@rita9876 Rita, both of those surgeons would understand if you chose the other one, and both of them will have patients waiting in line to see them, so go with your gut feelings on what you think your best choice is. I certainly understand wanting to be a bit more conservative in surgical treatment. You have to get onboard and be part of his team to have a good outcome. Mayo truly is a team approach, and the doctors are employees and get paid the same salary all the time, and don't get extra wages for doing surgery, so they are not loosing out of anything if you don't select them. I saw both orthos and neuros when I was looking for a surgeon. I thought the neuros were more detail oriented and did more testing evaluations, but that may be just the particular doctors who saw me. I saw 5 spine surgeons before I came to Mayo. Dr. Fogelson (at Mayo) had the best of both worlds because in addition to having trained in the 7 year neurosurgery program at Mayo, he also did an ortho spine fellowship program at another medical center.

The surgeon may have a 3 D model printed of the spine for reference in the case. I've seen a photo like that of the surgeon looking at the model in the operating room. It helps them visualize what they are doing on a complex procedure. Some surgeons write out their plan in stages on a white board, so it is mapped out what order to do things. They have to do calculations to make the corrections and get the spine closer to a normal spine. After my surgery, I did ask Dr. Fogelson why he chose to be a spine neurosurgeon. I don't remember his exact words, but he answered that it inspired him because of the difficulty of solving the patient's problems and giving a patient a better life. Spine surgery is his passion and he is excellent and loves his job. Knowing that helped me be more relaxed. His nurse had assured me that he loved his job and she was there holding my hand in the operating room.

How soon do you need to make your decision?