Dr. Larry Dodge

I scheduled this appointment to discuss my neck, but we spent most of the time talking about my back. He did an X-ray of my neck and said I may have a slight herniation which is causing the pain into my left armpit and numbness down my left arm to my hand. But, he did not think it was terribly serious and did not need an injection (too early, too aggressive) especially since it seems to be getting better.

About the back, I wanted him to look at my latest MRI from last month. We did together, and he thought things looked pretty much the same. He said the area I was concerned about on the left side of L5 was some inflammation of the base plate, but he didn't think it was a huge deal. We discussed disc replacement and the ADR denial / "experimental" issue with Blue Cross insurance. He thought disc replacement was still the way to go, especially versus a fusion at my age. I told him I could be spending $50,000 to have Delamarter perform the procedure, versus basically free with Dr. Green at Kaiser. Dodge didn't seem to think it was worth spending that much money out of pocket unless the pain was unbearable. He said that Dr. Green was a good surgeon, and he thought that Kaiser was a good hospital with good doctors. So, if Blue Cross doesn't approve the ADR, then I may change back to Kaiser after all. Sheesh! Dodge said that Blue Cross was well-respected at one time ("Cadillac" of healthcare), but their reputation had really gone downhill. Wish I would have known that last October when I was changing health plans!!!

I told him that I was not very happy with Dr. Dobecki (his staff somehow failed to approve my neck MRI scheduled for this week after botching my prescriptions a couple months ago), and I was consequently looking for a referral to a new pain doctor. He recommended Doctors Hoon and Loon (sp?) in La Jolla. He also gave me a prescription for 4 weeks of cervical physical therapy with a guy on Rosecrans (near Bookstar) after I told him I wasn't very happy with Mission Hills PT.