Questions to ask before surgery

[jensmom0018]

Ok we are seeing Dr. Lenke tomorrow and I have thought of few questions to ask him. My daughter has scoliosis and kyphosis both over 80 degrees. She had growing rods inserted at age 5 (she is now 16 1/2). She had a fusion at age 13. The kyphosis is getting worse. She had given up hope but Dr. Lenke has allowed her hope. He told us he felt he could gain correction but he had do MRI first to make sure her tethered cord was successfully released during the surgery last summer. The neurosurgeon feels we can proceed so tomorrow we meet with Dr Lenke for consultation and I just wanted to make sure I ask everything we may need to know. So if there is anyone out there who has been there done that with any suggestions please let me know. Thank you so much for any assistance.

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

I always try to discourage people from going in to a surgeon's office with a list of questions from other people. Having been in consultations with people who brought in such lists, I can tell you that it's usually a disaster because the patient spends more time trying to get all the questions in, and doesn't really comprehend much of what the surgeon says. I think you're better off listening to what Dr. Lenke has to say, and then ask questions as they come up. Also ask how you can follow up if you think of more questions after you leave.

Best of luck. Hope all goes well.

Regards,
Linda

[jensmom0018]

thanks

That ended up being exactly what we did. He informed us due to her spinal cord her surgery will be different from all the others...but that he still believes he can help her....we are putting our faith in God and since God lead us to Dr. Lenke so we trust him. Now we get to worry insurance not covering any of the surgery....so we get to face our next challenge....thank you for taking the time to respond to my question.