I sought out consultations at Barrow, as well as a...

I sought out consultations at Barrow, as well as another well known and highly regarded medical entity in the Phoenix area after a less than successful cervical spine surgery at USC to address my severe stenosis.

I feel I received very competent and professional evaluations from two highly regarded neurological surgeons at my first stop, which was not Barrow. I had an appointment lined up with Barrow the following week.

At Barrow I met with Dr Juan Uribe, a leading member of their neurosurgical group. His demeanor, upon meeting me and my wife, was immediately comforting. It was very evident that he had carefully reviewed all my MRIs, Surgical Notes and CTs as he proceeded to provide us with a thorough evaluation of my current situation. In the course of his review he noted that what was reported as a fusion of C4-C7 had been only partially successful and that in fact C6-C7 were only partially fused. He then took us outside the examination room in order to show us the finding on the CT. This was the first time that any of this had been noted in my of my medical consultations with other neurosurgeons.

He then went on to point out that though my first surgery had addressed the primary spinal column impingement on my spinal cord I continued to have significant stenosis issues, which in fairness had been pointed out by the first to consults I had in Phoenix.

During the original surgery I had lost much of my upper right arm functionality so it was a bit unnerving to hear that in fact I had major issues on my left side as well which he clearly pointed out and explained while we all viewed my cervical CT.

He, like my prior consults indicated that surgery was likely a necessity in order to retain my existing state of functionality and to relieve associated neurological issues I was experiencing.

He suggested that we take some time to think about all that had been thrown at us before we made any decisions with regard to treatment.
Which I thought was sound advise.

What I didn't expect was that three days later his associate Briana ( a delightful person) called to say that Dr Uribe wanted to meet with us again before we made any decisions to insure that we fully understood the risks associated with surgery as well as taking a wait and see approach. Such concerned follow up was something we never expected nor experienced in the past. We were given a appointment for the following week, which would be this upcoming Monday.

I feel that what we experienced with Dr Uribe and his thorough evaluation and insight regarding my unique situation was a true demonstration of what you hope for in a Doctor. Someone who takes a sincere interest in the patient and is willing to spent the time to thoroughly evaluation all aspects of his or her condition. Needless to say this whole experience to date has left us with a strong sense of confidence that we are in the best of hands at an institution that takes a deep interest in ones situation and is focused on determining the underlying caused of the condition of the patient in order to take that into account when approaching / recommending a course of action.

We are very much relieved to have the opportunity to meet with the doctor and his staff again to continue the discovery process. What amazing follow up as well by his associate Briana.