I'm surprised he can't get surgery here. Is it an insurance/payment issue? My dad had it done here in the DC area. They replaced his discs with bone material (I forget where from, maybe from his pelvis or something), bolted together with a titanium plate. Once the bone fragments fuse (3 or 4 vertebrae fused together), the titanium is no longer needed, but stays in since it's more invasive to remove it.