ADR 5 years on

[Jim M2]

Here's some more pictures comparing 2003 to 2008.

[Jim M2]

Here ya go, report from a radiologist who looked only at the 2008 x-rays you see in the postings above. This is the first time a radiologist has looked at my x-rays.

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General Diagnostic Text

Examination: Lumbar Spine AP/Lateral with flexion and extension
views (four views) 10/9/2008 at 0907

Indication: Low back pain
Comparison: None
Findings: A prosthetic disc is present at the intervertebral L5/S1 disc space. No evidence of hardware failure. Alignment is intact. Vertebral body heights and the remaining intervertebral disc spaces are maintained. No abnormal motion on flexion and extension views.

[Jim M2]

I cancelled the follow-up appointment with the NS after I read her office notes from the first visit.

"...He is here to see if there is any other technology or a newer intervention that could help his current situation, which is a chronic low back pain."

I'm pretty sure I told this doctor up front I didn't want to be screened for surgery. My primary interest was lumbar diagnostics. I wanted to know what was going on. I wanted information to support good decision making for pain management. I wanted to know of any developing trends. I was less interested in cervical. I knew prior I had multi-level cervical DDD.

I ended up with a cervical MRI that says I have DDD. The lumbar was dismissed as inoperable not because it is, or is not, operable but because it's obvious she just didn't feel like messing around with it.

[mmglobal]

Sorry Jim... It's too easy for them to dismiss us as 'no hopers'. All you want is diagnosis... you should be able to get on the same page with the doctors BEFORE wasting a bunch of time and money with them. Better luck with the next one... don't give up.

Mark

[johnb]

The surgeons don't keep the coffers full by running tests. It's really a testament to the problems with some (hopefully a minority) in the spinal industry. Let's do a little simple math for the sake of argument. Take 5 hypothetical surgical candidates who report low back pain and disc disease on MRI. Minimal testing will probably equate to all these folks recieving a surgical recommendation. Certainly not all, but many a surgeon will move quickly to operate. More extensive testing might reveal that 2 or 3 of the 5 might not be great candidates for whatever invasive/expensive surgery being served up. Those surgeons who put profit above the patients health will have all 5 on the operating table. Then take the probability that a certain % of patients will require more surgery after initially surgery and that sums up what is going on with some of the industry. More resources need to be put toward diagnosing pain generators instead of all the RD that goes into coming up with another variation of spinal hardware. The spinal industry's effort to maximize profits can conflict with what is best for the patient. My own experience is indicative of this.

[mmglobal]

IMHO, in most cases, your surgeon does not want to be your doctor... they want to be your surgeon. It's difficult for us to understand when they become non-responsive and disengaged. It's not because there is nothing to be done, it's because they no longer see you as a surgical candidate. For many of us, there is a huge disconnect as we try to navigate these waters because we are expecting a level of management from the surgeons that they'll only provide for their surgical patients. (In the worst case, it's only for their pre-op surgical patients.)

Mark

[dshobbies]

Ah-hah. That explains it