I am new to this forum, although not new to spine problems.

Around 12 years ago I had a lumbar fusion & laminectomy for bad stenosis, pain from my waist down, loss of reflexes in my ankles & also a synovial cyst in my spinal column. It was a success & I went back to work, lifting patients in my nursing job until I suddenly developed terrible back & pain in 1 leg. Turns out a screw was pinching a spinal nerve. It happened suddenly although I had no one injury or lift that did it - I had some degree of pain every day that I worked & lifted patients.
The first surgery was on L&I, I could not prove a work injury due to no 1 incident - so the 3 level fusion I had last spring was not.

My course this time has been very hard, my pain is worse, CT shows scar tissue & stranding (I am a nurse but not even sure what this means) and MRI shows a disk fragment. My surgeon & his clinic have been no help, they have an across the board policy that everyone comes off all restriction at 3 months, can lift anything, and should go back to work. No pain meds after 6 weeks. I would be happy to be off pain meds & go back to work if I could. I am in too much pain, my sleep is very poor at night, I take very minimal pain med - only 1/2 pill a night so I can sleep. It doesn't get rid of the pain but takes it down enough that I can - although sometimes I am unable to sleep for hours.

I can hardly ever talk to him or see him - I did not see him once until my 6 week check. He did not round on me when I was in the hospital. His nurse said he looked at my MRI, that there was no disk fragment even though this conflicts with the radiologist report. She then said he told her there was no difference between the 2 MRIs - I asked her "you mean there is no difference between the pre-op and post op MRI? Because that is the only 2 MRIs they are referring to, 1 pre surgery and 1 post. She just stammered and said yes. I feel they are lying to me, and not being forthright at all.

The doctor honestly told me that if I were a Seahawk, he would send me back to play football. How many pro football players get a 3 level fusion and go back to tackle or block? I can hardly lift 15 pounds without severe pain, but he would have signed off on me being able to lift 50 pounds so I could return to work. It is only because of my physical therapist standing up to him, that I was able to extend my leave from work.

I am nearing the end of the max time I can take from work, and at that time I will probably lose my job. And my health insurance. I am thinking of applying for social security disability - I already have disability from my employer as I had signed up for the optional disability insurance. But I am pretty sure my surgeon will not be supportive of me applying for disability. They already have a policy where they don't complete physical capacity forms - they had my PT do it (and then wanted to ignore his findings).

Am I right in thinking my chances for getting approved social security disability are nil with this doctor? I really don't know what to do. It seems all doctors just protect each other - they may say your spine is a mess here let me reoperate, but no one wants to say Dr. X did a bad job for fear of winding up in court. How do I find a doctor who will be more honest & also hopefully advocate for me? I am nearly 55, I am in too much pain to work or hold a job, let alone be of any use to the patients who would be relying on me. My medical bills are terrible and I am afraid of just racking up more fees for nothing.

Sorry this was so long. Thanks in advance for any words of advice.

Any Dr who has a "policy" that treats every patient the same is nuts. We are all individual and absolutely no two patients are the same. Don't walk, run(as fast as you can without pain) to another doctor. Since it appears that your physical therapist seems to be helpful ask if he can recommend a Doctor who can look over your post-surgical files and make the recommendations in regards to your limitations and work. Once you get an appointment make sure you bring copies of all your MRIs and reports as well as any other medical documentation you can get from the quack before you leave.

One of the other site members will be able to help with the SSDI question. I'm sorry to hear about the problems your going thru but you'll find very knowledgeable and caring people on this site to assist you.

One question I have: I don't know what L&I is, but if your current medical problems are caused by a screw from you original injury and surgery why isn't it still covered as part of /or because of the original claim.

Thank you so much for your kind & informative reply, Lookieloo.

L&I = labor & industries - they want a 1 event injury to account for a workmans comp injury - when it is established fact that back injuries occur through years of wear & tear. I went to 1 neurosurgeon years back, typical corporate type who said no this is not L&I. I ended up going to a different neurosurgeon I knew (I knew both from working with them before) who didn't see it that way, & thankfully told me at least 51% of the injury had to be from lifting as a nurse. I have been involved in ballet & dance most of my life - that is damaging to spines too.
I might have been able to get the original claim reopened, but it would not do me much good. It would have covered the medical bills but they will not pay time loss (monthly income) on a reopened claim unless it happens within 7 years of the time closed. And they are pretty safe with lumbar fusions, they tend to last ten years or so, at least the successful ones do. I think it's a wrong system - they know these surgeries don't last forever especially for active people. But those are the rules.

I will go find a different doctor. I've been checking reviews & many seem to be of the ilk of my present surgeon - great guys if you do well but the worm turns if you aren't. Then you are just a whiner / malingerer, don't ask them for the time of day. He told me that I should go back to work because sitting around & getting depressed while your world shrinks will only make the pain worse. Well, I'd be happy to go back to work if my pain wasn't so bad. He thinks people who go back to work do well - but that's backwards thinking. The people who are doing well naturally go back to work - work doesn't fix them! I just don't want to find another corporate sell out. I was going to use a different term but don't know if that will get me in hot water here.

If anyone in the seattle area knows of an orthopedic spine surgeon or neurosurgeon who is capable of being an advocate for patients with many objective findings (my MRI is a hot mess of stenosis, bulging disks - all post surgery when it should have been fixed - plus I have a bad scoliosis now that happened post fusion) please PM me. Or post here. Thank you!

Cumulative Trauma WC injuries are VERY common. Time to find a new doc and potentially a WC attorney. Do not assume LTD insurance is a slam dunk without the support of your doc either! As for SSDI, it would be very difficult to be approved without the support of your treating doc.

You KNOW your doc is not treating you. Get a supportive one ASAP! Perhaps a good one could actually help you improve enough to return to work even. Who do the docs in your state send their own family members to when they have major spine issues? That's where you want to go.

A hint--you might need to travel to a larger city or one at least one far enough away that your new doc won't be contradicting a local colleague.

Ok, I had a L&I lawyer before, for the first claim. He didn't think I had a case, but I guess he could be mistaken. As for LTD, I did get my claim approved. I was thinking SSDI would help, in that I would have some sort of health insurance once I separate from my work place. Even though they will deduct any funds I get from SS - I know I can't net more than the amount I get now.

The staff at first told me that don't help with long term disability - but it's the only type of disability insurance my employer offers. The surgeons nurse said it's against their policy to assist with disability claims. I think much of their spiel is to try to get people to give up & go away. I didn't, I stood firm & told him that this was the policy I had payed into for years and now it is time I need it, it should be there for me. He had an assistant fill out the paperwork & it did get approved. I am mad at him but I know that much of the grief I've gone through is not from him personally being a jerk - he's operating under the policies of the clinic that employs him. It's a huge network & and they are just very pro-business.

I've worked with many of these neurosurgeons back when they were residents, I thought I knew who all was a jerk in the business - but have found that the ones who are nice to the nurses they work with may not be so nice once you are a patient. Seattle is a decent sized town. I will stay out of the surgeon's hospital system who did my 2nd surgery - would have gone back to surgeon #1 but moved thousands of miles away.

Your LTD policy may require you to apply for SSDI within a certain period of time. Call them. They often provide an attorney or a service to help you apply at their expense. (This is an advantage IMO, because a normal applicant can only pay for such services out of backpay, ths setting up an incentive to stall the process.)

So, essentially, your interest is for Medicare. Research Spplement plans as well...

Wow, I have already contacted a couple attorneys but that is a very good point. I never thought about them stalling to as to reap a better financial payout - but that would make sense.

I will contact my manager at the disability insurance, also research supplemental plans. Does it seem like the help through the disability insurance companies is effective? My best friend told me her horror story about when she was very ill & applied for SS disability, she got some government provided attorney. Who basically wasted a boatload of time & then told her she had no case unless she applied for a psychiatric type disability, which she chose not to do. If she had, she would likely have lost custody of her kids to a vindictive ex. Anyway, I digress.

It's pretty common for LTD companies to use Allsup. Not a bad option IMO.

The LTD co has a huge financial incentive to help you. Most that have posted that have chosen to utilize the free services seem to have been happy with the services. They'll help you submit a thorough first application and will likely have you get additional documentation if needed--they may send you to a new doc/docs. You don't have to use the free service, but I would recommend doing so! You can always fire them later of course...

Many people have a combo of physical and mental disabilities, and it's highly unlikely your friend's ex would have ever found out anyway. Those that don't initially have a psych claim, often do after many years of isolation, depression, financial hardship, etc. that goes along with a severe disability.

Raindrop,

You may need to find health insurance on your own or through a COBRA plan.

Even if you were to be approved for SSDI quickly, you wouldn't be eligible for Medicare for 2 years from when SSDI recognizes that your disability began.

Uggh, well thank you for the information. I am hoping that insurance rates come down somewhat in january. Really I am more fortunate than many in this situation, at least having my long term disability approved for now. But it's still a lot less than the paychecks I used to make, and to have to pay $550 a month cobra each & every month will be very tough. This has been a bad years for medical expenses.

Are you saying the SSDI income won't happen for 2 years, or the health insurance coverage, or both?