Can someone tell me about Mayo in Jacksonville FL?

Yeah, I am still here and still kicking! 🙂 Happy to answer any questions anyone might have about my experience from the surgery and also regarding Dr. Fox at Mayo Jax.

Thanks so much. I am in Mobile Alabama. Checking out Ortho spinal surgeons here that my VIVA Medicare will accept. But scared of this surgery unless i know the Dr is very experienced ! I hate this US Medicare --it should cover all the US for Seniors and not limited to states ! But I have granddaughter living in St Johns Florida . I would have to wait prob to Jan 2026 and change my Medicare to be able to do Mayo. If they even accept me. I sure don't want any hardware if at all possible ! Do you know if Dr Fox does this without the hardware? Was it very painful and how long recovery ?

Well, I can say that Dr. Fox was very thorough and in my case at least, no hardware wasn't an option for me as my first fusion 5 or so years prior basically caused the levels above and below that fusion to go bad. Which ended up with me needing more extensive surgery the 2nd time around. Plus, I had some bad arthritis in my foramina at C6 - C7 which he was only able to address by using an approach from the rear.
I am not sure if he does any surgeries without hardware but I suspect it would depend on your specific situation. In talking with him prior to the surgery, he did mention that he is a doc that "certifies" docs in this area that are new to certain spine surgeries and if one had prescribed what other local docs in the area had recommended, he would not certify them. This at least made me a little more comfortable with his skillset.
With regard to the actual surgery itself, this was certainly no easy thing. All in all, I am now fused with 2 rods from C3 all the way down to T1 and the surgery took about 6 hours in my case. Also, anytime you install hardware, especially from the rear, it is a harder recovery than an approach from the front. My first fusion was from the front and was a piece of cake, however, the 2nd one (from the rear) was not so easy. The spasms were the worst part and lasted what seemed an eternity.
Initially, I was looking for a 2nd opinion since something just didn't seem right with what the local docs were telling me but after speaking with Dr. Fox (1st consult was telehealth which was nice as I live about 5 hours from Jacksonville) I decided to proceed with him. He reviewed my previous imaging and indicated he didn't agree with previous assessments on how to proceed and explained why. I got every impression that, had he agreed to the assessment of the local docs, he would have said to stick with them to avoid having to travel. My recovery was somewhat muddled by the fact that I got COVID about 8 months into my recovery and now appear to be dealing with Long COVID so I imagine that didn't help the situation.
Please feel free to reach out if you have further questions. If I can provide any good info I will. 🙂

Hi, Jennifer! I have spinal stenosis in my lower back and the last thing done was 'burning of 3 spinal nerves on both sides'. Not much difference from before. When you say you had a fusion of C5/C6 done "without hardware", what do you mean exactly? I'm not sure what fusion is exactly and imagine the hardware are rods and screws.

@chuva7025 With spinal fusion, a bad disc is removed and that space must be filled with something to support the spine. It may be a cage of some type manufactured of PEEK (a type of plastic) or a metal such as titanium, or the space can be filled with a bone graft sourced from bone bank (cadaver bone matrix) or a graft if bone sourced from the patient’s pelvis. The fusion happens when the bone from vertebrae above and below that graft or hardware grows into that space. Surgeons use bone ground off during the surgery to seed the bone growth in a space designed into the spacer. Mine was a donor bone graft milled to the correct shape and thickness with a space to receive the bone spurs removed during the surgery. There was nothing more than the bone disc and I stayed in hard collar until it fused. Often with cervical fusions, there is a metal plate screwed to the front of the spine over the surgical area for stability before healing has fused the bone. It serves no purpose later on after the fusion is complete and if there is another surgery later on, that plate may be removed. I had to be careful not to twist or bend to make sure my neck was stable for the success of the procedure. I have nothing but natural bone there. The donor bone is just the hard mineral matrix with the bone building cells removed and all of it sterilized so when my bone moves into the neighborhood, there is no tissue rejection. My body reacts to metals, so a fusion without hardware was a good choice for me. Great question! Thanks for asking! Is this something you are considering? Not all surgeons would offer this, and this was how they did cervical fusion before the plates were developed.

@sand40 the foraminal pathology would affect your arm and not your legs.
To rule out circulation leg problems you can get a Doppler Ultrasound which is noninvasive.