Surgery and Worker's Compensation Approval

[AQA]

You mean your dr. is saying that your body is going to heal and you will have completed pt in under 90 days???? It is not that I don't believe you, but I am questioning it.

The surgery is going to require 4 cages or hollowed out screws that are placed between the vertabra and packed with bone marrow. It is the growth of the marrow that fusses the vetabrea. The spine will be stabilized with screws and plates. It is very well beyound me to comprehend how a dr. is going to feel comfortable releasing you to full duty in under 90 days.

Now part of me being out of work that long could have to do with the fact that I continued to walk with a limp. I know that my treating dr (neuro-surgeon) is very cautious.

I apologize, I just reread you first post. Your dr. is requesting two seperate things.
1) lamenectomy/discetomy. I can see you only being out for 90 days. I had a micro lamenectomy/discetomy and was of work for a month before returning to light duty.

2) lumbar fusion, I also had that. That is much more severe.

You may want to question the dr. further on the issue and why the fusion??????

[twinkletoes]

After a 2nd disc popped, my walking was so badly affected, the pain spikes were unbelievable, several rounds of cortisone shots, PT & acupuncture, I gave up and had a multi-level spinal fusion. The worst of the pain stopped, but a lower, more steady pain (yet just as disabling) remained in the wake. Have you investigated either acupuncture very fully, or if surgery seems like the answer, a disc replacement? My fusion was 5 years ago - my insurer was very generous and sent me to a $40K pain management program which was very good. I came out of the program drug-free, but as soon as my daily activities resumed and became stressful once again, I fell right back into the opiate dependency. One of the problems that occurred was that an over-zealous physical therapist was contorting my body so hard that I now think he was making it worse. If I knew then what I know now, I would've stopped the physical therapy & shots (because they were making things worse), gone to an acupuncturist, and continued on with my own gentle exercise. No surgery, period.