In which my friends annoy me into making a decision

Apparently, I need to see some more doctors.  My loving, helpful, but annoying friends have been harping at me about stopping riding.  (Because I keep being generally miserable about it.)  "Just have spinal surgery" they say.  "I had three and I ride just fine."  I was feeling kind of bad, and kind of sad, and kind of mad.  Because what the hell do they know?  Have they been to the neurosurgeon with me?  Have they gasped in agonizing pain when the back stabs?  Have they suffered through hours of torture in the car because the back can't handle bumpy roads anymore?

But then I googled facet arthrosis surgery.  And also some other things.  Did you know they can pretty much replace a joint in your back?  Not stab it with iron bars so it never moves again, but actually replace it with something else that moves very much like a normal spine?  I watched videos of spines with hardware in them, bending all around.  And I thought about how nice it would be to have a functional back again.  And to be able to ride my horse.

Going by the video, they shave off the ends of your vertebrae and put new fake ends on.  And do something or other to the disk.  Trim it, or replace it, depending.  And they put some kind of miracle joint off to the side.

My mom's recovery from spinal surgery was fairly horrifying, so I'm not fooling myself that I would have a quick and/or easy recovery.  But if I got another, say, ten years of reasonably normal use, would that be worth a couple weeks of agony?  Maybe yes.  I mean, I got ten years of normal vision out of Lasik and that was worth it.  Plus in 10 years Pluto would be 23 and started to get slower.

I don't particularly want to go to the neurosurgeon all the way out in Annapolis, though.  It's not like there aren't doctors hiding in every crevice of Greenbelt.  I'd like to find somebody closer to home.  Especially as it seems likely that neurosurgical consulting is going to be a repeat thing for me.

First, though, I have a new patient appointment next week with a regular doc.  I actually like my old doc, but her office staff is horrendous.  Just to get test results I'd often have to call several times and finally drive over and stand in their office until they gave me the paper.  And they completely failed to get me authorizations for medical testing this year.  I finally paid out of pocket because I didn't have any more time or patience to screw around.  This doctor was recommended by a good friend, and she also vouched for the office staff.

I have made a list of my medications, and my various bizarre ailments (think zebras, doc.)  So I figure I'll go in there, smile, bombard him with all my weird health problems, show him my xrays, and ask for a referral to a neurosurgeon.  Piece of cake, right?

If this works out, and I do find a doc who can and will fix my back, and I endure PT and get better and can ride again, I'll have my friends to thank.  Thanks for being a pain, guys!  It was helpful.  Eventually.