Reherniation

[New-disc]

Gil,


Sorry to hear the news.

Hang in my friend!!

Please keep us all posted.

Todd

[Maria]

Hi Gil,
that was the same route I was taking re my rebulges up until 2006. My surgeries were pretty long ago and I only started getting ESIs in 2001 yet they did help greatly w/my symptoms and in the last few years I haven't had nearly the symptoms I used to have. Still all in all if I had been working still I think I would have followed thru w/ADR surgery when recommended or hybrid surgery.

Good luck w/all and keep us posted!

[Gil Denis]

HI Maria

Thank you
What is your condition today?
Did you ever have any continuing surgery?

Thanks
Gil

[Maria]

Gil,
I had my last surgery in '92 with failed back as the lingering diagnosis. Rebulged discs and had scar tissue on my S1 nerve root which was thought to be the cause of burning and pain that I had in my buttocks and legs bilat for 5 years.

Started Gabapentin in '98 and that helped greatly, started low dose Methadone in '01 and that really helped. Started ESIs in 2001 and that helped even more.

Had surgical consults from 2001-2006. Started to feel better in 2005 and decided to wait. These days I'm doing much better and it's thought that's because the L5S1 area autofused after all these years.

I still take my same dose of meds however feel much better most of the time with less flare ups that when occur last much shorter periods of time.

Still can't sit long tho and that's my major problem altho it has improved quite a bit from before L5S1 fused. Still have a bulge at L4 that's bigger than it was, worse DDD, and now facet changes which I've been told I can forget ADR now.


Right now all in all I feel much better than I have in a long time yet again~ I am medicated and still have considerable limitations. Still for the spine journey I've been thru in the last near 30 years I'd say I'm doinng pretty good.

[mmglobal]

Gil, I'm so sorry that your relief didn't last. Good luck... please keep us posted,

Mark

[ans]

Oh no. Wishing you my best Gil during this discouraging/painful time. - ans

[Gil Denis]

Hello!

In the past weeks I have had Three ESI all at the L5-S1 nerve root. She used three selected approaches to try and hit the correct spot One injection was very painful and created a large headache.
At this point I am still waiting for some relief
No reply from any Spine Centers yet and still doing research on spine conditions
I must keep moving forward

Gil

[dshobbies]

Hang in there Gil. Your day is coming. Is insurance paying for any of this or is it all you? And what doctors haven't responded to you?

Dale

[Maria]

Hi Gil,
Good luck with all this stuff. I know the road you're traveling as do many here and I certainly wish you all the best with this spine journey. Hang in there and keep going. As Dale said your day will come.

[Gil Denis]

Hi Dale and Maria

Yes I know my day will come,
I have sent Information to Dr Bitian will not accept my insurance W.C
The Texas Back still waiting
Dr in L.A. still waiting
This all has been paid by workers comp so far. As soon as I mention W.C it seems that I am denied to be seen or treated. When I spoke to my case worker about this she claimed it to be illegal?
Getting really pissed off



Thank You

Gil

[nomorepain]

i had success with Doc Delamarter in Santa Monica, Ca. just my opiniion, but i checked him out thoroughly before my surgery, and my results are truely remarkable, if i had to go through this again, i would with him behind the wheel in a heartbeat.

[Maria]

When I first wanted to see Dr.Delamarter in '03 and WC would have auth'd it he wasn't taking WC patients at the time so I was given an appt. with another doctor there who totally blew or the office blew getting my paperwork done in time re WC's parameters so the auth for ADR (2 level) was withdrawn and I was back to square one w/WC. Had to go get a 2nd surgical opinion all over again (Mark was with me for this) and thankfully that surgeon recommended either 2 level ADR or hybrid surgery so then it took until '05 to get back to Dr.Delamarter's office and I was adament that I did not want the same surgeon that had seen me before because somehow either thru the fault of the office or the doctor or both my paperwork wasn't processed in time and I wanted an appt. with Dr.D. which I finally got.

I was then authorized to have surgery with Dr.Delamarter tho by this time started to feel better and wanted to "wait and see" if I just could get by without surgery because I didn't see the need to pursue something when I felt like I was doing OK.

So my experience with this office wasn't "all that" however they do see a volume of patients and Dr.Delamarter has one of the best surgical repuations around for ADR (and hybrid surgery) as well. I don't know if I'd see him for fusion.

I think if I were getting a multi-level fusion I'd recommend Dr.Frank Coufal in San Diego just by word of mouth with results.

Oh well.. there are plenty of people here that can give recommendations based on their surgical experiences with someone. I'm feeling pretty good with "just hanging in there" as previously posted.

Good luck~ I certainly don't recommend ignoring the pain if there is something that can be done about it and one can't function or quality of life is just not there. I waited mostly because of such a horrible second surgery outcome tho now I'm not sorry I did at all. Of course like any other spiney.. there may be more surgery in my future.

[dshobbies]

I too would trust Dr. Delamarter - however- dealing with him and his office staff can be beyond frustrating.

I started seeking a remedy with him in September '04. From January-March'05 I couldn't get a single phone call returned and finally left the message that if I didn't hear back from him, I would look elsewhere. I finally got a phone call in May and was already scheduled for surgery with Dr. Regan. I had the opportunity to calmly tell my story to Dr. D, who listened and agreed that waiting 5 months for a return phone call was unacceptable. He seemed compassionate when I explained that though he was busy, I was in pain the whole 5 months.

From what I've read, he hasn't changed.

[Gil Denis]

Hi All

Thanks for the replies.
I just received a reply from Dr B at the TBI

Mr. Denis,

Thank you for sending all of your medical records for us to review. Dr. Blumenthal has reviewed everything and wanted me to relay the information to you. He stated that you really have too many levels involved to consider artificial disc replacement. He is basically recommending the same type of surgery that has already been suggested to help the leg pain. He did say, however, that if the back pain is bad enough then you could possibly get a discogram to try to determine what levels are actually causing your pain. Let me know if you have any questions.

Now What? A four level fusion? Holly @@#%!

I will find a solution

Gil