Dr. Bertagnoli, Pro Spine and C.C. Curasan Consulting

[haayers]

Hubby is up and around today. He had an xray done, standard procedure to ensure the discs haven't moved. We also talked with Dr. B today, he said everything went beautifully. He was a tough case, but he certainly loved the challenge. Hubby states the pain he is feeling is incision pain, he does not feel any of the old pain. I posed your question to Dr. B, he said facet pain can happen as the years go on, but the key to it not happening, is finding the "sweet spot" of the device to perfectly balance the facets, and keep the load off. He also said in the case it does happen, they have a device approved here in Germany, but not in the US that he can put in to prop up the facet to get the load off, and also, if that does not work a rod to stabilize, which will still allow full motion, but support the facets.

So, it appears, the first measure is exact precision when implanting the device, and it seems Dr. B takes extreme, great care in finding the sweet spot. My husband is an engineer, and Dr. B was an engineer, so they had a meeting of the minds on that aspect. If that does not prevent the facet pain, there are two other measures he could use to help with that pain. Hope this helps!!!

[fastbiker]

We are going to Bogen in two weeks and we were told by Tim and Susan that we could send US dollars to the New Your bank based on Bank of America’s transfer rates which were $.09 Higher than the rate I found most often quoted on the web. I contacted Tim and he told me that I was looking at bank to bank rates on the web and the B of A site quoted retail which I would have to pay. This netted a $3,000+ increase in the cost of the surgery. I told him I would find another option. I went to our US Bank branch in California and wired Euros to Cyprus at a cost of $.0178/per Euro over the web quote. This netted substantial savings! It pays to shop for the best exchange rate and wire Euros from the US! Gary & Linda .