Thank you so much for sharing. I had every other disc herniated and or bulged and I never had surgery. I had a great chiropractor. I was an EMT lifting patients onto gurneys and also a Master Gardener digging and hoeing for decades in the gardens. Lifting very heavy things. And I had 3 children. Now ages 54, 53, and 33. Two over 9 lbs and my last child, at age 41, was over 10 lbs. As for the gastro doctor, he should have explained to me what you just did. So lazy and indifferent. He must be suffering from Isolation of Affect after 40 plus years of dealing with "assholes" 🙂 Thank you for clearing my mind and helping me to understand. My mom died at age 74 of CRC and I'm 75 with bleeding huge lumps externally showing. It freaked me out when the blood started this week. You are way too kind calling your PCP a "bozo". How exhausting having to deal with these mistakes. Sorry that you had to go through all this red tape nonsense due to an incompetent doctor. Be very careful with spinal surgery. My cardiologist just told me to "never allow any doctor to cut you open unless it's life and death." He must have some inside witnessing of this in his medical practice. Scary!!! Linda from NY