LSI - Day 2

Today is the first day we go to the LSI clinic. It's hard to believe we made it and that this is really happening. One of the really nice things about the LSI process is that you are given an itinerary/list of appointments that cover the treatment plan and your 5 days in Florida. the itinerary will vary depending on your treatment and special needs. The first day of for my wife consisted of an initial evaluation and medical clearance.

Some of the medical clearance steps can be performed before you get to LSI. In our case, the only thing we were missing was an EKG, a small amount of blood work and some x-rays. We arrived at the clinic as scheduled and wow, it was busy. The waiting room was full of patients. Don't let this discourage you, after sitting there for 5 minutes, you'll quickly realize that the LSI experience is a well oiled machine and that 90% of the people in the room have the same emotions as you.

Prior to arriving, we were sent several new patient and other forms. Make sure to have these filled out before arriving. If you don't, you'll be sitting in the waiting room doing it. The list of forms is quite extensive. In our case, the only form left for my wife to sign was the HIPPA form.

Done.

Now it begins. The waiting room actually has two rooms. One room has high back chairs and the other, normal chairs. The high back were great because it allowed my wife to rest her neck while waiting. The appointments are not much different than a normal doctor visit, a fact we were not sure of. That is, we were not sure if we would spend all day in the clinic.

One thing that hit us really fast was how friendly the staff was.

Our name is called. We are greeted by a very friendly staff member who took my wife to get x-rays of her neck. X-rays are handled on the 1st floor, conveniently located in the lounge. The lounge is a nice airy room with two walls of windows and has recliners, tables, chairs, and a couple of flat screen tv's hanging on the walls for your viewing pleasure. Spouses and/or companions will find themselves spending some time in the lounge. Make sure to test the recliners, it is the nicest recliner I've ever sat in.

After the x-rays, we headed back to the 4th floor and sat again and waiting for our name. Again, our name is called and we were greeted by a very friendly nurse who took us into an examination room. Hope you aren't afraid of heights, the examination rooms have floor to ceiling glass panes with beautiful views of the bay, canals, palm trees, and other structures in the area. Off in the distance, you can see the airport (this just lets you know how close you are to the airport). The nurse proceeds to explain that a series of questions will be asked as part of the initial evaluation and if necessary, perform some tests and blood work. As I mentioned before, the only thing left for us was the blood work and EKG.

The evaluation was very similar to those of any other doctor visit, except with a focus on spine conditions. After explaining how we got there and what the symptoms were, my wife was asked a series of questions. After that, an EKG machine was wheeled into the room. My wife's ticker is in great shape. Another hurdle complete as we march to pain free living.

The nurse instructs my wife to take the "rainbow man" and shade the areas where she has pain, numbness, burning, tingling, or other symptoms. The picture is of a body with different cervical and lumbar vertebrae displayed and the associated areas that they would cause pain (the resulting is a very colorful picture of a person, hence the "rainbow man"). For example, my wife was diagnosed with a bulging disc from the doctor we spoke to in Houston in the C-5 and C-6. The rainbow man showed that this type of irritation would give painful and other sensations in the upper part of her neck, down the shoulder, into the outside of her arms, passing through the elbow and finally into the fingers. Whey, that was a lot. As my wife starts shading in her areas, she comments that she may as well just color in the whole rainbow man. I suspect this isn't uncommon for people being treated at LSI. I will remind you, make sure to articulate all your pain and symptoms. This information plays a critical part in the treatment down the road. The information you provide plus the MRI's and other x-rays become the surgeons tools when it comes time to fix you up. I had one doctor tell me the best diagnosis tool a doctor has is the patient themselves.

After color the rainbow man black (that's the color of the pencil you use to highlight the problematic areas), a practitioner enters the room. This individual reviewed the rainbow man and asked more probing questions and conducts a physical exam. This is nothing more than physical tests, i.e., reflex, range of motion in her neck, strength, and others. Not much different than a physical exam you may get annually from your doctor (if you don't, do it). With rainbow man complete, physical exam complete, EKG complete, blood work complete, and x-rays complete, we are now ready for day 3, MRI evaluation and discussion on the exact procedures necessary to treat the symptoms.

LSI - Day 1

Today we traveled to Tampa Bay. We are both excited and apprehensive. Excited that we have taken our first step toward getting my wife out of pain and apprehensive because we don’t know what to really expect. We have a million questions floating through our mind…

• Will the staff of LSI be friendly?
• What is the clinic like?Is this all for real, or just some lip service medical clinic promising the world?
• How will the accommodations be?
• Will they be nice?
• Do they do the procedure in a van? (ok, didn't really think this, but thought I would throw it in to see if you are paying attention)
  
• And many other’s

There were a lot more questions we had, but honestly, I can't think of them and it would make this web page load to slow. Hey, we didn't know anyone who has been before...I guess that makes us pioneers...in our own small world.

The plane ride was uneventful, which is always a good thing when flying. The Tampa airport is nice and gets you in the spirit of Caribbean living right a way. Palm trees and bars with fruity drinks adorn the airport. Getting our rental car was a breeze and viola, we are on our way to our hotel and LSI.

Ten minutes later, we arrive to our hotel (Doubletree Guest Suites). As we make the turn onto Rocky Point, there is the LSI clinic. Wow, that was easy to find. Thirty seconds later, we arrive at our hotel. Yep, our hotel is within walking distance of LSI, just like the paperwork said that we received from LSI.

Now, we are really getting into the Florida living…more palm trees, Tampa Bay across the causeway and a nice estuary next to the hotel. If you are into Jet Skis, there is a place to rent them in the parking lot of the hotel. Didn’t bring my swimsuit, thus won’t give them a try, but they look fun.

The LSI clinic and hotel are in a nice business park with plenty of walking paths. The surroundings help curb some of our anxiety.

The hotel room is great. There is a nice view of the estuary. The room has a separate living room from the bedroom with doors that close. This is a good thing for me, as my wife recovers; I’ll need to do some work. The hotel has internet connectivity.

There are several resturants in the immediate vicinity of the hotel. We have already frequented two of them; Bahama Breeze and Castaway. Both have excellent food…and fruity drinks.

LSI - Day 0

LSI stands for the Laser Spine Institute. From the website, the mission is simple:

“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.