Jamie, it breaks my heart to reread your story, but I wanted you to know that it helped me find a doctor here in the States to help with my L5/S1 problem. I too talked to healthbase, was convinced ,and was ready to jump on a plane to India. At that point in my life I was in so much pain that I could no longer walk and would have done anything to stop it. Thank God and the members off this board that i found Dr. Masante of Triangle Ortho in Raleigh, NC. I had sent off an MRI cd to healthbase and the strange thing that occurred to me was that it seems like they ask you what you want done , rather than tell you what you need done.
In other words, as long as you have the money, you are automatically a good candidate for whatever surgery you want done. That's a little scary, no that's alot scary. If I had gone along with the car salesman like tactics they practice, I probably would have had a lot more surgery(harm) done than I had. What happened to "First do no harm"? Any how, I just wanted you to know that your comments helped wake me up, and find a doctor here to help me. Thanks, Tierney
__________________
1/11/2010 slipped at work
1/15 doctor visit,prescribed steriod pack, no results
1/26 Chiro treatments (8 weeks) no lasting results, $500
4/1 MRI taken, revealed herniated disc at L5/S1, $1000
4/16 first epideral shot, some relief after a few days, lasted 1 week: $3500
5/10 second epideral, no relief at all: $3500
5/24 frst visit to nerosurgeron, recommends discectomy, cost ~ $20,000--workers comp should pay,so far denied due to no witnesses. So far out of pocket-no secondary insurance
|