I don't think I have to postpone surgery (talking as if I actually have it scheduled - how's that for wishful thinking) for low bone density. Well, I don't think I need to postpone the next steps in scheduling surgery, that's more accurate.
I did call the guy who had surgery in Germany back in December, he was very informative. It turns out he went to Stenum. He had 2 levels done, L4/5 and L5/S1, with the Maverick disc.
He told me that Triangle Orthopaedics (in NC) is one of the top 5 in the US [well I don't believe that, of all the reading I've done on spine surgery, Triangle Ortho has not come up very frequently, if at all], but they offered him fusion or hybrid surgery (or clinical trial - still only 1 disc)*. And from everything he has heard, he didn't want fusion at all costs, unless it was absolutely the only choice left for him. He also said that the surgeons at Triangle Ortho have done ~50-60 single level ADR, and ~2-3 two level ADR (compared to 1000's at Stenum, he also said that the US was 12-15 years behind Germany - this I know!).
*This is also my situation.
Anyway, he said that he had chronic pain for many years, since 1996, with periodic episodes of acute pain. Two years ago his pain got to the point, where he had to change occupations. He didn't tell me what he used to do, but now he does IT work. He talked about crawling out of bed, laying down on the floor of the closet to put on his socks and then his pants. During the day he would loosen up a little bit, but that every morning he started off the same way. He didn't take pain meds, only anti-inflammatories, until he flew to Germany. He has a new baby, and a couple other young children, and he wanted to be able to play with them, and return to a more active lifestyle.
At Stenum, they didn't use general anesthesia, just a local and a pill to put him just sort of out of it
, as he described it. They had him in a group of about 5 other American's having cervical or lumbar ADR, so they could talk with each other, and be there for each other. He thought that was very comforting, to awake and hear the voices of people he had to come to know.
He is 14 weeks post-op now. He still takes hydrocodone. He thought before having surgery, that he would not have to take any pain meds after surgery, and that he would be back to normal very quickly. He is learning that it is harder than he imagined, and that rehab is hard, particularly the mental aspect.
He was going to go back to work after 12 weeks (or earlier), but decided to wait, giving it as much time as possible to fully heal. And his job was okay with waiting longer to have him come back. He starts back on Monday at 3 days a week for two weeks, then back to full time. He said he would let me know how he does after going back to work.
He also said he would find out if the person he talked to a lot before his surgery (someone else who had gone to Germany for surgery 2-3 years ago) would mind talking to me. And that he was going to send me information on Stenum, the link to the hospital and names of people to talk to there. Though I already have the link, I didn't want to dissuade him from helping me. And I think that the closer I get to having surgery, the more helpful he might be, with tips and stuff.