Am I screwed?

[stoked64]

After making the 5.5 hour trip to Charlotte NC to have an EMG performed and to see one of the top neurosurgeons in the country that specializes in spinal surgery and artificial disc replacement, he advised me of my prognosis.

Unfortunately the news I received from the Dr. Coric wasn't good. I have permanent nerve damage from my last surgery in the L5 nerve root. Apparently 1-2% of patients have this issue after surgery and there isn't any further surgery to reverse this damage.

The chronic pain I feel both legs will be something I have to live with for the rest of my days. The nerve damage is most likely caused by nerve manipulation during my last surgery. I knew something was wrong the minute I came to post-op. Unfortunately, proving dirliction by the surgeon would be next to impossible... it's considered to be part of the risk with this procedure. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter, no sum of money would give me my health back.

To top this off, I hit a deer on the way home and wrecked my car, what's the chances of that (1-2 %)? I won't be placing any bets in Vegas anytime soon.

If anyone has any advise, please feel free to post your suggestions, I'm really bumming because I think I'm screwed.
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[Maria]

sorry to read what you wrote re the permanent nerve damage plus hitting the deer on the way home and totaling your vehicle.. now that does suck!

So does the permanent nerve damage affect your ability to use your extremities?

Was this a 2nd or 3rd surgical consult? If it was the first and it was me I'd get a few more. Then again back when I was thinking about having ADR surgery in total I had 5 surgical opinions with 2 being from same surgeon though different year.

If you've not spoken to Mark (mmglobal) here you might want to do that. He can probably be the most helpful to you with information and guidance so that's what I'd advise.

Maria

[Jim M2]

I think there is a number of avenues to explore. A spinal cord stimulator or pain pump might mitigate the leg pain. I have a friend who likes his stimulator. Some patients in this forum have had bad experience with a stim. It's worth looking into.