I had the second opinion and it was very enlightening, it truly feels like an extremely heavy weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Jennifer and I immediately felt better speaking with this surgeon. The new surgeon, Dr. Chang, confirmed L2-L3 was the original problem. He can also see that there is continuing compression happening, even though Dr. Ganocy, the original surgeon, said there was not.
Dr. Chang is now sending me to an Interventional Radiologist, to have a “Diagnostic Injection” which will tell him exactly where the pain is coming from. It is not an epidural, but similar in the physical procedure. At the appointment, they will have me exacerbate the pain, and then inject. I will let them know if/when the pain subsides, and this will allow them to determine the source location of the pain. It might not be able to be done in one appointment, so there might be further injections. However, if the injections do not work at all, Dr. Chang has no qualms in moving forward with the fusion, as he understands that lying on the floor with heating pads and percocet is no way to live a quality of life. One of the many interesting facts of this procedure is that the Interventional Radiologist will find the injection point based on a CT scan and not an X-Ray. According to him, CT scans are much more thorough and exact.
I have been instructed to cancel my upcoming RFA that was scheduled for July 9th, to allow for this injection. I am now just waiting for the call within the next 48 hours from the doctor’s office to schedule the procedure. Currently, there is no estimated date or time, due to COVID, so I am back in the waiting room.