Back to the ol' drawing board.

So, I guess I always knew in the back of my mind that I would eventually have to face more surgery to keep my neck in good shape. I have had some discomfort for several years, but in the last year it has gotten worse little by little. I finally reached the point of constant irritation and decided to look into my options. I have been putting it off long enough (maybe too long) and now I fear I may have no choice but to go under the knife again. I have seen a few doctors over the last several years and have not seen any relief, not to mention I have become extremely frustrated with our system of health care in the US. I guess I don't have anything to compare it with, but in my research to find alternatives to invasive surgery all of the most advanced and least invasive procedures to treat bone degeneration are being done overseas. I was somewhat surprised at first but then I started to look into how and why this could be. America, one of the worlds richest and most advanced cultures, is not the best place for medical care?? I guess the insurance industry and the major medical facilities lack of care for their patients is at the base of it all, and the lobbyist influence in our law making is probably having an affect too. I mean why would you want to approve a proven effective inexpensive non invasive procedure when you can keep doing the very invasive and extremely expensive surgical operation and pocket the extra cash? Sure money is nice, but what is it costing us as a nation in the long run? I know I can be a bit cynical but I can not see the reasoning and I have first hand experience of being dragged through our medical systems (several times). It is funny how quickly things go. I remember years ago going in to a hospital for care that my insurance would only pay for for a limited time, and miraculously I was discharged just when my insurance ran out. Amazing!!! I just happened to suddenly be healed and my doctor suddenly decided I should be discharged just as my insurance benefits ended. The funny thing is that in the same hospital in the year before my stay the average length of care went from 6 months down to 3 weeks at the time of my hospitalization. After my discharge I continued to seek treatment and spent time in outpatient care, while there, I found out that the length of time the insurance companies would pay for continued to shrink and lo and behold the length of time until the doctor discharged patients shrank right along with it. All of this was fifteen years ago and my experience with medical care has continued to disappoint me. Now as a grown person I am in a more grave situation, the bones in my neck behind my surgical implant have been slowly deteriorating since my surgery in 1999, now the plating and bone implant are not supporting my head and the weight is putting a lot of pressure on my spinal cord and nerve stems. I am not sure what is going to happen, can they fix it? Will I have to go through all the rehab again? Will I lose more mobility? Will I be able to ride my bike? Will I be able to play with my kids? Will I still have pain? Will I have more loss of feeling in my skin, hands, arms? I am going to a cervical spine specialist (3rd in 3 years) on Thursday and I hope hope hope he can help me and hopefully start to change my perspective. We will have to see.....