[Maria]

Hi Wyatt,
Good luck with Kaiser and your spine. I already had my injury (WC related) when I was going to Kaiser back in my early 30's. They didn't do anything for me back then however that was nearly 30 years ago and besides my injury was WC related so had to jump thru the hoops there for a number of years to get things going to point of surgery.

With regard to being 40 and back probs.. welcome to the club. I was 28 when I hurt my back working as an RN in Neurosurgery. Stuff happens. There are no guarantees in life and only until something is really terribly wrong and maybe painfully so we realize how good we had it for so long.

If you've not been the route of conservative care first unless you have an emergent reason for surgery likely you'll be offered Pain Management and maybe epidural steroid injections and such depending on your MRI findings and the protocol for dealing with disc probs per Kaiser. I was offered a 2 level ADR back in 2003 and then that offer was pulled and I had to wait 2 more years with WC and by then I was offered a hybrid surgery with ADR at L4 and fusion at L5S1. By then I was doing better than I had in a long time and was too afraid to deal what I didn't know about with regard to more spine surgery (the better the devil I know than the devil I don't reasoning).

Almost every health care plan is the same on what they offer first unless there is a reason for emergency surgery. If you've been thru the Nsaids, maybe stronger drugs, the ESIs and so forth maybe things will move along quicker for you. Maybe not.

Anyway wishing you the best with your situation spine and insurance wise. I also had a terrible time sitting for YEARS with regard to my disc bulges and anular tear and even still I cannot sit for hours but I can sit longer and more comfortably now 2 failed spine surgeries later (discectomies) and many years down the road with some autofusion going on finally.

Again, best and hope things work out for you. Hopefully something out there will be offered that works for you~ may take some time and concentrated efforts on your part tho at least you have that to look forward to! Spine probs really do stink!