Happy to be alive; struggling to find a US surgeon to treat a spine problem

Grammyof2

In late October, I had pelvic floor surgery + a total hysterectomy (I'm 77 and wanted to get rid of potential cancer locations plus attend to specific pelvic floor symptoms). Surgery went fine but I soon developed a UTI that moved into my kidneys and bloodstream before I noticed (I attributed the symptoms to the surgery).

Two ER visits, one overnight hospital say, and three antibiotics later, I'm fine, and very grateful for our insurance—my husband's military service (Vietnam) qualifies us for insurance that's quite similar to that in civilized countries—we pay zero apart from a small medication copay.

My next quest is for a surgeon I can persuade to care about a nerve impingement somewhere in my lumbar spine. If I'm in any sitting down or lying down position very long, one or both legs start jumping around. My doctors agree it's not RLS. One recently said "a tiny surgery could fix this," but he hasn't referred me to a surgeon!

In 2023 I had an MRI that guided my spinal stenosis surgeon, who doesn't care about the jerking. I have spondylolisthesis (a Jenga tower for a spine) & need but can't have 3 lumbar fusions due to age—that much anesthetic would kill me. OK, I don't actually want fusions. I just want the jerking to stop without having to keep taking opioid medications + handfuls of gabapentin pills.

Anyone here have a similar problem?

Rosie_Scope

Hi @Grammyof2, Glad you managed to catch that infection after your surgery, that must have been a rough time! It's great you've got some good insurance to cover things too.

I'm not very familiar with the US system, so I'm afraid I can't give much advice about finding someone, but I wanted to wish you the best of luck in your search anyway. I hope someone can help you get some relief from the jerking, it doesn't sound pleasant!

Fingers crossed some of our members have experienced similar symptoms and can share what helped them 😊