OT: Broke my back need advice on Surgeons in the SOcal Area

Lightning78
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Lightning78
Edited Date/Time 1/23/2012 3:08am
Hey guys I just got confirmation that I broke my T4, T5, and T6 in a compression fracture when I crashed at Perris some 3 months back which also included a sternum broken clean in half and lots of internal bruising/bleeding...it hurt like hell but I am finally over the hill as far as recovery and severe pain goes. I still have all feeling but the discs are putting a lot of pressure on my spinal cord causing occasional numbness below the waist.

My question (since this is a place of many injuries) is that now I've pretty much confirmed that I will have to get surgery to repair the damage (my neck tucked all the way to my chest) so now I have a 45 degree kink in thoracic area where it should be a nice smooth curve. I have eclipsed my $4000 out of pocket expenses with my insurance after my lovely weekend in the Riverside County Hospital so basically the surgery will not cost me a dime and I am looking for advice on a "Surgeon to the Stars" if you will I am looking for the best of the best and I am writing this to ask if anyone has any recomoendations for SOcal elite back/neck surgeons

Any "good" advice would be much much appreciated
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ASH510
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ASH510 6/2/2009 7:19pm
6/2/2009 7:19pm
i am sorry for your injury i wish you luck in your search and hope for you a full recovery
Sonny
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Sonny 6/2/2009 7:20pm
6/2/2009 7:20pm
Dude, I can't help you with a doctor but I want to send my condolences to you. I experienced the same injury many years ago during a race and know hope completely fuckin frightening this is to go through. If the disk is creating that much pressure on the cord, that is a priority. My numbness went to a complete immobility and I was bound to a chair for a period of time.

Now that I think of it, there is something in Downey Ca. that deal with Spinal Cord injuries. Google it and call for a referral for a decent back surgeon. Anyway, best of luck to you.
fcr
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fcr 6/2/2009 7:34pm
6/2/2009 7:34pm
California Orthopedics here in NB. Dr Weinstein, very good. This group is very well respected.
mxtryon231
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mxtryon231 6/2/2009 7:52pm
6/2/2009 7:52pm
Dr. Yu Po Li from UCSD medical center in La Jolla operated on my best friend after he broke his back riding.. he is fully recovered and walking fine now.. check him out.

The Shop

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Lightning78
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Lightning78 6/2/2009 8:06pm
6/2/2009 8:06pm
THank you so much for your responses so far, yes Sonny this injury is very frightening to me at this point and the Dr advised me today that I am one good hit from paralysis so I am taking his recomendation very seriously. As of now I am scheduled to meet with a Dr. Steven Dennis of Newport Orthopedics. I tried to scan and upload my MRI scans to show how bad it is but my scanner isn't good enough. Im just glad I have insurance (Thank you Obama for the Cobra stimulus so I can afford it)

Mxtryon I will look into him as well, same to you fcr I will check him out as well. The descripion of the surgery I got was a very scary one so I want to make the best decision possible
Faceaz
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Faceaz 6/2/2009 8:06pm
6/2/2009 8:06pm Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:13am
Dude that sucks.

I HIGHLY recommend Dr. Peterson of the Newport Medical Group, he's like a Doogie Howser. My brother has been a Physical Therapist in SoCal for 12 yrs, works on a lot of pro atheletes, most of the hard cases from the Ducks & USC Trojans. Anyway, 3yrs ago I shattered my leg / knee about 13 breaks total. He's the only guy my brother wanted me to see. Today my mobility is great & it's actually stronger than my other knee.

Good Luck!!!
Faceaz
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Faceaz 6/2/2009 8:08pm
6/2/2009 8:08pm
Oh, enjoy the Vicadin.
DSteg222
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DSteg222 6/2/2009 8:15pm
6/2/2009 8:15pm
My wife had a car accident and she went to Dr Sylvain Palmer. He is in the Mission Veijo area. My wife has 8 screws, 4 rods, plates... you name it in her neck.

One of the best in the area.
oldx
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oldx 6/2/2009 9:35pm
6/2/2009 9:35pm
Best of luck to you.
SH_105
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SH_105 6/2/2009 9:58pm
6/2/2009 9:58pm
Hey bud there is Dr. Reiman and Dr. Alexander here in Murrieta. They are Orthos and I am sure if they didnt feel comfortable doing it they would know of someone who would. Also both Docs work on damn near every Pro that lives in California and some that dont!! 951 461 8684 I believe is the number. Bets of luck with the recovery!!


SH 32
DSteg222
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DSteg222 6/2/2009 10:39pm
6/2/2009 10:39pm
SH_105 wrote:
Hey bud there is Dr. Reiman and Dr. Alexander here in Murrieta. They are Orthos and I am sure if they didnt feel comfortable doing it...
Hey bud there is Dr. Reiman and Dr. Alexander here in Murrieta. They are Orthos and I am sure if they didnt feel comfortable doing it they would know of someone who would. Also both Docs work on damn near every Pro that lives in California and some that dont!! 951 461 8684 I believe is the number. Bets of luck with the recovery!!


SH 32
How are you feeling Sean??? Pain getting better????? When do you think you will be out riding again??? Racing??
Tiki
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Tiki 6/2/2009 11:23pm
6/2/2009 11:23pm
Get well soon Lightning.
mxtryon231
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mxtryon231 6/2/2009 11:44pm
6/2/2009 11:44pm
hope you get everything dealt with and recover safely. god bless.
srmtr
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srmtr 6/3/2009 8:26am
6/3/2009 8:26am Edited Date/Time 6/3/2009 8:28am
Community Orthopedic Med Group in Mission Viejo. They have done a lot for both my girlfriend and I and have a couple of back specialists there. One of them is scheduled to do surgery on my girlfriend on June 18. I trust them and the doctors we have dealt with have always been upfront and offered excellent treatment.

http://www.comg.com
englishman
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englishman 6/3/2009 8:38am
6/3/2009 8:38am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:14am
Dr Frank Coufal ( pro nounced "Soofall") at Scripps La Jolla. He did my back a few years ago and is a genius.
He's done some amazing stuff one of which was that big of a deal he was on the Oprah show.
yzvet426
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yzvet426 6/3/2009 8:43am
6/3/2009 8:43am
man, so many injuries.. Get well soon and best of luck
DL
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DL 6/3/2009 9:29am
6/3/2009 9:29am
Broke my neck 2 years ago. Got three opinions, all different, from UCLA Spine Institute, Ricky James doctor (can't rem name) and Dr. Spicer (UCSD with an office in Murieta) that Dr Alexander recomended. He wanted to do the least invasive technique and thought i should hold off for a while..... it's been two years and I feel ok and have been riding some. Bottom line is you need to get 3 opinions and make up your own mind. Good luck!
Big Lenny
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Big Lenny 6/3/2009 9:41am
6/3/2009 9:41am
Damn Lighting, sounds scary, Good luck with your recovery, the question for me is what does it do after an injury like that to your thoughts on riding again?...

Pit Row

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Lightning78
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Lightning78 6/3/2009 10:21am
6/3/2009 10:21am
Wow guys thanks again for the responses I am going to consult most all these doctors to best the best help I can Its really good to know there are options for this as I was only given 1 as a referral from my DR.

BL its scary because im somewhat unstable to take a big impact, overall I can do just about everything I could before less some seroius physical activity but I am taking it waaaaay easy. Will I ride again? The images of falling like I did and the feeling scares me to death but (I know this is hard to say) Yes I would like to ride again even if it is just offraod, trails, desert ....as much as I like to ride moto she bit me good and I think I will be stepping away from that for at least a long while. I grew up doing this since I was 5 yrs old so it would be hard to quit cold turkey lol. But I would like to be able to go out on weekend trips and such I just try not to think about it like "Am I going to get hurt again?" Once I meet with the first Dr today I will have a better picture of where I stand with all of this.

englishman
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englishman 6/3/2009 10:38am
6/3/2009 10:38am Edited Date/Time 4/17/2016 12:14am
Dr Coufal is at (858) -677-1755 his web is www.ljna.net .




Good luck and get LOTS of opinions at the end of the day you have to live with the end result of the decision you make.
txmxer
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txmxer 6/3/2009 10:38am
6/3/2009 10:38am
good luck. Some tough times there.
rallendude
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rallendude 6/3/2009 11:16am
6/3/2009 11:16am
I broke T5 and T6 in 2002. I had back spasms and a lot of pain between my shoulder blades for quite a while. About 3 months later after the bones had healed properly, I started going to a good chiropractor here and in about two months I was good as new again. Get plenty of recommendations and don't discount the chiros, but make sure you find a good one.

I've heard too many horror stories of back surgery gone bad. Good luck.
andymoto
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andymoto 6/3/2009 11:22am
6/3/2009 11:22am
Wish you all the best Lightning and best possible outcome.
joe101uk
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joe101uk 6/3/2009 11:52am
6/3/2009 11:52am
hey man hope the recovery goes well, i broke all my lumbar vertebrae with compression fractures and i had to have a kyphoplasty surgery which is where they feel the damaged bones with a cement to give it really good support. You should check it out.
Sparkey
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Sparkey 6/3/2009 11:53am
6/3/2009 11:53am
srmtr wrote:
Community Orthopedic Med Group in Mission Viejo. They have done a lot for both my girlfriend and I and have a couple of back specialists there...
Community Orthopedic Med Group in Mission Viejo. They have done a lot for both my girlfriend and I and have a couple of back specialists there. One of them is scheduled to do surgery on my girlfriend on June 18. I trust them and the doctors we have dealt with have always been upfront and offered excellent treatment.

http://www.comg.com
My wife worked there for 5 years. Amazing Dr.'s and medical staff. Can't go wrong. But I would also like to echo other's suggestions, by getting 2-3 opinions when dealing with something of this magnitude.

Good Luck!!!

Sparkey
Lightning78
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Lightning78 6/3/2009 11:56am
6/3/2009 11:56am
Rallendude I have a CHiro that assures me he can fix me too, I do believe him but the front of my vertabrea are like a wedge in the front i.e. they are not fully square like they are supposed to be so im not sure even with chiro it will help bec it will likely collapse back down since there is no bone support? Im no ortho but what the dr told me makes sense DR. Mark R you out there???????
socalmx115
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socalmx115 6/3/2009 12:18pm
6/3/2009 12:18pm
In 2002, I broke my T6, T7, and T8. Also broke my sternum and about four ribs all in the same crash. I actually had my Surgery in St. Louis, MO. My Doctor was Howard Place. Here's a link ( http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-r… ). I know he isn't in the SoCal area, but he is the BEST. I know what you are going through.

Lightning78
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Lightning78 6/3/2009 12:22pm
6/3/2009 12:22pm
socalmx115 wrote:
In 2002, I broke my T6, T7, and T8. Also broke my sternum and about four ribs all in the same crash. I actually had my...
In 2002, I broke my T6, T7, and T8. Also broke my sternum and about four ribs all in the same crash. I actually had my Surgery in St. Louis, MO. My Doctor was Howard Place. Here's a link ( http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-r… ). I know he isn't in the SoCal area, but he is the BEST. I know what you are going through.

Are you able to ride again? Are you able to do all the things that you could before without the fear of further damaging yourself? Sounds to me like we had the same type of injury/crash.
JoeMoto
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JoeMoto 6/3/2009 12:26pm
6/3/2009 12:26pm

Dr. Ivar Szper at Long Beach Memorial hospital. He's a great neurosurgeon. Phone number is 562 595 7696. Good luck with your recovery.
socalmx115
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socalmx115 6/3/2009 12:36pm
6/3/2009 12:36pm
yeah, i still ride every weekend. I don't race or anything though. I really don't take anything for pain other than maybe some advil every now and then. I have two 8 inch permanent titanium rods that run along my back bone with four "railroad like" clamps holding them together. they also took bone marrow off of my hip to fuse the vertebrae together. I still have poor circulation if i sit for long periods of time and i noticed that i get cold easier but that's about it.

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