Two level traditional fusion, no artificial disc for me.

So State Farm, the insurance company for the dude who rear ended me almost four years ago now, stopped paying for my medical stuff a long time ago. (They offered to settle my case for $17,000) Can you imagine if I had done that? $17,000 didn't even cover my medical expenses at the time, let alone massage, accupuncture, PT, Fibromyalgia management (life long) and the fact that the discs that were damaged in the accident were going to continue to degrade over time.

So now they are degraded to the degree that I've lost much of my motor nerve at c5/6 and c6/7, and am facing a $75,000 surgery. YAY, I have health insurance through my work as a ski instructor. YAY, they agree, the surgery is necessary, and they are paying for it.

Boo, the artificial disc replacement at c6/7, which will give me more mobility, faster healing, and less of a lever arm to create pressure on the healthy discs above and below, is "too experimental", and so my private insurance won't pay for it. Full fusion from c5-7 is now the deal-i-o.

What a bummer! I mean, first, yay that I have insurnace and they are going to pay for it (excpet for the $25,000 celing on hospital expenses and the $1600 copay I have to come up with, but lets cross that bridge in a second.)

I was pretty psyched to be a hybrid and to go for this surgery which has a TERRIFIC track record and helps people have much more mobility and much chance for needing further surgery in the future. So, onward we go, 2 level fusion, which means I can't play in the NFL (you can with a 1 level), but I can play tackle football.

Fine.

Not planning to play tackle football unless it involves a fluffy mattress and a bunch of jello, but that's another story.

I found an amazing Pilates instructor who is willing to send her bills to State Farm and hope they pay her, we are going to spend the next 10 days trying to get my neck and core as strong as it can get.

My lovely friend Janice, who is a chef, has decided to do the same thing to help me eat for healing, I'm hoping that she will post recipies and etc for you guys here on the blog in case that's helpful for anyone else who is recovering from injury.

Stay tuned, I'm sure it will only get gorier from here. Meanwhile... I'm trying to get set up and ready to go under the knife, getting my home and my friends lined up, getting my sexay new skis mounted so I can lay there and stare at them while they motivate me to get my ass healed. Whoops, I mean my neck!