[fortitudine]

I am what Mark calls an"outlier" - not typical of spine patients. He asked me to post my latest findings, just to prove that there are no right answers!

Five years ago, I was diagnosed with moderate to severe cord compression at c3/4/5 and DDD everywhere. I was advised to have surgery immediately by several NS. However, the slight symptoms I had disappeared. My own local NS eventually agreed that there was no urgency, a good thing as he proposed a very drastic preventive multi-level fusion.

However I had meanwhile found Mark and Dr. Bertagnoli who advised that surgery was probably a good idea and recommended a much less invasive surgery. Various circumstances forced me to postpone the surgery with him several times over a 2 year period. As I was feeling 100 percent I asked if perhaps I might avoid surgery for a while and was given a cautious green light to "watchfully wait".

I just had an update from Dr.B./F.M. who advised that while there did not appear to be any progression on my latest MRI, the degeneration is usually progressive - i.e. at some point I will have to bite the bullet. In the meantime, I should continue having an annual MRI and sending it to them to review.

I'm physically active and haven't changed my lifestyle at all. So - here I am, watchfully waiting and spending a lot of time in denial!