@valc66 You are so right about advocating for yourself. The doctors see so many patients and their attention moves on to the next patient. It sounds like you have a lot on your mind with your sons, but don't neglect yourself. You may want to look for a neurosurgeon that you want to see in your insurance network, and present that to the primary care doctor. They often tend to refer to their friends and buddies in the medical world and don't take time to look for a surgeon with a subspecialty that may be a better fit for you.

I went through 2 years of chasing doctors who wouldn't help me, so I turned to Mayo Clinic. The others were getting the diagnosis wrong in that they didn't understand what was causing pain even though they could see the ruptured disc on the MRI. I was searching for medical literature and found cases like mine that I found because of reading a Mayo surgeon's' literature that led me to other cases like mine, so I knew he would understand my dilemma.

Does your son receive treatment for MS? My family had been involved with a swimming program that many MS patients attended, and it did help them a lot because the water takes away the need to be weight bearing and you can work on strengthening muscles and not worry about balance.

What is your next step for yourself and your son? Do you have an oncologist to talk to about the mass in your spine? That may be an avenue for referral to a spine specialist.

Jennifer