Dobecki was initially a bit confounded that I seemed to be doing worse (in more pain) after this procedure. However, after I told him that I had been more active right afterwards (e.g., surfing on 2/27) then he thought that might have been a reason for my setback. I forgot to tell him that I had been on the verge of a cold the day of the procedure and, as promised by the nurse, the steroids pushed me into a full-blown week-long cold. Oh well.
Dobecki mentioned that I have some arthritis and facet swelling hypertrophy (sp?) which I had never heard before.
As mentioned previously, if the injections do not work then the next option is IDET type treatments where the doctor heats up (cauterize) the disc. However, Dobecki did not think this was a good treatment option. He said that the results were very hit or miss and he did not have much faith in the procedure. So, he could not recommend it.
I asked about alternative treatments such as putting in a balloon to increase the disc height. He said that I didn't need the balloon because my bones were OK(?)
He said there are some standard procedures which could help me. He said I needed a new spacer between my L5 and S1 vertebrae. Basically we are talking about disc replacement. He wanted me to do some research on spineuniverse.com especially on the following procedures:
- tlif
- xlif
In the end, he said that since I was able to go surfing, then perhaps the ESI on 2/20 was effective. So, we decided to try another round next week on March 19th.
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