@rball202 Jeff, thank you very much! I loved painting the portrait of my surgeon and he loved it too! It has a place of honor in his home. I had been losing the ability to control my arms until I had spine surgery at Mayo. It was life changing for me. It was a lot of work putting the video together and I like to watch myself paint it when I need something uplifting. I like the music too!

I don't know anyone who has had surgery for kyphosis. Perhaps there will be some other members who can share that type of experience. It really would be a big surgery with a long recovery time, and not something to rush into. I do understand financial issues and needing insurance to pay, but it may be worth it to pay for some sessions of MFR to see if it helps. If you can avoid surgery, wouldn't that be worth it?

The way that chiropractors work with direct force to the spine makes me question the safety of doing that if there is a problem with a disc. All I had to do to rupture my disc was turn my head, and I heard it pop and my head turned further. It had been bulging for several years. When a disc gets injured, it can develop small cracks, and then they dry out with aging and those cracks can open up and the disc can herniate. Once that happens, there is inflammation, and it can start the growth of bone spurs. That happened to me, and the bone spurs were growing into my spinal cord. That became a problem that needed surgical intervention. You could have disc issues related to your kyphosis.

My husband just retired, and there are lots of things that need to be addressed with insurance and Medicare, etc. We made sure to select real Medicare rather that a plan that replaces Medicare and that may not be accepted at Mayo. I actually called the Mayo billing department about which Medigap plans would be accepted, so I know I would be covered if I should need to come back for treatment.

The picture on my avitar is my older horse. I have a younger horse that I ride and I had a custom saddle made for him. There is a nice trail about 5-6 miles long near where he is boarded that is a nice ride. For safety, I always ride with others.