@annie1 I'm so sorry they are not taking the time to address your concerns and I understand why that upsets you. They have to be careful how they answer you because of insurance and legal issues and they don't want to promise something that wouldn't be covered by insurance. I don't know how big your incision will be for minimally invasive surgery or how many incisions they will need. It may be an easier recovery than most lumbar procedures, but I don't have experience there. My surgery was not minimally invasive, and a fusion has a longer recovery time. My incision was about 3 inches.

I think it is reasonable to ask a surgeon to see you before the procedure for a few minutes. My surgeon at Mayo did that for me and I was much calmer because of it. Is this surgeon rushing to get through too many cases in a day? I want to know that a surgeon who cuts on me is calm and unhurried. It takes a couple of minutes to say hello and reassure a patient that you are in charge and concerned about their well being. It is hard to be a patient facing fears and get no compassion from providers. My surgeon's nurse held my hand in the operating room.

I know this is a difficult time for you, and this doesn't make it easy to trust your surgical team. I fired a surgeon like that, but he wasn't going to help me anyway because he didn't really understand the diagnosis and didn't take enough time to even know that. He spent 5 minutes at the most in the consultation and wouldn't answer questions having looked at my imaging without me. Well, no thank you. You have to do what you think is right for you. If you want to call Mayo tomorrow and ask about care there, you can do that if that is a feasible option for you as in insurance and wait time, etc.

Is this non-communication causing anxiety for you? Only you know how much pain and disability you live with now and if you had to wait for a different surgeon, would you be able to do that?

I know how hard this is, and what it is like to deal with a nurse like that. One surgeon's nurse refused to make appointments for me with the surgeon because they didn't believe my symptoms were connected to my spine problem, and this was a big head of department at a major medical center making this mistake. I had to look elsewhere. It took me 2 years and seeing 5 surgeons wasting my time before I came to Mayo.

What do you want to do? Is this surgeon highly recommended to you by your private physician? Have you checked out his background and reputation? Any disciplinary actions against him with your state's regulatory medical board? I don't want to give you more to worry about, but it makes me worry to hear these things about a surgeon. You have to hire the surgeon you trust and who offers you the best solution. FYI, you should still be able to edit your post now if you wanted to remove your name from it.

Jennifer