RE: Baltimore/Washington MD's/

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

Sorry to hear that you had heart problems on top of your spine situation. Since you are leaning so far forward now, I would suggest talking with Dr. Rand, Boachie or LaGrone and explain your heart situation. He might be willing to review your file with a top heart specialist to find out if it is possible to improve your back situation. The other side to the situation is that your present back situation might be causing further problems with your heart (I hope not and I'm not wanting to scare you, just a concern that I would have). I have that I would rather have all available information, both good and bad, so that I know what I am dealing with (can you tell that I like to deal more with facts than emotion). It is also possible that because of your heart, Dr. Rand might not be able to do any fusion for you. You will never know what is possible unless you ask. I know from other situations, fear can end up being a disease/condition itself unless you are willing to set emotions aside and look at possible solutions, plus there might not be a solution at the moment, which is an answer in itself.

I am leading a self-management program for chronic conditions, and this is one of the main points in the program, is that fear may make your condition worse (among other items). One thing I want out of life is to live as healthy life as possible, within the limits of my condition, and to always have hope and a good attitude.

Good luck in your scoliosis journey and I hope you find the best solution to your situation so you can enjoy life again.

Llweyn

-----Original Message-----From: [mailto: ]On Behalf Of WagnerSent: April 25, 2006 4:26 PM Subject: Baltimore/Washington MD'sI would stay away from Hopkins. If they have done that many revisions - why has nobody on any of the sites mentioned them? I had surgery at Hopkins in 1981 (different doc). The rod broke and they DID NOT find it for 9 months!!! I had to have more surgery then. In 1988, I had an excellent surgeon in DC ( Tozzi) do a fusion to the sacrum. The man was a life saver! Unfortunately, I went into heart failure after the surgery and 18 months later had to have my aortic valve replaced. This was a congenital problem and had nothing to do with the back surgery. The back surgery completely took me out of pain. Now I do lean very far forward but due to the valve job, am afraid to do fusion. If I ever do it - it will be with Rand in Boston, Boachie in NY or LaGrone in TX. This surgery is so specialized that I would only stick with the big guys.Good luck!