Spine Surgery Evaluation Process

1. Contact Us

I am truly interested in helping you get your life back from whatever pain or problem is taking it from you.

Whether you supplied your name and email or called the office by phone, we will let you know what the next step is to move forward so you can get your evaluation to see if you are a candidate for endoscopic laser spine surgery without a fusion.

I offer this service since I have a national practice and people are often just too far away to easily make an office appointment.

If you do want to make an office appointment, I’d love to see you here. The following steps will be the similar, but accelerated.

I look forward to relieving you pain.

2. Upload MRI

I need to see a recent MRI with the report on my reader.
Recent means that it was taken in the past year (or close to it). This is the only way for me to see your pictures at the present time. I have an expensive reader, like the radiologist uses. Sending pictures in Dropbox doesn’t work, we have to upload your disc. This is essential. This process is not like most places where a nurse or non-surgeon looks at your films or report and sends you a letter. When I talk to you, I want to be looking at your films, so I can do my best to figure out your problem. The most common issue for people coming to see me is that they do not have an accurate diagnosis to account for the pain. This is how we make the diagnosis.

Have a copy of your disc and report in your possession so you can upload it to my website. If you don’t have a copy, you will need to get one from the facility that did your MRI. We can have the facility mail us a copy if you sign a release, but we have noticed a lot of inconsistency when the facility is left with the task of sending it. Up to you though.

Upload your MRI disc

If you don’t feel that you can upload it, just mail it to us and we will upload it for you. It’s really pretty easy.

To upload your MRI, you must have a disc drive.

    1-Go to my website

    2-go up to top right corner and find UPLOAD MRI and click

   3-enter name, email

   4-put disc in


I also need a copy of your report of the MRI.
email to: coastspine@drtonymork.websitepro.hosting

3. Schedule Consult

SCHEDULE YOUR PHONE CONSULTATION

When we have your MRI uploaded and your report, we can schedule a phone consultation to talk to dr mork personally, for about 30 minutes.

When you consider that the cost of a typical office consultation with a spine surgeon costs $500, this is an incredible value, especially when you consider that you don’t have to drive, park and wait in an office.

These calls are usually scheduled in the afternoon.

Call  1-949-430-6658

4. Phone Consultation

The phone consult is the most important part of this process to determine whether endoscopic laser spine surgery can help you relieve your pain.

Dr. Mork will be looking at your MRI films with you from the disc that you uploaded as well as looking at your report. This is really important because imaging studies image, they don’t tell you where you hurt. Your MRI report can talk about many “abnormalities or findings” but most of these are just typical “wear and tear” changes that have nothing to do with your pain.

The most important thing for you to do is to prioritize your pain and concerns by telling him what bothers you the most.

Is it a pain, numbness or weakness?

Where do you feel it?

If you have more than one thing that bothers you, prioritize the top 3 things that bother you and tell him about those things in that order. Tell him what you can’t do or what you want to do, but can’t. This will help you focus on your problem so Dr. Mork can focus on your solution. Dr. Mork will ask other questions to help you fill in your history.

By the end of the consultation, we will arrive at one of three conclusions:
1) You have a problem that can be treated with endoscopic laser spine surgery
2) You have a problem that can’t be treated with endoscopic laser spine surgery or 3) Something else is needed to further clarify your problem.

At the end of the consultation, Dr. Mork will dictate a note discussing the phone consultation and recommendations. The note will help the staff know what the next step is to help you and can be referred to if you have further questions. You can ask the staff for a copy of the report to help you remember what was said if you like.

5. Day After Consultation

The dictation will be transcribed by the following morning, the office staff will call you to see if you have any further questions about what was said or recommended.

Feel free to call in at your convenience too and remember that you can have a copy of the discussion if you want.

Hopefully the phone consult will be a good educational experience for you and give you some answers and alternatives.

Remember that there are many people in your situation that might benefit from a similar discussion, so we ask that you share your experience with others with a short review. The office staff will send you a link to just say a few words about your experience to share with others.

6. Payment & Insurance

Our goal is to help you if you are a candidate for this type of procedure.

 If you have insurance and want to proceed to the next step, just let the staff know about your insurance info so we can check your coverage and benefits.

We use the dictation to know what codes to submit to your insurance company for authorization.

Dr. Mork works out of a Hospital in Florida and a surgery center in California to help accommodate your location and insurance situation.

7. Pre-Op Visit

If you decide to proceed with surgery, you will need an in-person preoperative evaluation.

Although this visit will only take an hour or less, we will accomplish many things as follows:

  • Complete review of your problem
  • Answer any questions you have
  • Review your MRI or CT on large screen
  • Review problem and procedure with films and models
  • Discuss risks and complications
  • Do physical exam
  • Get your prescriptions for pain and antibiotics
  • You will get Dr. Mork’s personal cell phone number

8. Surgery Day

Don’t eat anything for 6-8 hours before your procedure!

This is for your safety.

The reason is so there is nothing in your stomach that might end up in your lungs (aspiration).

The only exception to this is to take your regular medications (that you normally take, even pain meds) with a small sip of water.

Dress in loose and comfortable clothing.

9. Post-Op

If you have any urgent questions or concerns, call Dr. Mork on his cell phone. You can call anytime and don’t have to go through any exchanges or delays.

  • Eating Post Op – It’s best to have something light after surgery, like some soup or half a sandwich. Get a little food in your stomach before taking your pain pills.
  • Pain Pills – After getting some food in your stomach, start taking the pain pills as discussed. Remember to take the pain pills “by the clock” for the first 24-48 hours after surgery. The reason for this is to maintain a certain level of circulating narcotic in your system. This is essential to “stay ahead” of the pain instead of waiting to feel the pain and then trying to catch up.
  • Antibiotics – Start the day after surgery
  • Dressing – Remember that your surgery is performed in a water environment without air contact. Some of this water can leak out and saturate the dressing depending on what procedure was done. There is no need to worry, just support the dressing with a towel. Dr. Mork will stop by the day after surgery to check on you and change the dressing if necessary.
  • Activity – Take it easy, even if you feel great and your pre-op pain is gone. Walking is probably the best activity in general. It’s best to start slowly and use the clock to make slow steady gains. “Go by the clock”.
  • Post Op checks – We like to check in with you on post op week 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6. We will call you, but feel free to call in anytime and report your progress or ask any questions.