conversation with Dr. Bajaj

I finally talked with Dr. Bajaj after playing phone tag for a few days. I was amazingly able to get through to a live person on his office number who conveyed my message to him, and then I got a call back from the man himself. Shocking communication!

Results from discogram:
reproduceable pain at L5/S1 level = source of pain

Next step:
annuloplasty = insert heat coil into disc to burn nerve endings (decrease pain), very similar to IDET procedure. I asked about my "pancaked" disc. Bajaj said that the disc height is a valid concern, however it is still worth attempting the procedure -- there is no harm in doing it. He was able to get the contrast into the disc for the discogram, so there is some disc left. And it is better to exhaust all non-surgical alternatives first!

If annuloplasty is unsuccessful, then the next step is microdiscectomy which involves sucking out parts of the disc...?


I told Bajaj that I was looking for new doctors, and he recommended a Dr. Chris Chishom in La Jolla. I asked him about Dr. Dobecki, and Bajaj said that he was good as well. Bajaj encouraged me to get all of my medical records from Kaiser to the new doctor(s). He said I would probably have to personally go to the basement of the Zion Hospital to fill out the release forms. Great. He said it was especially important to obtain the following records:

• 7/30/07 = most recent MRI
• 12/3/07 = most recent CT scan
• 12/6/07 = operating report from discogram

I plan to go to Kaiser Hospital on my day off this Friday to get the records.