Walter X Loyola, MD, FACS

Dr. Loyola is simply a wonderful guy. In 2008, he repaired a leaking disc (L-​1). I recovered quickly and have never had any other side effects. In October, I began to develop weakness and pain in various locations of my left hip and leg all the way down to my foot. Went to my regular family medicine doc and he ordered an MRI. Both he, and the radiologist said there was nothing wrong with me.
Went to Loyola with the MRI and he immediately diagnosed another blown-​out disc, this time L-​5 to S-​1. He explained the procedure and all side effects possible. Two days later, I went to the hospital and was FIXED again!
Today, five days after, I am easily walking with no aid and no pain whatsoever.
I doubt if Unilocal is the best forum for medical advise, but Dr. Walter Loyola has always done just the right thing with me. I would go back in a minute if I have ANY inkling of back /​leg pain.

August 2005 3:30 Neurosurgeon # 2 From now on will be referred to as «TheAccentMan.»
We went to the 2^nd opinion neurosurgeon. We got there and they handed me a huge stack of paperwork to fill out. By page 2 my right hand was numb and by page 5 my right hand and elbow were HURTING.
A Physicians Assistant came in and asked questions, did the blood pressure, weight (gasp), the «follow my finger with your eyes,» etc. and then in walks «TheAccentMan.» He’s tall, had curly dark hair and a VERY strong accent. I wish I could tell you what kind of accent it was, but I have no clue. He starts out telling me that he usually does surgery when the fallen tonsil is even with or past the C1 vertebre. Mine is touching the top of C1 so I am in sort of a limbo.
He agreed with «TheCuteOne,» that it didn’t look like things were too crowded in there *but* he seemed a little more concerned about the involuntary twitching and tingling and numbness in my arms. the times when it is there and I hadn’t just sneezed. He said that he wanted to see an MRI of my brain before making any big decisions on my care or the plan. I mentioned that I had an MRI of my brain last October but not only was he not impressed about the fact that it was done 10 months ago, he also didn’t like Open MRIs. He says he’s going to send me to a regular MRI for a brain scan and he would give me a prescription for valium. He said «take one when you leave home and take the other when you See The Machine.» My stomach starts singing «rolling rolling rolling, keep them doggies rolling.»
He then starts vividly explaining the surgery to me and how painful it is during recovery after he slices all the muscles in my neck and how I probably wanted to avoid the surgery if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. I was sitting on the doctor’s table and the more he explained about the surgery the weaker and more nauseated I felt. I had that hot flash feeling like I was going to pass out and I quickly laid down on the table. At least, I had a table to lay down on. My mother, sitting upright in a chair next to a wall with my dad at her side started felling the same way. Both of us were just about ready to pass out when he finished his story.
So, we know that he probably doesn’t think surgery is the answer… but we also know that there is enough symptoms for him to want to look at things from another angle before making a decision.
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Dr. Loyola, after seeing a second set of MRIs, decided that I wasn’t a candidate for the surgery at that time… but he was the one that made it very clear to me that I needed to have updated MRIs once a year and to watch for symptom progression.
Dr. Loyola did a posterior fossa decompression for a friend of mine, and hasn’t done a Chiari surgery since then. He told another friend Chiari was nothing.
Luckily I didn’t let him cut my brain open… but I found another surgeon who did and believed that Chiari was something and that I was a candidate for surgery and saved my life. Thanks for nothing Loyola.