I recently visited Georgetown Hospital to have my back checked out. The reason I went to Georgetown in the first place was because I wanted to get a complete and thorough diagnostic and analysis of my physical problems. I never got that.
I first went to see Dr. William Lauerman at the Dept of Orthopaedic Surgery on 28 Nov 2012. I brought with me a CD with the MRIs done on my back in 2007 and 2012. After a brief exam and an even shorter look at my MRIs, he instructed me to see Dr. Michael Sirdofsky to have an EMG/NCV test and to start physical therapy (I had already been doing physical therapy for 5 years, but Dr. Lauerman didn't take the 30 seconds it would have taken to review my record to see that). And so on 4 Jan 2013 I saw Dr. Michael Sirdofsky who performed the EMG/NCV test in a room that was so cold they had to use a hair dryer to heat my legs (which no doubt effected the results), at the conclusion of which he told me all my problems were being caused by neuropathy! He didn't even look at my MRIs. And then on 9 Jan 2012 I returned to Dr. William Lauerman who told me I have moderate spinal stenosis, moderate osteoarthritis, and that my major problem was neuropathy. He said I do not need back surgery, but rather I need to focus on treating the neuropathy.
I did get a chance to follow-up with two other non-Georgetown doctors to get a second opinion. Both agree that my major issue is my back, and not neuropathy. An EMG/NCV test in 2008 showed no neuropathy, and the MRI analysis of my 2 MRIs showed extensive damage to my nerves from spinal stenosis. Both of these doctors spent considerable more time examining me than at Georgetown, did a through diagnostic, and especially spent time looking at my MRIs.
Given the medical history I have, especially the sudden onslaught of pain in May 2007 followed by the lack of function in my left leg, numbness at the bottom of my foot, and the loss of my ability to rise up on my calf muscles, it just didn't seem right to me that all my problems were caused by neuropathy. So again, I really thought Georgetown was the place to go to get a complete and thorough analysis of my physical problems, but that didn't happen. Quite a disappointment. I guess Georgetown is not equipped to do the kind of through diagnostic and analysis of physical ailments such as what I have, and truthfully I may have been completely wrong in my assumption that Georgetown was the place to go to have such a diagnostic done. read more