Good karma sent your way Rick!
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Good luck bro, will keep you in prayer!!!
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Best of luck, Rick.... and here's to a speedy recovery (and hopefully no more follow-up surgery).
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I know this is bordering on TMI, but if you have ever wondered what your spine should NOT look like....
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Best of luck for a speady recovery with very little pain.
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Yikes, that's pretty serious news. Prayers for a full recovery.
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Yikes.... best wishes to a speedy recovery! Hopefully you'll be back up and on your feet soon! At least its happening now and not in the summer.... nothing worse than being laid up in the summer while everyone else is enjoying the weather.
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<rant>

The first appointment I got was for the first week in March so I called around and I am waiting to hear back from two different hospitals today (one advantage to living in Boston).

To make things that much better, we found my wife's job posted on Monster over the weekend (just posted Saturday).

So I got that going for me ....

</rant>

:-)
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As someone who has to replaced hips, a cage and fusion in my back and my surgeon telling me I need a rebuild on my left shoulder and a repair on the right...I know how you feel I hope all works out well....PS shoulders are the hardest joint to rehab...just sayin
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Well to continue my rant:

(Mainly just for my own needs but that is what rants are for right?)

I saw Surgeon #1 yesterday and he said he sees no non-surgical options with this degree of rupture, and because of my existing fusion I am a very good candidate for disk replacement - which would hopefully stop the domino effect of adjacent disks failing over time.

Then he said that my insurance (BCBS) will most likely deny it and just tell him to do another fusion (I assume because they are less expensive) :-)

He said I have a good chance of getting it approved through an appeal process (which I will have to do myself) but it will add an extra couple of months to the process.

I am hoping that once they see they have already paid for one fusion that likely casused my current condition, that the replacement may actually be more cost effective in the long run. :-)

I see Surgeon #2 tomorrow for a second opinion (which I know they are going to ask for anyway).

Then Monday, I get to go back to my regular Dr. and beg for pain meds to tide me over through the appeal process (apparently surgeons don't like writing scripts until after they cut you open).

He did say that I shouldn't have any issues getting what I need once I show him the cd of my MRI (I feel like one of those moron muscians in the subway station passing out cd's to anyone that will listen).

I just hope I have enough left to get me to Monday.
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Damn dude. I feel for ya! Hope it all works out in the end. Just another story of why insurance companies suck. :-)
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Back in rant mode.....

I saw surgeon #2 yesterday, total a-hole.

He let his surgical resident do most of my eval (who seemed surprised how well I could read my MRI films, I told him this is far from my first rodeo).

The resident agreed that I need surgery, and then Dr. a-hole finally came in, didn't want to listen to anything I had to say and completely contridicted his assistant saying he didn't like to be so aggressive and I should try PT first and wait until it gets worse before sending me packing in about 5 minutes after being in the hospital for 3+ hours.

I told him not to sit by the phone waiting for me to make another appointment.

He also made me have a CT scan which he never looked at (I had my MRI films with me) - can you say "padding the bill" any louder?:-)

I am going to stick with the first guy.
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Sorry you're stuck in the doctor grinder, Rick.
Honest to God, it's worth continuing to look for a surgeon you can put your trust in. Don't settle. Ask around, check some messageboards, get in the car and drive a couple hundred miles if you have to.
In the end, even if you don't get 100% relief, you'll feel confident you got the very best treatment possible. That peace of mind is worth it's weight in gold.

Ain't much sense in getting pissed off, and it's damn near impossible not to. The doctors just plain don't much give a sh1t.
I have found that big city doctors are far more personable and thorough than small town docs (I'm not sure where you're doctoring). In the small towns, there's one health system and zero competition. When I travel to Pittsburgh or Cleveland, they fall all over me. By "fall all over me", I mean they'll actually listen to my concerns and answer my questions. You'd think that should be status quo, but it ain't, by a longshot.

I wish you the best of luck through all this, I know exactly how bad it sucks. I've been stuck in the doctor grinder for years. They have my insurance cards practically swiped to death.
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I'm in Boston, no need to travel more than a few blocks to find another hospital. That is the one thing I have going for me.
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So, to update my rant.....

I have a surgery date for the end of March - I filled out all the paperwork and have a pre-op scheduled.

But, I still don't have an official yes or no yet.

So, I have to plan my work and family around possibly having a pretty major procedure done in three weeks - but it might not happen.

If it does, I'll be out for at least two weeks and not be able to drive for probably five weeks (who knows when I will be able to enjoy a cigar again).

Talk about a frustrating process. :-)

At least I have the NERF this weekend to take my mind off of things.
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GL & Prayers Continued, Brother!:-)
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I'm sure you will come thru this just fine.
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Well, I got the call this morning that I have actually been approved for disk replacement and everything is a go for the end of the month.

I still won't believe it until I have the paperwork in my hand but it looks like I will be on the DL just in time for opening day (hopefully there will be some day games early on).:-)

Now the real question, home many cigars can I smoke before then and how many weeks will I have to go without one after the fact? :-)
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Good luck with everything -- my thoughts and prayers are with you.
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Hey Rick, hate to hear about your predicament, but I'm glad you got approved for disk replacement--it sounds like that's about the best option at this point. Look into something like your cable company's MLB package and then you'll have no shortage of games to watch!!
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