@ergodesign You might have missed my earlier post to you. I am a Mayo spine surgery patient, and I posted 2 patient stories about my spine surgeon. He became my surgeon when I wrote to him and requested that he review my imaging because none of the local surgeons I saw would help me. After he reviewed my imaging, he offered me an appointment. Doing that much doesn't cost anything except the postage for sending in the imaging CDs. They make a decision about if they can help or not and will contact you. Mayo surgeons are busy now catching up on elective procedures that couldn't be done a few months ago because of PPE shortages and that can affect how long a patient waits to get into Mayo. Mayo also prioritizes urgent cases. I suggest that you call Mayo first and determine if your insurance will cover treatment there. You can request a particular surgeon like I did, or you would be assigned to one if you don't make a specific request. The surgeon will arrange all the other specialists who need to see and test you like neurology, so don't worry about where to start. Start with the spine surgery consultant. Weak and numb legs can be caused by a spinal cord injury and it will be their job for figure that out. Both a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic spine surgeon can operate on the spine, but my advice would be to consult one with an interest in a spine deformity like my surgeon. He is a neurosurgeon who also has orthopedic spine fellowship training, so that's the best of both worlds, and if he needs assistance on a complex case, he will call in an orthopedic spine surgeon to assist. So after you know you'll have insurance coverage, the next step is to call the neurosurgery department to set up a temporary patient account and they will give you directions on how to mail in the imaging. If you want to do that, let me know and I will send you the contact information.