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November 18, 2009 - 6:36pm
Two great surgeons, how do I select.
I've now met with both of the surgeons that are candidates to perform my MicroD.
Surgeon 1 is the chief of neurosurgery + orthopedic spine surgery at a major Los Angeles teaching hospital ranked in the top ten by Us News & World report. He has an amazing CV and reputation. He answered all of my questions, will perform more or less the same surgery as physician #2 and feels extremely confident he can get this resolved relatively easily.
Surgeon 2 is a well respected surgeon at our local private hospital which is ranked in the mid 20s FWIW. I really like him and he has been incredibly patient and taken time to answer ALL of my questions. I think we were not on the same page for a few weeks, but that's improved tremendously in our last couple of meetings. He explained in detail what he was going to do, how he was going to do it and why.
They both do around 100 or so MicroD's a year.
So now comes the tough part.. how do I pick between two great choices??
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11/09 L5S1 MicroD, 6/10 L5S1 Fusion-7/10 L5S1 Rev (misplaced pedicle screws),5/11 Sent to Pain Mgmt,6/11 CT = ectopic bone -> foraminal canal due to off label use of BMP w/o my consent.
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The only other real difference I can think of, is at the teaching hospital, my surgeon doesn't 'open and close', that's left up to the fellowship surgeons.
11/09 L5S1 MicroD, 6/10 L5S1 Fusion-7/10 L5S1 Rev (misplaced pedicle screws),5/11 Sent to Pain Mgmt,6/11 CT = ectopic bone -> foraminal canal due to off label use of BMP w/o my consent.
If you ended up having a long-term relationship with one of these surgeons, (ie, you need more surgery in the future) do you prefer the atmosphere of one office over the other? Think about things like trying to get in touch with the doctor, getting prescriptions renewed, timeliness for appointments,...you know, the things that matter to YOU.
It is a very personal decision. I almost went to a large university hospital in my state. I liked the surgeon very much, but I didn't like the "big clinic" feel to the place. I could see that if I placed a call, I would never know who I was speaking with, etc. But things like this aren't important to many people. Also, it was about 80 minutes away from me, and I decided I was the kind of patient that would be going in more often than just the two post-operative check-ups, and I didn't always want to have to drive that far.
So think about things like that. It sounds like either would be a good choice.
I have no medical training. Comments are based on personal experience and lots of research and reading.
PLIF @ L4-5 with Peek cage, rods and screws Jan 2008
Lami-foraminotomy L5-S1 Jan 2009
Fusion L3-S1 coming up -- 1 June
Gwennie makes a good point. I had a great neck surgeon but after the surgery he seemed "done" with me. My new orthopedic spine surgeon is very patient, listens and answers all my questions. I could see having a longer term interaction with him.
Rt. Total Knee Rplcmt 09/2011
L3-S1 PLIF '10; L4-S1 PLIF '93; L5-S1 PLIF '87
C5-C7 Foraminotomy '08; C5-C7 ACDF '06
Bilateral knee arthritis. Bilateral CTS.