hello

For those of you who haven't heard- Mike and I are heading off to Germany in 8 short days for me to have back surgery.  I had a large herniation of my L5S1 disk on 1-3-09 which required surgery.  I have continued to have lasting back and leg pain.  The pain radiates down my entire left leg into my toes.  I have no feeling in the majority of my left foot, and suffer from horrible leg cramps in that leg most nights.  My back pain has increased greatly in the past few months as well.  Over the last 20 months, I have tried several different options.  I started with physical therapy and traction which gave very minimal results.  I then was referred to the pain clinic and started a series of epidural injections.  These actually seemed to increase the pain for a few weeks instead of helping.  I have also gone through a procedure to try chemically "burning" the scar tissue from the previous surgery to help release the nerve.  None of these procedures have worked.  After much frustration and pain, I decided I needed to get another opinion.  This took me on a 3 doctor chase to get where I needed to go.  I finally found a neurosurgeon in the cities.  After reviewing my history, he agreed that the proper procedures had been followed and the surgery was indeed necessary.  He requested that I have a discogram to determine if the pain was disc or nerve related.  After having a positive discogram on 2 discs, he provided me with 2 options.  The first option was to have a 3 level fusion which would leave me with considerable loss of motion along with increased risk of further disc injury.  My other option would be to go to germany and have artificial disk replacement.  This technique is currently not covered by insurances and just starting to be practiced in the States.  Right now, the FDA has approved 1 level ADR's even though the insurance companies have not yet covered them.  I require 3.  I spoke with a few of the hospitals in the States who are doing the surgeries.  I was informed that they would probably not have FDA approval for cases like mine for at least 20 years.  My physician informed me that it was a good possibility that my back would "auto-fuse" in the next 5 years if I continued to go untreated.  He strongly encouraged me to look into germany due to my age and the fact that I have a young family.  He also remarked that I had no structural problems, it was exclusively my degenerative disc disease.  My most recent MRI showed considerable degeneration after 6 months.  I also have a small tear in one of the discs.  After much consideration, Mike and I feel this is in our best interest.  I want to regain my ability to play with my children and not be in pain after sitting for 1/2 hour.  There are no guarantees, but what other option is there?  I was desperate for relief and the money became less of a barrier as the pain worsened.  Please pray for our safe travel and a successful surgery.  I am terrified of the plane and the upcoming surgery.  Most importantly, I worry about being so far away from my children.  Also, please pray that my children are OK and don't eat their grandparents while we're gone!