Quote:
Originally Posted by Lunatic Fringe
Anyone had back surgery to correct where a disc has completely disintegrated due to degenerative arthritis? I have hip pain, foot drawing/clinching up type pain, pain shooting my leg.
Just curious if anyone has experienced this? If so, was successl? If successful, how long has it been successful? Lastly, any clue what it cost? I don't have insurance and I cannot get anyone to even quote me a price. I have called 5-6 place and none will even quote a ballpark price such as $1000, $10,000 or $100,000, or more. My gp keeps telling me I won't be able to find anyone to give me surgery because I smoke. Is that it, or does she think I can't afford it?
Thanks.
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Some surgeons will wait on elective surgery until people stop smoking because of all the complications associated with being a smoker and not only general anesthesia, but also the overall healing process. You can probably find one that won't however. I have a C1-C5 fusion and I had three discs removed due to infection, so my situation was a little different, but surgery was a success in that it cured the infection (eventually, with months of IV antibiotics), but I still deal with a lot of chronic pain from the surgeries themselves. I don't know if that helps any. It's definitely expensive. Like in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. Try to find some kind of coverage first.