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denver
 
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Mega Fish
Mile High....
Posts: 1031
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Votes: 110
Registered: 25-Jul-2000
female australia us-colorado
weeellllllll.................

went back to the specialist today...

and here's the diagnonsense... or the results of the test I had last week. I've got degenerative disk disease throughout the lumbar spine, lumbosaccral spondylosis as well as spinal stenosis.

My L4-5 disk has annular and circumferencial tears as well, L2-4 and L5-S1 also have annular tears.

The recommendation is to have a spinal fusion. I'm scheduled for March 9th @ 2pm. Depending on how it looks, I may have it done as a minimally invasive procedure, or the regular version. Apparently my doctor is extremely good at doing the minimally invasive procedure, but I may have the regular surgery.

But if you all remember I've been told before the only option for me was to have a five level fusion, and three doctors previously told me that they would not do the surgery. Well, thanks to the discogram, it is now only a ONE level fusion. I've been told that although they'd like to say I'd get a reduction of about 80% in my pain levels, they make no guarantees, and they made a point of telling me that they can't guarantee that later on down the road I won't need to have another fusion as I've got torn disks and the DDD.

They said that the other option could be the ADR, but since it's still a relatively new therapy so to speak, and because of my age they don't want to go down that road as I'm likely to outlive it lol. But they also said because of my age they have hopes that there will be new treatments that may help in the pipelines (like stem cells - there was a dr here that injected stem cells into a patient that had a fusion done - but they don't know if it had worked yet because it had only been a few months)

So March 9th is the fusion - I'll be off work for 4-6 weeks.

So thats the news.
Post InfoPosted 16-Jan-2009 06:18Profile Homepage ICQ PM Edit Report 
keithgh
 
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*Ultimate Fish Guru*
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Registered: 26-Apr-2003
male australia au-victoria
All the best for the upcoming hospital treatments. My recent eye operations were considered new under 10 yld and they dont know the long term results. But you have no choice these days its either get the problem fixed and hope it works out and improvements to treatments come along or just put up with all the problems as it.
$-6 weeks seems very short time to be off work. Modern technology these days is fantastic.

Any way best wishes from Keith & Marg

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW
Post InfoPosted 16-Jan-2009 08:41Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
FRANK
 
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Registered: 28-Dec-2002
male usa us-colorado
Hi Denver,
Still waiting for a phone call, or even a meeting.

Well, at least you now have a "name" for the problem
and you now know the scope of the situation.

Susan and I wish you all the best, and we pray for
a good outcome.

Frank & Susan


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--
Post InfoPosted 16-Jan-2009 11:37Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Mez
 
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Registered: 23-Feb-2001
male uk
Wow, sounds like something off House MD.
Good luck..
James
Post InfoPosted 16-Jan-2009 21:26Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
Lindy
 
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Show me the Shishies!
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Registered: 25-Apr-2001
female australia au-victoria
I hope it goes well for you Denver. Backs can be tricky things..


Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.
Post InfoPosted 17-Jan-2009 08:04Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
poisonwaffle
 
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Mega Fish
Posts: 1397
Kudos: 591
Registered: 11-Feb-2003
male usa
Ehh, I feel your pain, Lisa

Spine problems are horrible. I had an inflamed disk a while back (healed on it's own over a few months), and it was agony. I don't even want to try to imagine what you must be going through.

I hope it all goes well for you.

Hang in there, and keep us updated!

-Scott/PW
Post InfoPosted 17-Jan-2009 09:36Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
denver
 
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Registered: 25-Jul-2000
female australia us-colorado
Frank -

sorry for not calling and catching up - but I'll give you a call sometime this week if all goes to plan.

But! The surgery and the diagnosis was made by the doctor you recommended to me! So Dr. Frey will be doing the surgery on me. And I cannot thank you enough!

Waffley - Yeah, this pain is getting to be quite unbearable. No sleep last night and I've been having sleepless nights for a few weeks now - and ambien doesn't help
Post InfoPosted 21-Jan-2009 06:08Profile Homepage ICQ PM Edit Delete Report 
brandeeno
 
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Mega Fish
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Registered: 13-Sep-2007
male usa us-california
not that this is really an option (but if it is) my grandmother went to ceder sinai hospital in CA (Santa Monica, near LA) and got her surgery done by one of the lead back surgeons in the nation...

if this surgery goes awry (knocks on wood) then look into it, be careful with back surgeries and dependence of pain meds as vicodin and morphine (several other pain meds are morphine derived so ask all the questions before going on them!) as they are highly addictive and can have bad effects on your liver and etc.
(knocks on wood with both fists)

Hope all goes well and you can recover with out any problems!

-Brandon



\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"
Post InfoPosted 21-Jan-2009 06:32Profile PM Edit Delete Report 
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