Well - I actually went through with it! On Thursday morning, February 5th 2004, we got up at 4:45AM and started our trek towards NYC and Beth Israel Hospital.

The trip in was pretty uneventful - I asked my wife afterwards if I was nervous, she would only say that I was 'quiet' on the ride in. Sure I had butterflies - but I think it was mostly excitement that the day was finally here! I never had any doubt that this is what I wanted, and needed, so everything else was just getting it done.

I'm going to leave some of the surgical and recovery details out for now - I am still waiting for a copy of the surgical report from the Spine Institute. Don't worry - I won't forget any details or anecdotes. I'm just too tired to type right now!

What I DO have for you is my post-op pictures WITH MY SB CHARATE III FIRMLY INSTALLED! These pictures were taken 12 days post-op.

The borders on the right show the before (MRI on the right) and after (XRAY on the left) view.

And below is a zoom shot of the side view of my ADR implant: