Theresa, it's great to see you here. I am soooo glad that you have improved to the point where you can work again. You were pretty far from that point when we met in NY for my 2005 patient symposium. (I just checked the photos on the GPN events site... you are there.) Great news (and hope for many of us t-spineys.)
Aaron, sorry I missed your question. We only tested one level. No need for a control disc for me. I'm very lucid in spite of the severe pain and know exactly what is happening. The clear positives and clear negatives we have gotten obviate the need for control disc. If I was hypersensitive and reporting high pain there would be need for control. Certainly with a negative discography, a control disc would add no data. In spite of the belief that discography is safe, I don't want to poke a hole in a disc unnecessarily. (Risk of damage or infection is low, but not zero.)
Based on Dr. Baumbach's recommendation, I had 3-Tesla MRI of cervical and thoracic spine last Thursday. I did an extensive review with Dr. Reul... no new data, nothing interesting. No new pathology seen in c-spine.
I told him how disappointed I was with the negative costovetebral ablations, especially after such conclusive results of the diagnostics.
He said that he was being especially careful with me, using low amounts of energy in the ablation to avoid permanent wrap around numbness that is not uncommon with this ablation. See the thread linked below for more discussion.
He recommended repeating the investigation to determine painful levels. If data is reproducible, he suggests redoing the ablation, but a little more aggressively. I think that is a fine plan and will proceed with that... next time I can get back to Bonn.
I'll repost this on the costovertebral ablation thread... the story will continue there.
CT Guided Costovertebral Nerve Ablations
Mark