Hi Mark, I had my appointment with Dr. Lyons at Mayo Clinic and decided to use him as my surgeon. He wouldn't accept clearance from my cardiologist, so I'll have to return for tests prior to surgery, which I'm trying to schedule ASAP. Lyons thinks he can correct the issues in C3-C7 without fusing the vertebrae since I have osteoporosis which may interfere with hardware binding to bone.