Agreed. I’ve quit in the past and no doubt I’ll do it again. However, wanting to do so 6 weeks or more prior to surgery – so, they went into the garbage upon reading your response. Still, there’s conflicting advice on exactly how long to wait and I am concerned.
I’ve seen 3 neurosurgeons for opinions and with each, emailed a set of questions today, including the bench-marks as you noted.
Today, I heard back from the first Johns Hopkins surgeon who came very highly recommended but, every time I speak to him, I’m left with a sense of dread although he is very prompt and I like that he seems “hand on” (is this dread due to of all the disclaimers?) – says he will perform an interbody spinal fusion without the cage, with the use of my own and cadaver bone. He does this normally without the cage but, I can have one if I “want it.” Also, he says that he can use BMP if I “want it” and indicated that while there’s no specific findings, I should note that there is some cause to consider cancer correlation with use of BMP. He didn’t have much in the realm of stats, unless I specifically insisted he look them up in advance of surgery; off top of his head, he quoted that he performed around 150 per year (including revisions) and probably had somewhere around 5-10 dural tears.
Still waiting to hear from the other surgeons.
Sincerely,
KS