My 3 mo X ray - Discs tilted all over the place

[Kathy]

Steve, That's great news! Free is my favorite 4 letter word. Hopefully, your other opinions will agree with Dr. B and make your decision easier. However, I don't really know why they would leave a non-functioning disc in there. Maybe they can explain better to you the reasoning for that. Or, if you insisted that you wanted it out, maybe they would go ahead and do it during the surgery (thus killing 2 birds with one stone) and just include it in the 'freee'. It could also be something where it is a malfunction in the disc and they don't want to 'admit' it. Either way, just so happy you are closer to getting the surgery you need.

I haven't been on here in a long time and haven't had time to catch up on this full post, so forgive me if these are redunant questions. Are you in any pain, or still pain free? Was there a certain reason they wanted to just remove 1 disc? Just curious. Talk soon. Kathy

[steve55]

Well, the Nuerosurgeon I saw today (who has limited ADR experience but is well known and also listed in Dallas D magazine as one of the top neurosurgeons in Dallas) says that He Strongly disagrees with Dr Mignucci's opinion of removing all 3 ADR's and doing a corpedectemy. He said that doing that is a unecessary worse case reccomendation and 3 level fusions are rarely reccommended. He also disagrees with Dr Mignucci's belief that my vertebrae (between C5/6 & C6/7) is too thin to hold ADR's. He does say I have some degree of osteoarthritis but its not too bad and it should be fine to hold teh ADR's. He also said 7 months is still not long enough to say I wont improve by waiting, but also didnt disagree with getting that C6/7 fixed for now with surgery. He said just revise the obvious subsiding tilted C6/7 ADR or remove it and fuse. Regarding my concern with the frozen top ADR , he says even if the top ADR isnt functioining, its perfectly fine as it will act the same as a fusion would.

And to answer Kathy;s question, yes Im in pain, level 2 in the day, level 5 many evenings. Its a dull deep type pain in my C6/7 area, not to mention 40% numb fingers in my right hand and that creepy sensation I sometimes get that my hands and arms are trying to go numb on me also. But Im wayyyy better now than pre surgery.

[Bill1961]

Steve it's great to hear your getting so many opinions and you have a date coming up. How do you digest all these varying opinions and make the best decision for yourself? This would have me spinning. I guess you really won't know until you wake up after surgery.

Are you still getting opinions from Dr. Reagan and Delmarter?

It is nice to hear Dr. Bertagnoli, Dr. Sullivan and Synthes will be providing everything at no cost to you. My guess it's a good opportunity for all of them. Sullivan for training, Bertagnoli for doing the right thing, and Synthes for fixing defective ADR's (if that's the case).

I did read about one case with a woman who had a defective Pro Disc C similar to yours. She described it as if it had a hinge on one side and the other was stuck open. According to her post it came right out. She had the fusion and is doing great. I believe she was in New Mexico.

I hope everything works out for you and will continue to follow your "adventure".

[trkdoc714]

That's terrific news Steve! I hope the next few weeks speed by and you finally get the relief you deserve from this surgery.

Bob

[Maria]

Steve,
That sounds way too good to refuse ~ at least to me. And I'm a big surgery chicken post my 2nd discectomy (don't think even I'd refuse that kind of offere esp. with Dr. B working on things). So wishing you the best~ please continue to keep us posted as able. Maria

[steve55]

Saw Dr Delamarter yesterday. His first comment to me was "well, you certainly get around". LOL. I guess he said that because I have been to the very top doctors thus far (Dr Peloza, TBI, and of course Dr B, then Dr Mignucci whom he knows). As it turns out, he has agreed with Dr Bertagnoli that Dr Mignucci's reccomendation of removing the ADR's and doing a corpedectemy is extreme and completely unnecessary. Dr Delamarter said he is familar with this doctor (Dr Luis Mignucci), and said that this doctor has a bias against keeled ADR's and often recommends their removal to patients who have them. And of course, Dr Mignucci is associated with the Bryan disc and does not support the Prodisc design due to the keel.

Secondly, Dr Delamarter alleviated my concern from the two other doctor reports that seemed to state that the top c4/5 ADR might appear to have no movement. Dr Delamarter took a marker pen and ruler and measured out the distances between my vertebrae in the flexion extended positions and measured them with his ruler. Once he showed me this, it became abundantly clear to me that I do have some movement, though limited, at that location.Dr Delamarter said that the normal ADR movement range is 4-7 degrees, and I have about 2 degrees of movement. He said that my 2 degrees of movement is still significantly beneficial in preventing adjacent level stresses and degeneration. He stated that any movement at all is beneficial compared to no movement that one gets with a fusion. One thing I forgot to ask is why he thinks my top ADR is moving so little. Ill need to follow up with that question. Dr Mignucci stated in his report that he thought the reason was that the top ADR was too large for the space. But who can believe what he says after all this. Anyways, Im just so pleased to learn that it does have at least some movement.


He further stated that the apparent slant to my top c4/5 ADR appears due to my natural vertebral slant at that location and not due to any subsidence at that level. Of course this matches what Dr Beratagnoli told me at our meeting at DFW airport last June.

Overall he said my ADR's look good and that my current symptomology (numb forfinger and middle finger and deep dull pain around the c6/7 area) seems to match what one would expect due to a subsiding c6/7 disc. He does not believe any of my symptoms or discomfort are coming from c4/5 and c5/6 locations.

He is fully confident that fusing the c6/7 as planned will fully resolve my current discomfort and symptoms.

Lastly, he asked me how I ended up going to La Crosee, WI. I told him that was arranged through Dr B. I mentioned to him that Dr B's first choice was doing my surgery at the TX back Institute as Dr Ziglar and Dr Guyer had welcomed Dr B to do it there while they met in a conference in Vienna. But my guess is that after they got back and saw I had failed their Psyche tests, they withdrew their offer. Dr Delamarter just smiled and chuckled. It was quite clear he found that funny and bemusing. I went on to say that I guess that TBI has their studies supposedly showing that depressed patients dont have as good surgical outcomes, ....Dr Delamarter was just nodding his head side to side (in what appeared to me as disbelief or amazement) as I was talking about it. It was clear by his reaction he doesnt buy into TBI's psyche testing stuff and refusing to treat people who they think may be depressed.

Ill end in saying that I was extremely impressed with Dr Delamarter, WOW! He is so personable, and freindly and unlike some docs, is very patient in letting you ask all the questions you want. Maybe it was because he knows I came all the way from Dallas, TX , who knows. ANyways, he was the only one of the 3 docs I saw in Dallas recently who was able to show me (with a marker and ruler) exactly how much movement the top ADR was having. He made it so easy to see and understand! Why didnt the other 3 docs I saw do the same? It set me back $400 but it was so worth it to give me PEACE OF MIND in what I am moving forward with. I walked away from that meeting feeling AWESOME!! He has alot of experience, I even met 1 of his patients who was checking out at the same time I was and this guy had a 2 level ADR and 2 level fusion all at once!!

[dshobbies]

Steve,

How great for you that you're finally confident that you're making the right decision, especially given the conflicting reports you've had from I don't know how many doctors.

Okay, so listen up all you spineys - nodding of one's head refers to an up and down motion whereas shaking of one's head is side to side Isn't it great that we can take some of the stress off of Steve's neck?

Steve, have a great one! You choose.

Dale