New member - advice please?

[Guest guest]

Happy New Year! I have intermittent neck pain due to herniations at

C5/6 and C6/7. A very experienced (but older) neurosurgeon has

recommended a double fusion to eliminate the pain. He has done more

than 2000 fusions in his long career. A less experienced (but more

recently out of school) neurosurgeon is proposing a posterior

foraminotomy which does not require fusion. This surgeon has done

50 of these without complications.

Four questions:

- is it worth getting a fusion if the pain is intermittent and there

is no muscle weakness?

- is anyone familiar with the foraminotomy?

- How do I weigh the risk of the less experienced surgeon screwing

something up?

- Are there other discussion boards that it's worth joining to get

advice with these questions?

Thanks for any advice,

Elliot