New to the board

[Maria]

Hi Jason,
Have a great vacation and best wishes with surgery! please let us know how it goes and if the h/a's go away as I've had a huge increase in neck pain/headaches (migraines) and I do have disc bulge at C 5/6 albeit small and the OSS I see is unconcerned (last MRI done Nov.2008).

Hope all goes great for you with upcoming surgery and recovery

[RedStang]

Originally Posted by Maria

Hi Jason,
Have a great vacation and best wishes with surgery! please let us know how it goes and if the h/a's go away as I've had a huge increase in neck pain/headaches (migraines) and I do have disc bulge at C 5/6 albeit small and the OSS I see is unconcerned (last MRI done Nov.2008).

Hope all goes great for you with upcoming surgery and recovery

Thanks and I'll definitely post in the surgical outcomes forum. I haven't across too many people that have the h/a's but I am hopeful that they'll be resolved as my surgeon seems confident that they are related to my DDD.

[dshobbies]

Jason,

Ten years is a long time and a great milestone. Have a great time on your anniversary and may you celebrate your 50th together too

I agree with Eddie when it comes to insurance companies except for the anger part. As someone with a redhead's temper, I've learned the hard way what my mother told me all my life - you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. I think you might have a battle with a change in device. But then again, you never know.

Regardless, good luck with your surgery and please keep us posted.

My best to you, Dale

[cavalier]

Really ? on the H/A's i have them all of the time no med's can touch them. Mine start usually at the back of my neck like someone whapped me with a baseball bat on the back of my neck when I wake up & sort of srpead forward. Those have been unrelenting since last July sometimes i can get lucky & have a day off here & there. Good luck & have a great safe anniv. Trip.

I also need at least 2 levels C5/6 C6/7 poss. a 3rd C4/5 TBD by a discogram. Dont have 53k or more for 3 levels & cant keep waiting. like you started with left hand wrist kept thinking it was my hand as i had torn that ligament & broke it once - a few years before that was hoping not the neck from a MVA yr's before but knew after that MVA neck was not great. Now it's both arms. I hope you get this covered. i have ruled out arteries and done all sorts of tests as they found abnormalities in the arms blamed it on my extra Cervical Rib but I now have proven that is not the source - duh the abnormal MRI with herinated at one level & prolapsed disc with 7,8, & 9 mms for the foramen normal is 15 to 20 mm's under 10 is cord comrpession - duh - so I am going to send my tests to the 1 spine doc who said pull out the cervical rib. The other 2 SS doc's saying ADR fix the neck are correct. At any rate I am in the SE - who is going to work on you ?
Best wishes & let us know how you come along - Jill

[RedStang]

Originally Posted by cavalier

Really ? on the H/A's i have them all of the time no med's can touch them. Mine start usually at the back of my neck like someone whapped me with a baseball bat on the back of my neck when I wake up & sort of srpead forward. Those have been unrelenting since last July sometimes i can get lucky & have a day off here & there. Good luck & have a great safe anniv. Trip.

I also need at least 2 levels C5/6 C6/7 poss. a 3rd C4/5 TBD by a discogram. Dont have 53k or more for 3 levels & cant keep waiting. like you started with left hand wrist kept thinking it was my hand as i had torn that ligament & broke it once - a few years before that was hoping not the neck from a MVA yr's before but knew after that MVA neck was not great. Now it's both arms. I hope you get this covered. i have ruled out arteries and done all sorts of tests as they found abnormalities in the arms blamed it on my extra Cervical Rib but I now have proven that is not the source - duh the abnormal MRI with herinated at one level & prolapsed disc with 7,8, & 9 mms for the foramen normal is 15 to 20 mm's under 10 is cord comrpession - duh - so I am going to send my tests to the 1 spine doc who said pull out the cervical rib. The other 2 SS doc's saying ADR fix the neck are correct. At any rate I am in the SE - who is going to work on you ?
Best wishes & let us know how you come along - Jill

My HA's tend to start the same way. For ten years HA's were my primary pain generator but over the last 2 years my arms have taken over. I had same symptoms though where every once in a while I might go a couple days without the pain.

I'm being seen by Dr. Heller at the Emory Spine clinic in Atlanta.

As far as insurance coverage I had actually called this morning to check on the change in device and was told that Aetna's codes are for the procedure, not the device. I'll definitely be asking for clarification on the 28th during my pre-op appt. They understand that it's the Bryan disc for me as we've rescheduled the surgery twice waiting on insurance approval for the procedure and FDA approval for the Bryan disc.

Thanks for the well wishes!

[RedStang]

Had my pre-op appointments yesterday and I will be getting the Bryan disc. 1 week to go!

[dshobbies]

RS,

So far, so good. With one week to go you're probably feeling so many emotions you can't even describe them. Focus on the day after surgery and you'll do great. I look forward to your post-op posts telling us how great you're doing,

Good luck, Dale