How to know what spine surgeons and their reviews are honest?

@jenniferhunter
After fusion I expect to be in immense pain which doesn't seem to be appropriate place to be recuperating I mean in a hotel without nurses. Doesn't matter whether it's quiet or not I would need medical attention and massive pain killers. I would need help going to the bathroom everything. They don't supply that in most hotels and they don't supply nurses and hotels.

@annie1 You say "After fusion I expect to be in immense pain..." - why do you think so? In general, hospitals do not discharge patients until their pain can be managed with oral medication.

Let's ask @jenniferhunter about her experience with pain control, and how long she was hospitalized.

@annie1 - no problem at all if you want to mention surgeons' names here. If you want a private message to have more private discussion, however, that's fine, too.

It all depends on your exact spinal condition and diagnosis. Mine was S1-L5 right herniation. An honest Surgeon once told me that : “you can have back pain with or without a scar”. He was referring to studies that show that after my kind of laminectomy - discectomy Patients who had the surgery I had, at the 5 year mark, are just about the same as Patients who didn’t. My view is twofold: (1) don’t expect the surgery to make you pain free….instead your goal ought to be to get the pain manageable with associated treatments such as exercise and heat ect, and (2) look at this kind of surgery as a pain management technique that speeds up the process to get to that five year benchmark mentioned above. Pain management is a meditation folks. My two cents.

I have spoken to many surgeons, actually two different ones at Mount Sinai in New York city. They are proposing different surgeries one lesser but not sure it'll take care of all my issues. I don't know if we're allowed to ask about specific surgeons on here, but if we are not please just message me the name of any certain you have surgery with that Mount Sinai in New York and it was successful. I would like to ask about one in particular I'm not sure if it's against rules.

@annie1 - it's no problem to mention the name of a surgeon here.

@lisalucier
Good to know. On that note, has anyone here had surgery with Dr Samuel Cho at Mount Sinai or with Dr Francis Lovecchio at HSS. I am also open to other surgeons within a few hours from NY who deal with complex cases and will be honest about expectations. Also they need to take Medicare. Thanks for any advice

I've been delaying surgery after having a disappointing experience with a highly rated neurosurgeon in New York. My symptoms came back after only 3 months. I had a laminotomy. Anyway I've been interviewing many other surgeons all of them proposing different solutions and finding it hard to know who I can really trust with my body. Has anyone had surgery with Dr Samuel Cho in New York at Mount Sinai or Dr Francis Lovecchio at HSS? If you have good experiences I'd like to hear about them I also have some complicating factors which are osteopenia and being older/74. I'm also open to hearing about other surgeons within a few hours of New York who are honest and skilled at dealing with what I am told a complex it's spine.

Sorry I can not help with New York doctors. But this is how I have selected doctors and surgeons in my area for years.

That is the big question for many people even for me. How well can you trust the surgeon. I ask my PCP and my other doctors for a recommendation as well. I look at all the online reviews people had with the surgeon as well. That usually narrows down the selection to 3 or 4 doctors. And I will visit at least 3 of them as second opinions. I pretty much trust my gut reaction and my wife's reaction as to which doctor I will use for the surgery. And yes I had one doctor which after talking to him I just had a bad feeling and so did my wife. He was somewhat evasive giving me straight answers to my questions. He got crossed off my list.

@marcd2k
Hello! I responded to one of your other messages a little bit ago. I had my surgery at the Phoenix, Mayo Clinic. Dr. McClendon is absolutely amazing and straightened my spine.
Wishing you the best!
Sherry