@Cjackso21 Hi Carol! Sorry I hadn't seen this earlier. Was busy getting my PT set up prior to my hip replacement and getting my husband in to see and get treated by my neurosurgeon for his spine.
Just me personally, I would try to get a consult with a neurosurgeon that specializes in spines. As someone once explained to me, true or not, always take a bit of salt with all outside opinions, but they compared orthopaedic surgeons to carpenters and neurosurgeons to working on finely tuned equipment. I will say that my orthopedic surgeon that replaced my knee was also seeing my husband and did eventually recommend he see a neurosurgeon and just happened to recommend/refer him to the one who did my L5/S1 spinal fusion. And this Ortho has worked with Bone Smart for many years so definitely trust his opinions.
Realize you have faith in your current Ortho but this may be out of his normal range of procedures. Plus, did your friend say why her Ortho is better? I would definitely want to know that at the very least. And, is your Ortho an Orthopedic Spine Surgeon? My Ortho specializes in hips and knees and some shoulder work but doesn't touch spines.
Sounds like some of those requirements they are asking for may be insurance driven. I know when I was pending my spine surgery the office called me and confirmed that I had previously been to PT. They knew that I had been to pain management for injections as they sent a very detailed report to my Primary to include when he sent my referral to the surgeon.
What is the Vascular Surgeon for, the disco gram maybe? I'm not exactly sure why they want to do this. I'm no doctor or any other type medical person but to me that seems like a diagnostic type procedure.
As far as the actual fusion went (L5/S1) it was pretty straightforward surgery as best I know. One of my big problems was when I moved, in any direction, my disc kept slipping and pinching the nerve causing major pain. Doc said he could stabilize the disc to keep it from pinching and possibly severing the nerve eventually. He didn't promise that he could take away all of my pain. He couldn't straighten my spine perfectly without possibly causing more problems but did the best he could.
The first week or so were kind of rough, part of that had to do with the pain meds he prescribed. Luckily my pain management doc had prescribed me meds prior to surgery to get me through and in the event the Neurosurgeon didn't give me a long enough prescription. Once I switched to meds that worked and that I could function on life was much better. Hadn't learned how wonderful ice was at that time unfortunately. I was good enough to drive myself to my 2 week follow-up and get my infusion checked. I still had a few months of recovery but felt quite a bit better everyday. Was out of work day before Thanksgiving till the week after New Years. Could have gone back earlier if I really wanted but doc said sitting all day (I was admin and did teleconferences) was one of the worst things for me.
Went to my husband's first appointment with Doc and he kept looking at me and I said you did my surgery in 2015. He went I knew I knew you! Well, seems like its working for you.
Having two levels done may be a bit more pain, a bit more downtime but wouldn't think that much. Most of these surgeons are doing as minimally invasive as possible now. I think my incision was maybe an inch or two long, can't even really see it anymore. Sorry for the book, just wanted to share as much as I thought might be helpful. Will try to update my profile to email me if I get tagged so know to come here and check. Good luck and keep me posted if you don't mind.
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