LSI - Day 0
LSI stands for the Laser Spine Institute. From the website, the mission is simple:
To set the stage for why my wife chose LSI as opposed to traditional spinal fusion treatment is quite obvious, LSI offers a “minimally invasive arthroscopic laser procedures”. Not that anyone has accused me of being a smart man, but this sounds a a lot better than "spinal fusion" (isn't that a rock group? Oh wait, that was Spinal Tap). We found LSI through some investigation on the web. We were not content that fusion was the only option, after all it's the 21st century.
As part of our quest, we started out by visiting a local doctor in the Houston Medical Center. Heck, after all, the Houston Medical Center is one of the world's premier medical centers, especially when it comes to cancer treatment and research. Thus, we figured it would be easy to find a doctor who could offer us the type of treatment we wanted. We did find a very renowned docter and paid him a visit. As you would expect, he couldn't really tell us much until my wife got an MRI. Off to the x-ray lab we went. Four weeks later, we returned to the doctor to see what the diagnosis was and treatment options.
The doctor was very polite and explained to us that she had a bulging disc in her cervical spine and more specifically, the disc between the C-5 and C-6 vertebrae. And because she had already tried every treatment under the sun, i.e., physical therapy, acupuncture, message therapy, chicken sacrifices, and ect...ok, she didn't try any chicken sacrifices, but I can tell you, there have been times when we thought that was the best hope for treatment. The doctor recommended fusion. He explained that the process is better than it was 10, 20, and heck 30 years ago and is very successful in treatment. While this might be the case, the operative word here is "fusion". Fusion, also used in military circles...you know, the "fusion bomb". It's hard to not conjure up images of an atomic bomb detonating when ever the word fusion is used in the same sentence with spine.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm sure there is great merit in fusion, but it just didn't fit. We needed a different shoe size so-to-speak...we called LSI.
True to the LSI website, an initial consultation is as easy to filling out a short form and faxing them a copy of the report from the radiologist that reviewed the MRI. This was quite a relief as we live in Houston, TX and LSI is located in Tampa, FL (that's 982.7 miles). After filling out the form on the website and sending LSI a fax, within a few days, my wife receive a call from one a LSI doctor to discuss the findings. Suffice to say, a 15 minute phone call later, my wife is scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks. Yep, 2 weeks! Now, that's what I call fast food. This isn't even enough time to get scared.
“To offer a successful alternative to traditional open back and neck surgeries, fusions and artificial disc replacements by utilizing the latest techniques for spinal conditions through gentle, minimally invasive arthroscopic laser procedures.”My wife has been diagnosed with a bulging disc in her cervical spine (there are some other items identified, but this is the only one I can remember at the time). She has chosen LSI for her treatment. I’m going to blog about the experience to provide a first-hand-account of the procedure. This won't just be a testimonial, but a real live accounting of the care and success of the clinic
To set the stage for why my wife chose LSI as opposed to traditional spinal fusion treatment is quite obvious, LSI offers a “minimally invasive arthroscopic laser procedures”. Not that anyone has accused me of being a smart man, but this sounds a a lot better than "spinal fusion" (isn't that a rock group? Oh wait, that was Spinal Tap). We found LSI through some investigation on the web. We were not content that fusion was the only option, after all it's the 21st century.
As part of our quest, we started out by visiting a local doctor in the Houston Medical Center. Heck, after all, the Houston Medical Center is one of the world's premier medical centers, especially when it comes to cancer treatment and research. Thus, we figured it would be easy to find a doctor who could offer us the type of treatment we wanted. We did find a very renowned docter and paid him a visit. As you would expect, he couldn't really tell us much until my wife got an MRI. Off to the x-ray lab we went. Four weeks later, we returned to the doctor to see what the diagnosis was and treatment options.
The doctor was very polite and explained to us that she had a bulging disc in her cervical spine and more specifically, the disc between the C-5 and C-6 vertebrae. And because she had already tried every treatment under the sun, i.e., physical therapy, acupuncture, message therapy, chicken sacrifices, and ect...ok, she didn't try any chicken sacrifices, but I can tell you, there have been times when we thought that was the best hope for treatment. The doctor recommended fusion. He explained that the process is better than it was 10, 20, and heck 30 years ago and is very successful in treatment. While this might be the case, the operative word here is "fusion". Fusion, also used in military circles...you know, the "fusion bomb". It's hard to not conjure up images of an atomic bomb detonating when ever the word fusion is used in the same sentence with spine.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm sure there is great merit in fusion, but it just didn't fit. We needed a different shoe size so-to-speak...we called LSI.
True to the LSI website, an initial consultation is as easy to filling out a short form and faxing them a copy of the report from the radiologist that reviewed the MRI. This was quite a relief as we live in Houston, TX and LSI is located in Tampa, FL (that's 982.7 miles). After filling out the form on the website and sending LSI a fax, within a few days, my wife receive a call from one a LSI doctor to discuss the findings. Suffice to say, a 15 minute phone call later, my wife is scheduled for surgery in 2 weeks. Yep, 2 weeks! Now, that's what I call fast food. This isn't even enough time to get scared.
posted by K3bert @ 10:14 PM
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