Hey Joe---I guess not, because I never heard of OP1. All I know is that the laminectomy was "generous", and because he removed a LOT of spine, he had lots of pieces to use. The plan was to supplement that bone with bone from hip, plus the BMP to enhance the chance/rate of fusion.

Get this, though: BMP costs a lot, and the hospital absorbs the cost. Usually, one bag of this sushi textured material is used with a fusion. But when I woke up, the doc says to me: I just had an urge; I thought, What the Hell! I'm going to just throw in an extra bag and let the hospital deal with it. That way, I won't have to use her hip. I've since heard rumors, on the spine board (nothing about healing from spine surgery seems well studied), that one reason for failure to fuse is TOO MUCH BMP!

On the other hand, my doctor went against what every other spine surgeon people on the spine board used have said. He told me to NOT use a brace; he did not use a bone stimulator; he said do whatever activities I could, with no limitations. The implanted hardware was so strong that there was nothingI could do to move my spine and hinder fusion.

Again, nobody else has gotten this advice. Patients on the spine board are typically corsetted for months after surgery, told to not twist, not bend, not exercise, and some are given bone stimulators--electrodes whichsound to me kind of like the Rebulder/TENS type of thing.

And you know, I'll never have any idea what it was that kept me from fusing; nor will I understand what the long-term meaning of it isfor quite a while.
It's hard to get info.

As you know, I love to research topics, such as looking up treatments for Silverlady, whose suffering has troubled me greatly; or composing a complete list of diagnostic tests, and setting up Lizajane.org. But for the spine---there is just no information out there. I don't know why.

Why did you ask about the OP1?

And here I am, a tad insomniac, and signing on in hopes of a note from Billye. I urged her so strongly to go to Mayo, that I am feeling resonsible for hersuffering, and am afraid i will feel extremely guilty and presumptuous in my "work on her behalf", if nothing comes out of it for her except the misery of the trip. I'm already feeling quite guilty.