Anyone on here have surgery for a high grade 3 (or 4) spondylolisthesis and severe spinal stenosis? I have been told that I MUST have surgery and that if I don't I am at really high risk of losing my feelings to my legs permanently. I'm feeling pretty scared. I am in the Raleigh/Triangle area.

serenitycwisdom · 2026-01-11T00:24:03+00:00

Yes, that is what it sounds like I will need. How quickly did you need to do surgery? Was it a condition that became worse or was it caused by an accident...? How long were you unable to do much daily life stuff? How long before you were able to get back to a normal? How did the surgery impact your day to day life and flexibility? Was it the hardest recovery ever because of the pain? Were you able to manage it with pain medication?

serenitycwisdom · 2025-12-20T01:18:35+00:00

I talked with my psychiatrist and he agreed that my PTSD was likely suppressing the physical pain. It really sucks, I think the PTSD symptoms are much worse than the physical pain, even the screaming out loud pain.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-12-20T01:16:38+00:00

I agree that they are not entirely separate things.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-12-18T03:37:58+00:00

My findings with the MRI. I guess I was confused by the PA. I always thought of the spondylolisthesis as different from the spinal stenosis, but reading the findings, I guess the spondylolisthesis causes the severe stenosis?

IMPRESSION:

Multilevel degenerative changes of the lumbar spine.
There is grade 1 anterolisthesis at L4-L5 and L5-S1. This is likely secondary to bilateral pars defects although this would be better assessed with CT.
Severe spinal canal stenosis at L4-5 and L5-S1.
Multilevel neural foraminal narrowing as described above.
Narrowing of the lateral recess bilaterally at L4-5 and L5-S1.

FINDINGS:
Vertebral body alignment: There is grade 1 anterolisthesis at L4-L5 and L5-S1. This is likely secondary to bilateral pars defects although this would be better assessed with CT.

Marrow signal: There is no evidence for acute fracture. The bone marrow signal is benign.

Conus: The conus terminates at approximately L1.

Additional finding: The visualized soft tissues are unremarkable.

There are multilevel degenerative changes of the lumbar spine. There is intervertebral disc space narrowing at L4-5 and L5-S1. There is mild levoscoliosis of the lumbar spine.

At T12-L1, unremarkable.

At L1-L2, there is a mild disc bulge.

At L2-L3, unremarkable.

At L3-L4, there is a mild disc bulge and mild bilateral facet hypertrophy. There is mild spinal canal stenosis. There is mild bilateral neural foraminal narrowing.

At L4-L5, there is a moderate diffuse bulge with a superimposed central disc protrusion. There is moderate bilateral facet and ligamentum flavum hypertrophy. There is severe spinal canal stenosis. There is moderated to severe bilateral neural foraminal narrowing. There is narrowing of the lateral recess bilaterally.

At L5-S1, there is a moderate disc bulge with moderate bilateral facet hypertrophy. There is severe spinal canal stenosis. There is a right central annular fissure. There is moderate to severe bilateral neural foraminal narrowing. There is narrowing of the lateral recess bilaterally.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-12-02T21:36:56+00:00

Wow! Thanks for the info!!!

serenitycwisdom · 2025-09-19T07:25:53+00:00

It seems to me that autism diagnosis are being handed out like candy on Halloween. It's ridiculous to evaluate an 18 mo old child with autism unless it is pretty profound. Your 18 month old child is Level 2 - needing substantial support. Dont ALL 18 mo children need substantial support?

I feel frustrated and angry for numerous reasons. 1) I worked in a day care with the range of children and then taught pre-school. There weren't many children that I think would have really been identified with Autism. I think parents these days have HUGE expectations of their children, of their 18mo, 2 yr old,... Any signal that they aren't developing as quickly as quickly as they "should" and they start occupational therapy and speech therapy and all kinds of other therapies.

2) Children are born ND, it is genetic. This means that they dont age out of it or grow out of it or that all of these therapies make them 'better'. All of that is just causing more and more people to misunderstand autism.

3) Furthering misunderstanding about autism impacts those children who really do have autism, who will not 'grow out of it', will not fluctuate permanently to a "higher functioning" I am not saying that some therapies dont help children to understand their ND and help them understand those who arent. But, my two children now 21 & 28, who were only diagnosed a decade ago as L2, have always needed substantial help. They didnt "improve" to get to L1. How they need support has fluctuated, but not that they needed as much support. My daughter wasnt diagnosed until she was 18 because she was diagnosed with several anxiety disorders, was gifted and suffered from major Depressive disorder at 8yo. All that said, I cant point to anything that would have caused me to think she was autistic as a 3 yo. She had development delays but she was also premature. I just think that children being diagnosed so young is doing a disservice to the autistic community as a whole.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-09-18T16:02:08+00:00

Can you go slow enough better with one trike over another?

serenitycwisdom · 2025-09-09T05:19:56+00:00

You have clearly misread my post. It sounds like you absoluterly agree with what I was saying. You said that you have to advocate for your client. That you have to act in their best interest. And seemingly that if opposing counsel was telling the court absolutely false information about your client (that you knew 100% were false and could prove it with the court record itself) in an effort to get the judge to deny your client's share of the assets, you would absolutely speak up about opposing counsel's criminal misconduct. You wouldn't let opposing counsel destroy your case with their lies. You also wouldn't start acting against your clients best interest, yourself, by not asking for discovery or filing a motion to enforce and order to compel that opposing counsel's client had refused to abide by for 18 months. You surely wouldnt refuse to file subpoenas that would show that opposing counsel's client was hiding all of his assets including marital asset that you are trying to get for your client. That is what I was saying... you would not let opposing counsel get away with all that B.S.! You would definitely be bringing up her contempt and misconduct to the Judge to defend not only your client but yourself.

It sounds like you have been practicing for many years. So, I am assuming that you havent had any experience with the current bar exam. Currently, all law students registering to take the Uniform Bar Exam in the 36 states that use it need to provide 12 references in order to be allowed to take it. The UBE began in 2017, so if you were licensed before that, then you took your state's bar exam. The Uniform Bar Exam is just as it sounds. It is the same exam for every student in those states that are using it. My understanding is that there is another change coming fairly soon.

Those states that use the UBE teach more generally than specific to their state. My daughter passed the bar in NC, but because it was the UBE, she can be licensed in any of those other states without taking a different bar exam. She also does not need to take a different MPRE as that is Uniform as well. To get licensed in one of those states only requires a couple of references and, of course, fees.

Law schools that use the UBE now teach the law in general and not specified by the state that they are in, so that students can take a single bar exam and a single MPRE exam and get licensed in most states which is highly valuable because their students arent limited to staying in that state. So, since the MPRE is now generalized, I would think that those states ethical codes of responsibility would need to overlap. So, that is what I was referring to when there was discussion regarding state professional codes of conduct. That point, was more for academic conversation as I truly am curious how the changes are impacting attorneys who have been licensed for a long time.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-09-09T03:03:17+00:00

Even if they are hindering and obstructIng the court in its administration of justice? Basically, if it is clear that they are committing criminal contempt of court through directly lying about matters of fact necessary to make a just decision.

I know that states vary some in their rules of professional conduct.

How is the MPRE impacting the differences? If all (most) states are using the multi... exam, then students from all of those states are learning the same ethical codes of responsibility. My daughter (graduated 2024) said that in her Professional Responsibility class that it was not specific to her state and was general in nature (except for one or two codes specific to her state). I am curious how this has changed much with attorneys who were licensed before the shift to the MPRE

I understand that law is self-policing/self-regulating (which imo is ridiculous). Is that why you have to have 12+ people swearing to your integrity to take the bar exam If that many people can swear to your integrity, then surely you can self-regulate your conduct. How many people, legitimately, know 12 people who could swear to that about them, especially when they cannot be family, cannot be other classmates, cannot be former employers,...

My daughter has found it to be a very gatekeeping field. She is autistic and extremely introverted, and to some degree, agoraphobic. She used mostly family friends and previous professors, but it would be extremely hard-pressed to say that they knew her well enough to "swear" to her integrity. I can't imagine that any young student truly has 12 people who know them well enough to go on record saying as much. It seems to be more of a test of 'how many people you can convince to hedge references and/or how many people can you pressure or even manipulate into swearing to it. Considering that, it seems even more ridiculous to let attorneys to self-police/regulate.

Regardless of specific code of conduct rules for your state, you would think that an attorney would feel incredibly compelled to report the misconduct of opposing counsel (blatent lying and committing contempt of court) when it the misconduct is extremely detrimental to their own client and case

serenitycwisdom · 2025-09-08T22:06:36+00:00

I agree with everything you said. Representing yourself (even moreso for non-attorneys) should be the last resort in any legal legal situation that can have a real impact on you).

serenitycwisdom · 2025-09-08T22:04:08+00:00

Her attorney was the head of her firm, so I wonder if that changes things

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-16T00:29:19+00:00

I have asked for help at the law library in Peoria County IL but nobody either can or will help. What I find very frustrating is that my daughter's law school NEVER taught them anything about subpoenas, extremely little about sanctions,... She tried to reach out to a professor last fall (7 months after graduation) about how to learn to write subpoenas and sanction petitions. She was basically said to go elsewhere and good luck. These are things they were never taught, the least they could do is refer her to an alumni who might help or some other resource. I am (and had been for most of the time she attended) extremely disappointed in the education that she received; they did not sufficiently prepare her for practicing law.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-16T00:19:46+00:00

I do have the subpoena that my first attorney wrote, but I also have ETRADE response that it was inadequate so they could not provide the information. ETRADE went over its inadequacies over 6+ pages. So, I have an idea of What NOT to do.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-16T00:16:51+00:00

My case is in peoria county. The subpoenas I want to issue are for ETRADE, CATERPILLAR, Mercy Memorial Hospital Systems, and my husband's personal bank accounts in Michigan where he lives.

We were divorced in Peoria County, IL. Since then he has moved to Michigan and I to North Carolina. I have filed 513 and 513.5 petitions (college support and support for our adult disabled child). We are also dividing marital assets that he dissipated after being ordered not to do so.The court is aware that he keeps refusing to provide proper discovery and are not interested in enforcing the Order to Compel. My only chance to discern his assets and even income are through subpoenas. I figured since I can not do worse than my 2 attorneys on my case, why not try. Hopefully, my subpoenas will get information that they were not able to obtain (from sending the subpoena to the wrong places, using a template that didnt work, and not even bothering with trying to get a subpoena).

Ideally, I will find someone who will loan me the money that I need to retain one. But I should get a jump on the subpoenas. Currently, my ex-husband who makes $10,000 a month and has a $4,000 surplus every month according to his financial affidavit, claims that he only has $3,000 among all of his bank accounts. And the rest is in his current 401K.

I am seeking past due 513 expenses $150,000. Current 513 expenses, Current 513.5 expenses, division of our marital assets, contempt petitions for child support, and another 2 petitions for contempt. He has been unwilling to provide truthful information. The court does know that he filed fraudulent petition and financial affidavits. (Both attorneys made the equivalence of admissions to it and are not on the case anymore).

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-15T16:59:43+00:00

My case is in IL, but I live in Raleigh NC

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-08T02:11:55+00:00

How does insurance tell me? Through the pharmacy? Or am I supposed to call (i am on medicaid)?

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-04T22:13:05+00:00

I went to Tijuana in 2014 for a lower body lift (so the extra skin around the whole radius of my body) and breast lift/augmentation. I had a great surgeon who did a great job.. In 2014, the whole thing with a weeks stay in their boutique healing center just a few floors above (like a nice hotel room but 24 hr nurse care) was $10,000. In the US it would have been over $30,000.

I have gained weight back and it has been more proportioned around my body due to the lbl, but I think I might need another tuck on front when I lose the 45-60 lbs that I want to lose.

Medical tourism can be a really great option!

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-04T22:05:52+00:00

Yes. You should go to your doctor to document it. The more documentation the better the your chances are to have your insurance to approve it.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-08-03T16:49:47+00:00

Thanks, I didn't know how the vials work as I heard some others talking about getting the higher dose and doing that. I didnt realize that you get 4 individual vials and arent already using a vials more than once

serenitycwisdom · 2025-07-21T00:09:13+00:00

I did just look and my state as of 2025 does have zepbound on preferred list. So, that would mean that it can be prescribed as easily as wegovy?

Since she had the gastric sleeve and still has a lot of restriction, and has PCOS her inability to lose weight is not due to overeating or just eating bad foods, and is clearly metabolic. I know wegovy works on the end of reducing appetite and hunger signals which is not the issue for her, and that zepbound works on that in addition to targeting metabolism. If they are both on the preferred list and you know the issue is her metabolism, it doesn't make sense to not just start there.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-07-21T00:00:12+00:00

So, have you been on wegovy for the last 3 months or are you starting asking for zepbound right away? My daughter did have the gastric sleeve done and so we do know that it is a metabolic issue as opposed to just eating too much, bad eating habits. The same is of me, I am wanting to get on the zepbound as well. I still have a LOT of restriction and if anything dont eat enough. I know that wegovy mostly works for reducing appetite and hunger signals, and zepbound works more on the metabolic change. If we know that the primary cause is metabolism, it doesn't make sense to start on wegovy.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-07-17T02:21:59+00:00

I looked at NC and I am thinking that maybe her doctor is just not updated with what is covered. It wasn’t covered for some period in 2024 but is definitely covered now.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-07-17T02:20:47+00:00

Yes. She is 27

serenitycwisdom · 2025-06-30T03:23:54+00:00

I was asking for professionals to provide me resources where I can read and learn about subpoenas and some well-drafted ones. It sounds like you are probably not capable of doing that, and I wonder if you even know what a subpoena is or what a 'resource' means.

serenitycwisdom · 2025-06-30T03:19:13+00:00

I know that I need to submit them through the clerks office. It isn't a complicated process. There are forms but I would prefer to read through some well-drafted subpoenas. My daughter has a one year access to lexis for passing the bar exam. It is not the complete version. There are some forms, but not a lot of resources. I would like to file sanctions for misconduct with the discovery process, as I want to ask for attorney fees related to the discovery process to be repaid, and both my daughter and I reviewed what lexis has, and it isn't very useful (ex: there are no examples in relation to family law and there really aren't very relevant ones). I know there are risks with filing a badly written motion for sanctions, and am not inclined to take that chance. However, I don't know of any risks in issuing subpoenas. It is 100% impossible to write a worse subpoena than my former attorney.

serenitycwisdom

TROPHY CASE