Mary, I've been in your spot for several years now, but hopefully am coming to the end with surgery in sight soon.
I understand how frightening all this is, and how overwhelmed you are right now. Our medical system in Canada, Ontario especially, makes it almost impossible to get treatment.
I think/hope I can give you an awful lot of help if you would like to talk personally about it. If you like, let me know, and I'll PM my contact information.
In the end, someone on this board convinced me to send my MRIs to Dr. Bitan in New York City. He is the most kind, empathetic and knowledgeable doctor I've seen in my life. He saw me on a Monday, after getting my MRIs and calling me on the previous Friday. Unheard of in Canada! He made time for me, cleared his afternoon actually, to see me because he was so worried about my situation. I'm just a few hours east of you, so that would not be an impossible option for you.
I'll watch for your post and look forward to chatting.
__________________
DDD
Herniated discs C4/5 & 5/6, L3/4, L4/5, L5/S1
Severe compression of spinal cord in two levels
All conventional therapy exhausted, including spinal injections, PT, massage, etc.
In appeal with Gov't Insurance for Out-of-country coverage for ADR hybrid surgery of above discs.
Recently discovered that I am severely allergic to all common metals used in surgical hardware except for Titanium.
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