Consult with Dr. B.

[treefrog]

Thanks Justin. Experience of the surgeon is the most important aspect on surgical outcome, in my opinion as well. And even if Dr. Bertagnoli thought that a hybrid surgery would be better for me than 2 ADR, I would still want him to do the surgery.

I also have a physical this Friday, and will be asking them to do the blood work (which reminds me, I have to write to Pro Spine and ask how important it is to have this done two weeks before surgery), required for surgery. I think I will ask them, if I don't have an alternative if they will order follow-up x-rays for me. Then I can send them to Dr. Bertagnoli for review.

[steve55]

Yes! Dr b did a interop discogram on my suspect c4/5 and it turns out it was REALLY bad! He saved me a ton of money and suffering as I likely would have eventually started having pain from that level also. Dr b's consistent successful results speak for themselves.

[SandyW]

Can't say enough good things about Drs B and FM. I was told that I needed 3 replacements, but they would do a discogram on the 4th. Thank heavens they covered all bases since that disc was ruptured, had a 4 level.

I'm not a YOUNG active person, just an older active person, who didn't want to lose mobility. I was told by all doctors here to fuse and absolutely do not go to Germany.

Dr. B called my spine doctor and referred me since he had refused to see me when I called for an appointment. Mistake - he was terrible, said he "wouldn't touch me with a ten foot pole." Don't know why he gave me an appointment if that's the way he felt. However, the PM department agreed to see me. I told them I had had ADR in Germany and if that was going to be a problem, please let me know before making an appointment. All went well, in fact, they were all whispering about my x-rays, they seemed impressed!

There are doctors out there who's ego allows them to help you do what YOU think is best, find one of those guys. If a doctor won't see you, they are the losers.

Sandy