@cookie07 Absolutely, Cookie. I'll help any way that I can. To make sure that I don't miss your posts, would you type my handle @jenniferhunter at the beginning of the post? That will send me an e mail, and I can easily find that under the notifications where the bell icon is at the top. I know how hard this is, and your situation is a lot more complex than what I was going through, and it doesn't need to be that way. I'm glad that you didn't give up and reached out here instead. That's why I help; because I can. I didn't have anyone guiding me, and I had to rely on my knowledge and researching medical papers as well as embracing the process I was going through in facing my fears and consulting surgeons who were not interested in me. That did help in overcoming my fears because I learned how to face the uncertainty that walked through the door in a lab cat, and later I found what they had missed in literature with a case like mine.

I do hope you can see Dr. Fogelson. I have so much gratitude for him. He did more for me too. In 2020, I had a serious ankle fracture, and I asked him for a recommendation for a surgeon. He responded and I had communication right away from the staff of an orthopedic trauma specialty surgeon at Mayo, then a phone call within an hour with an appointment scheduled a few days later for me for ankle surgery. I've had a good recovery from that too.

Words could express how I felt after my spine surgery, and I set a goal in my recovery to get back the coordination in my arms. What I wanted to do more than anything was to paint a portrait of him as a gift, and I did. It was a Sharing Mayo Clinic Story. You can see it in this post https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/221703/

This post will take you to a video link for a time lapse of the creation of the portrait. It's got beautiful music, and I think you'll enjoy it. It relaxes me when I watch it.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/222044/
Jennifer