“Fire Bad, Water Good”: On Considering “The Frankenstein Procedure”

This is the story of my three-year odyssey trying to diagnose and treat an ever-increasing neck pain. It begins with a mistake, moves through a year in a pain management clinic, tells of a cancer scare, chronicles visits with a world-renowned neurosurgeon who advises me against having done what he does, and concludes with a rheumatologist who gives me both good advice and some relief. I then reflect on some lessons I learned along the way.