Choosing a spine surgeon

@sherrym25
Well if I went to Arizona I would have to stay out there after the surgery for a while. Do they have any in-house rehab there? Also well I have to make an appointment but I want to make sure that he can work with the osteoporosis. I might have found someone here now in New York after someone messaged me on another site but I have to look into that first. I will see you about the doc in Phoenix also.

@annie1 I flew to Arizona for my initial evaluation with Dr McClendon and then I flew there for surgery. I left the hospital 9 days later and flew home. I don’t know if they have in-house rehab but the office staff are so nice if you want to call and ask. I sent my mri, X-rays, and cat scan to them and then they called and said Dr McClendon accepted me as a patient for an evaluation. They also do telehealth sometimes so maybe you could do that to ask your initial questions about having osteoporosis.
Best, Sherry

Ok thanks. Do you happen to have the contact number ? I obviously can look it up. I'm just exhausted between pain keep me up, interviewing surgeons and trying to do what I love a few hours a week.

@sherrym25 Thank you!

@sherrym25

I just read one review that said he was rude and pompous. ?

I found him to be extremely kind and patient during my evaluation. As a matter of fact, his normal assistant was out sick, and the covering assistant told me she loved working for him because he took care of so many of the scheduling details. When I told him that I hoped to schedule surgery by the end of the year because my co-pay had been met for the year, he went out himself and grabbed the scheduling book and came in and sat down with me and entered everything in the computer himself.
My surgery was eight hours long and while I was in recovery, he grabbed a candy bar, because he said he was starving. and then ran 5 miles. Then he showed up in my recovery room to tell me how well everything went. Every single nurse and assistant that I dealt with at the hospital with all of my pre-testing all the way through my recovery could not say enough about good about him. They absolutely love him. They would smile and say “oh Dr. McClendon we just love him. He’s the best.” I was certainly happy to hear that since everything was already scheduled!!
I’ve had three zoom follow up appointments with him and each one. He has been kind and spends as much time as I want asking questions.

Thank you. I guess there's always going to be one or two people who are negative about any doctor. I'm going to call today.

@sherrym25
I asked if he had any expertise with osteoporosis and they said no, so I don't think this will be the best fit. Did you say you have osteoporosis ?

@annie1 they have a team of doctors who work there so when I sent all of my imaging, he was the one that took my case. I would think they would have a good surgeon that has experience with osteoporosis.
Just a thought would be to send them your records and see if they have a doctor that would accept your case.
No, I do not have osteoporosis.

@annie1 I’m so sorry I missed this message! I would’ve sent you his number.