Travel tips and know-how?

[Harrison]

Folks,

If you all find it useful, I'll create a separate forum for travel/medical tourism. I've resisted this for years; but it's not about me -- it's all about what you find accessible and useful.

[Jstuckey]

Originally Posted by Harrison

Folks,

If you all find it useful, I'll create a separate forum for travel/medical tourism. I've resisted this for years; but it's not about me -- it's all about what you find accessible and useful.

I think those of us that end up overseas really appreciate all of the advice. There isn't anywhere else to get it! It would be an easier way to find and contribute the info. Thanks!

[annapurna]

A separate forum would be appreciated but it shouldn't just be focused on overseas travel. Many people have posted about having to leave their local area to go to Texas Back or other facility. Some travel tips are location-specific, but a lot of the advice isn't and it would be nice to find it all in one place.

[laid up doc]

harrison -

while i don't know your motives for not wanting to have a "travel" section.... i will say that i must confess that i thought the idea of "medical tourism" for anything but dental work was sort of crazy for quite a while, until it became my only option and it was something that i could do. then i did it and...

i'd do it again in a heartbeat... i think that for people who are in such situations would benefit GREATLY from such a forum. (there is another forum that has such info - i got some info there but the list-maker had gone to Germany - so i had to dig up info allll over the web and from friends/family about Spain/BCN).

the whole prodisc vs overseas alternatives is another topic altogether! but as i think you have seen w/ my experience and others' - there are many of us for whom int'l surgery is really the only option (need for hybrid or multilevel ADR, metal allergies, device concerns). a bit early for me to say, but i think it saved my life!

[nanfromsactown]

I know I would be happy to contribute any and all travel information I could. I've traveled quite a bit just for pleasure, but I know a lot of people who end up traveling for back surgery have done little travel and could probably use the info. And if the other site has just German-specific information, then this site would be great because it would have Germany, England, and Spain among others.

[nanfromsactown]

Originally Posted by laid up doc

harrison -

while i don't know your motives for not wanting to have a "travel" section.... i will say that i must confess that i thought the idea of "medical tourism" for anything but dental work was sort of crazy for quite a while, until it became my only option and it was something that i could do. then i did it and...

i'd do it again in a heartbeat... i think that for people who are in such situations would benefit GREATLY from such a forum. (there is another forum that has such info - i got some info there but the list-maker had gone to Germany - so i had to dig up info allll over the web and from friends/family about Spain/BCN).

the whole prodisc vs overseas alternatives is another topic altogether! but as i think you have seen w/ my experience and others' - there are many of us for whom int'l surgery is really the only option (need for hybrid or multilevel ADR, metal allergies, device concerns). a bit early for me to say, but i think it saved my life!

I'm so happy we've "turned" a doctor! My brother in law is a doctor and he drilled me pretty well about my decision. Hopefully my experience will lend him some assistance if he has a patient in need.

I'm so happy to hear your outcome is so far, so good!

[nanfromsactown]

Originally Posted by Jstuckey

Congrats on your solid plan! A couple of my thoughts:
Yes, ATT was a pain. We spent the first three days trying to get things to work right, after we had purchased the global (24.99) package. Might be a good idea to just buy a temp use phone as suggested.
I flew home in regular seats, but I was 3 weeks post op when I did. I think that may have helped. Had a hybrid lumbar fusion and 1 ADR, so pretty remarkable that I was fine without the recline seats. I wouldn't have benefitted from them. No problem sitting as long as I got up (day time flight helped to).
I changed my credit card to a no fee for foreign transactions type(Chase). They just use the day's exchange rate. That is how I paid for surgery too. And yes, do tell them the dates you'll be gone and where you'll be.
We only had a little bit of cash, and used our card otherwise. Since we didn't carry a lot of cash, we didn't worry too much about where to exchange it for the best rate. I think we did it at the airport right away.
Take it easy if they offer hydrotherapy. That is the one thing I would change about my experience if I could. It felt easy and comfortable and wonderful at the time.... I suffered greatly from overdoing it all three sessions about 4 hours later. I had to quit doing it until restarting it today at home (4 weeks post op). I think I can tolerate it now.
Prunes, prunes, and more prunes!

Thanks for the info. I'm looking into the cell phones. I'll be taking my iPad and leaving the laptop home, much less weight to carry! Will also have my smart phone with me to receive texts which is what we did last time we were in Europe. AT&T allows you to receive texts for free, so I would turn it on once a day to see if there was any news from home. It worked out well.

I don't think I've ever actually exchanged money here before going overseas. Always just took some cash and my debit card and advised the bank. In case anyone ever goes to Russia for a vacation, they are very particular. If you want to exchange cash for rubles, your cash has to be in pristine condition and nothing bigger than a 20. The better thing there is to take rubles out of an ATM machine or just pay for things with a credit or debit card.

[laid up doc]

i used gosim.com, not telestial - but they are similar

[Harrison]

Hi everyone.

Thx for your comments, I created a new forum called Travel Assistance (towards the bottom if you are on the home page). Please note:

- I will close this topic, please comment on the new one there (if you want). This is the link here.

- If you notice any other topics that are helpful in terms of travel assistance, pls let me know by sending me the URL of that topic, so I can move or copy to this new forum.

Thank you!