10 years of suffering and only 23!

[on pause]

Hi
I will definitely be in contact with Mark. Thanks for giving me a place to start.

@Hooch, I saw my original surgeon after having the 24mm herniation (the one that crushed my nerve root) and he was I guess having a bad day. After 5 hours of waiting in his office after he was called to emergency surgery (which I understand) he looked at the wrong imaging on my MRI, the fat content not the water content, told me I had simply pulled a muscle and that I was getting fat and should loose weight! His words exactly, and after that, he left! I sent him a detailed image, measuring the herniation size and mailed it to him with a strongly worded letter. I haven't been back to see him since.

From your experience, is there one ADR that is superior to another? I just found out about this surgery option yesterday, and though I've been trying to learn as much as I can, there is a lot of brand marketing that is tricky to get past and get an unbiased opinion. Though ADR surgery is fairly new in Canada, the doctor I lucked into does them quite regularly. I'm not sure yet which type he uses. He has gotten excellent reviews on Rate Md's and was highly recommended by Best Doctors, which is a private organization that fit a patient with the most skilled and respected doctors in their area. For anyone American reading, I don't want to rub it in, but the entire procedure is financially covered here in Canada, so going overseas and paying thousands doesn't seem like an option when I believe my doctor is very skilled. His wait time is usually 2 years but I was able to get an urgent appointment.

On a sort of side note, does anyone have any thoughts on why this is happening to me? I know I'm really young to be having these problems. My most recent MRI shows bone deteriorating around the discs, is that degenerative disc disease? Also, my discs keep reherniating with no trauma at all. The first two happened while throwing a ball, which doesn't seem like much trauma to begin with. To date, none of the 15 or so "specialists" have been able to give me an answer on why this is happening at all, the only ever try to help the symptoms. I want to fix the cause! I'm hopeful for surgery because by my logic, if there isn't a disc, nothing can herniate again! I just hope all the other levels cooperate!

Christina