[Liz]

charles -- i'm seeing Dr. Bartoli in 2 wks... looking forward to it. I have a lot of sensitivities/allergies to meds so i'm curious what he'll propose. i hope you're recovering OK from the car accident. seems like so many people post-op get into car accidents and i can't imagine what that adds to the recovery.

zorro -- like terry, your story scares the **** out of me, and i hope it prompts others w/scoliosis to really question whether ADR is right for them. when i was researching ADR and scoliosis pre-op there was little info on it. i knew it was a contraindication as noted on the trial exclusions, but when 4 surgeons tell you it should be OK you go w/that. i highly respect my long-time scoliosis surgeon at UCSF, Dr. David Bradford (now retired), whom requested numerous diagnostic tests and referred me to other doctors, PT, etc. The same goes for Dr. Delamarter... highly respected surgeon and i think he has the best staff. very responsive. even though i have an S curve, he thought my spine was in the neutral position at the ADR levels without rotation. only now am i hearing of several cases of failures from scoliosis patients, which makes perfect sense to me. i was having numbness in my right calf for yrs pre-op (which started as burning pain) but eventually resulted in foot drop, and that's one of the reasons i finally decided i needed to have surgery regardless of pending insurance battles. Dr. D is unsure whether i have permanent nerve damage or not. My foot no longer drops and i'm thankful i can stand/walk on it, but my exterior right calf/heel is still numb. however, i'll gladly deal w/that if the back pain lessens.

i hope you can find someone to work w/in LA to help you. Dr. Timothy Davis is the pain management doc in Dr. Delamarter's office and he's supposed to be good. He performed my 2nd discogram when I was trying to be part of a trial he's doing (OP-1). However, you need someone in your network. Maybe he could even recommend another doc in LA for you w/in BC/BS? For me, Dr. Delamarter's office bills my insurance and then I pay them. While he's not in my network, his hospital, imaging center for X-rays, and pathology lab/blood are all in my network. I have United Healthcare, which is horrendous.

i went to grad school at UCLA and went to windsor pilates... they had some decent instructors. as you know, pilates is very pricey unless you can bill it as PT. due to the cost of classes i bought a reformer a few yrs ago and i love it. it's in my bedroom.

thanks for the red hawk recommendation and for all of the other advice from someone whom has been there. i really appreciate it.

take care,
liz