Quote:
Originally Posted by stoked64
Well I made the 5.5 hour trip to Charlotte NC last week to see Dr Coric from Carolina Neurosurgery & Spine Associates. Upon arrival, it was obvious that this was a large practice, it turns out they are the largest Neurosurgery center in the US.
Dr Coric was very personal and spent almost an hour with me reviewing my MRI's and my medical history. In short this is his findings:
- He believes my leg pain is coming from one level (L4/5) and not 2 levels (local surgeon recommends 2 level fusion). He showed me how degenerative L4/L5 was and the disc is very narrow and lost most of the fluid (In short, the disc is spent).
- Dr Coric also would like to give it 3 more months to see if my nerves recover from my July surgery. He explained, nerves can recovery 1 MM per day, similar to the growth speed of the human hair.
- In 3 months he would like me to have another EMG and most likely I'm headed toward another CT milligram. He said the EMG would help determine if my nerve damage is permanent from my last surgery or is caused by an impingement (stenosis) problem.
- He also believes that because my primary pain (heavy dull pressure) is generally in my legs and not my back, I’m not a candidate for ADR and fusion would be his recommendation.
I’ll be making the trip back to Charlotte in May to have his staff perform the EMG. He prefers that his staff perform the procedure because he said EMG’s leave a lot of room for interpretation and his staff is in sync with him. I’ll keep the board posted as things progress.
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Does he have any data to backup why you wouldn't be a candidate for ADR? Did you seek a second opinion. Fusion should be the last resort. Your body wasn't meant to be fused together. If your disc is spent, then replacing it with an ADR should do the trick. I would get a second opinion for oversea surgeon.