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Austin Spine Doctor recommendation

swraith

By swraith
in Can You Help Me With This?

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swraith

swraith 346

Posted
Posted

I don’t post much but am searching far and wide for help.

 

My wife was in a hiking accident yesterday and was helicoptered to a Denver hospital. She is getting spinal fusion surgery and a rod extension for broken/fractured lower vertebrae. I don’t have the actual diagnosis yet as she went from ER to surgery in a little over 12 hours. I have zero concrete idea what recovery and PT will be like but my understanding is that it will be really rough.

 

 

At some point my wife will be stable and recovered enough to return to Austin. How she will get to Austin…I have no idea yet.

 

I am assuming she is going to need a specialist doctor once she returns to Austin. I don’t know if she will need an orthopedic or neuro doc. Her surgeon today is a neurosurgeon doing the spinal fusion.

 

So anybody have recommendations on the best spine doctors in Austin for follow up on two spinal fusion surgeries along with spinal rods attached to the spine? Also looking for PT recommendations with a spine focus.

 

Appreciate any leads to help us move along once we get back to Austin whenever that is.

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torre

torre 1285

Posted
Posted
26 minutes ago, swraith said:

 

I don’t post much but am searching far and wide for help.

 

My wife was in a hiking accident yesterday and was helicoptered to a Denver hospital. She is getting spinal fusion surgery and a rod extension for broken/fractured lower vertebrae. I don’t have the actual diagnosis yet as she went from ER to surgery in a little over 12 hours. I have zero concrete idea what recovery and PT will be like but my understanding is that it will be really rough.

 

 

At some point my wife will be stable and recovered enough to return to Austin. How she will get to Austin…I have no idea yet.

 

I am assuming she is going to need a specialist doctor once she returns to Austin. I don’t know if she will need an orthopedic or neuro doc. Her surgeon today is a neurosurgeon doing the spinal fusion.

 

So anybody have recommendations on the best spine doctors in Austin for follow up on two spinal fusion surgeries along with spinal rods attached to the spine? Also looking for PT recommendations with a spine focus.

 

Appreciate any leads to help us move along once we get back to Austin whenever that is.

 

No knowledge to make a recommendation,  but thoughts and prayers for your wife for a successful recovery.

The physicians in Colorado may be able to provide a recommendation/referral  ? 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Posted

really sorry to hear this swraith.  

This is somewhat anecdotal, but my cousin just had a major spinal surgery and is still in PT for both spine and knee.  His fellowship surgeon was this guy at Ascension-Seton.  

https://healthcare.ascension.org/doctors/1245390095/john-k-stokes-austin-tx

But my neighbor is an osteopath and they 'co-treat' many patients.  He comes exceptionally recommended by other osteopaths.  Another friend on the street is the radiologist (one of in a small practice) to the Longhorns and refers folks to Dr. Stokes in extreme cases.  Unless you're willing to travel to Houston, Dr. Stokes is supposed to be the #1 guy in Central Texas.  If you want an expedited introduction, I can connect you with my Osteo neighbor and he can maybe help nudge things along.  

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Doc Holliday

Doc Holliday 199

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I went here the first time during the worst of that shit-show - https://www.txortho.com/specialties/spine-care/  (Ken Bunch was my doctor here and appears to still be there.)

When it popped back up years later I went here because I worked for Seton - https://www.seton.net/brain-and-spine-care/  (doctor I saw here is no longer with Seton)

Cheers! Been busy and about to move again - hellllooooooo Montana! Big Sky country! I heard the bigsky leaders were looking for 2 blueblood programs to join their conference.

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Doc Holliday

Doc Holliday 199

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Scrolling up further, Stokes was my doc at Seton.  He's no longer in that Seton specialty group it appears.  Happy he's still around.  He took the time to evaluate my situation, my history, and his choice was not to operate and to send me to PT even though my disc had bulged big time and was impeding a nerve again.   8 years later or so, I am grateful for that decision.  Back then I only wanted the pain to go the fuck away and I'm in much better shape now and it's not going to be an issue later in life.  L4, L5, S1, S2 at my size are a bitch of a lever.

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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11819

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3 hours ago, Doc Holliday said:

If you need anything I have a spare bedroom, although I have boxes everywhere, it's free and plus, I am cooking for another couple of weeks before packing all that stuff up.   I'm currently in caphill and am 15 minutes to all the main hospitals in the area.

Also lol, when you get settled shoot me a PM, I may drag my wife up there to hang out, we wanted to visit while you were in CO but covid and a grandkid got in the way.  

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swraith

swraith 346

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@Doc Holliday Thanks for the pointers on TXOrtho and commenting on Stokes.

@Lobo Thanks for the tip on Dr Stokes.  Sounds like I need to make contact with his office though I'm unclear where he is working.

@DalTxHornFan Thanks for the tip on Dr Stovall

 

Surgery is done and a success in surgeon's eyes.  He confirmed I need to find an Austin doctor long term to monitor wife's recovery once we return to Austin.  Her L3 was a severe burst fracture.  Due to other complications and pre-existing conditions her entire spine is now fused.  So that is going to be a bitch.  But she should be able to walk with a great amount of PT.

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ChiTownDoc

ChiTownDoc 21154

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8 minutes ago, blacklab said:

I've had back issues the last few years and have been going to

https://healthcare.ascension.org/doctors/1609824457/lee-edward-moroz-austin-tx

He's been great for me. He'll tell it to you strait, won't do things that he doesn't think you really need, and will take the time to answer all questions.

^^^A physiatrist - PM&R doc.  Definitely who OP needs 

Specifically fight like hell to get into an inpatient rehab hospital / unit.  Patients often don’t qualify but 3 hrs of intense rehab a day is the way to go.  
https://www.centraltexasrehabhospital.com

Here’s one but I’m sure there’s many more.  IRF is where you really need to be.  

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Sawbonz

Sawbonz 27562

Posted
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12 hours ago, swraith said:

@Doc Holliday Thanks for the pointers on TXOrtho and commenting on Stokes.

@Lobo Thanks for the tip on Dr Stokes.  Sounds like I need to make contact with his office though I'm unclear where he is working.

@DalTxHornFan Thanks for the tip on Dr Stovall

 

Surgery is done and a success in surgeon's eyes.  He confirmed I need to find an Austin doctor long term to monitor wife's recovery once we return to Austin.  Her L3 was a severe burst fracture.  Due to other complications and pre-existing conditions her entire spine is now fused.  So that is going to be a bitch.  But she should be able to walk with a great amount of PT.

Hey man sorry to hear this. I’m not sure any of the guys I know are still in practice in Austin. Rick Wupperman is good. Matt Geck  used to take the trauma call for Brack but I don’t know if he’s still there. Glad to hear the surgeon was happy with the outcome.

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Sawbonz

Sawbonz 27562

Posted
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12 hours ago, ChiTownDoc said:

^^^A physiatrist - PM&R doc.  Definitely who OP needs 

Specifically fight like hell to get into an inpatient rehab hospital / unit.  Patients often don’t qualify but 3 hrs of intense rehab a day is the way to go.  
https://www.centraltexasrehabhospital.com

Here’s one but I’m sure there’s many more.  IRF is where you really need to be.  

Also this. If she has any objective neuro deficits even if it’s very subtle she would qualify for inpatient rehab.Make sure the doc documented that

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swraith

swraith 346

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PT is recommending acute inpatient rehab.  Multiple facility options here in Denver that are directly connected with hospital.  I have asked the case worker to also contact the Central Texas Rehab Hospital as a referral to see if they will review her file.  The main barrier to Austin is transport.  She is far from ready for commercial transport.  Private medical transport is $$$$$.  I also left message with Stokes office attempting to make contact.

Trying to determine if we should do rehab here with extended stay in Denver vs return to Austin for rehab.  Kids, school starting in August, various support networks in the 2 cities make it complicated to figure out.

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Not to add layers to what's going on, but I can directly put you in touch with both my neighbors who are referring doctors to Stokes but also share many of the same patients (Radiology-Spinal-Osteopath).  May not make a difference, but they could nudge something along for you in terms of communications.  

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  • 1 year later...
Vanderpool

Vanderpool 23

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Bumping this ancient thread in the hope of some new info from the Surly hive mind. 
I’ve had sciatic nerve pain for the last several months that will not let up. An x-ray showed “mild disc narrowing” at L4-L5 so my internist sent me to PT. I’m in week 4 of therapy (at twice a week) and seeing minimal, if any improvement. Maybe I’m just being impatient, but I feel like even my therapist is thinking I should be getting better by now.
If anyone has any Austin dr recommendations, I’d love to hear them. 
I’d just like to sleep through the night again and also maybe not feel like my leg is on fire while making coffee in the morning.

I’ll hang up and listen. 

 

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