[atmanthedog]

I was 30 when all of this transpired initally (I had my surgery at the beginning of last September). I actually live quite far away from Cedars, in Illinois, but forwarded my local medical records to Dr. Schievink after a lot of online research. Post-surgery I stayed with a friend from college who lives in Santa Monica, which was an enormous help, but it also wouldn't be so bad to post up in a hotel. From initial inquiries to the surgery took ~2-3 months, which surprised me.

I haven't interacted with Dr. Carroll, but my general impression of Dr. Schievink was very positive. Everyone in the whole process at Cedars was awesome. That said, I do still have some lingering issues recently that superficially seem spine-related, despite being assured that my saga was over. It has definitely been an improvement, though, relative to pre-surgery.

I'm sorry to hear to you're going through all of this, but there really is light at the end of the tunnel, and I hope you get there sooner than later.

If you have other questions, you can email me at my HN handle @ gmail and I will try to help as I can.