Why me - as if we all haven't asked that question.

[Guest guest]

Hi my name is Lorrie Snyder and live in Ellicott City just outside

of Baltimore, MD. I've posted a couple of times and thanks to all

of you I'm so much better informed about this awful flatback. I had

scoliosis surgery in 1973 when I was 12 years old. My surgery was

performed by Dr. Levine at the Hopsital of Special Surgery in

NYC and he was a lifesaver for me. I have a Harrington Rod and I'm

fused from T6-L2. I do know that before my surgery and before being

in traction for 10 days, one of my curves was over 90 degrees. Like

all of you, everything was fine till I was about 35 and decided to

push a manual lawnmower. I hurt my lower back and found out I had

degenerative discs at L3 and L4. I took Naprosin for about 10 years

and was fine.

I got married in 2001 and just had a wonderful perfect little girl

February 29, 2004. I thought my lower back would be screaming

during the pregnancy but it was actually fine, my upper back became

the problem and both pains really reared their heads after she was

born. I haven't been the same since. I went to the doctor that was

treating me with Naprosin - Dr. Stinson in Gaithersburg, MD and he

really didn't have any answers for me. I changed doctors and went

to the Scoliosis and Spine Center at St. ph's hopsital headed by

Dr. McAfee. I wanted to see Dr. McAfee but they would only give me

an appointment with his associate Dr. McLaughlin. Dr. McLaughlin

recommended I take a conservative approach and have a Facet

Rhizotomy (Sp?). It did not work at all. I then went to Dr. Gelb

at the Univ. of Md who wanted to fuse me to the sacrum and told me

he couldn't guarantee I would be pain free and of course my mobility

would be severely limited. I went for a follow up with Dr.

McLaughlin who happened to be out ill and the office forgot to call

me and cancel my appointment so I met with Dr. McAfee. Dr. McAfee

suggested an osteotomy and to meet with his associate Dr.

Tortalani. My husband and I met with Dr. T today. We waited in the

examination room for 1 ½ hours!!!! Orthopedics! These doctors

are

so slow to get to their patients.

Well we got a lot of good information, but I didn't feel real

good

about the amount of experience Dr. Tortalani had in doing

the " revision surgery " . Dr. T. also said that he was in the

early

part of his career and did one of these types of surgeries and is

comfortable with the surgery – but that really didn't sit

well with

me. He is pretty young - I would bet he isn't 40 yet.

So Dr. T said this could be a 2 part surgery (one done and then

another done 4-5 days later) – front and back and remove the

discs I

have at L1,L2,L3 & L4 just leaving L5 free. He made no guarantee

that L5 would not suffer from the stress and I would later need

surgery there nor would he say that I wouldn't have problems down

the road with my hips (I was born with hip displasia in my left hip

socket) – great. I asked him why Dr. McAfee referred me to him

(Dr.

T) for this procedure. He said Dr. McAfee is scaling back his

scoliosis surgeries (being that he is getting older –I guess he

is

trying to hand things over to the younger guy).

Well Dr. T did say that my pain in my lower back would be

alleviated, but the surgery has risks – stroke, heart attack,

blood

clot, 5-10% chance of paralysis, nerve damage in one leg and death.

Lovely….

Dr. T did suggest we think about it and get other opinions. He said

that it isn't recommended to have the surgery beyond the age of

55

because of bone mass loss. He mentioned the doctor we already saw

at Univ. of Md – Dr. Gelb who wanted to fuse me to the sacrum.

I asked him about Dr. Boachie-Adgei and he said " Oh he does revision

surgeries all the time " . That made me think that what I need to do

is go to NY and see Dr. Boachie-Adgei. "

After Dr. T left the room I really started to cry – you know

the " why me " thing.

When we got home I told my husband that I wasn't comfortable with

Dr. T's limited experience. From this chat group I've read

that it

is extremely important to go to a surgeon that is well known with

experience with this " revision " surgery. Many of the woman

in the

chat group have gone to surgeons that weren't experienced in this

and ended up having 5 surgeries and then going to the top dude after

all.

So I called Dr. Boachie-Adgei's office and have an appointment on

Friday, June 3rd at 11 AM – let's see what he says.

That's my story. Sorry it is long - but I need support from you

ladies and I wanted to bring you up to date.

Lorrie