Originally Posted by lal209

Like Lee, I'd go with a good neuro, esp in the thoracic area. The challenge is making sure he/she is really good at what he does. From what I was told they are much more concerned about working around the spinal chord in the thoracic area, because even a minor glitch around it can cause catastrophic damage that has a greater chance of effecting major organs, etc or leaving you a paraplegic. In my case, the neuro also used a neurophysiologist(?) to monitor nerve signal function throughout the surgery to ensure no damage was being done. According to him, there is a much smaller chance of problems in the cervical and lumbar areas and this was not used when he did the procedures in those areas. Word of warning, the neurophysiologist turned out be an out-of network expense for me (almost $4K!) and I was told it's rare to find them in network because they are so highly specialized they can command the big bucks. This may not be an issue for your insurance, but it came as a big surprise for me and I'm having to put a lot more money out of pocket than expected.

It's a good sign that the neurosurgeon specializes in spinal surgeries. You might check around to see if you can get a feel for his reputation. Perhaps your pain mgmt doc knows of him?

Good luck with it and stay positive! all the best to you...