Dr. Lauryssen in Switzerland

[TPatti]

Just received this info from Dr. Lauryssen's office

M6 artificial disc replacement in Switzerland, possible surgery dates this November 2013

We are thrilled to let you know that we are moving forward with the M6 in Switzerland. We have a few tentative travel and operative dates and are looking to set up our first group of patients. Our initial trip, possibly November, 2013, will be just for cervical M6 patients. We are currently working on making arrangements to accommodate our lumbar M6 patients as well.

[Boxer78]

Thx for post tpatti, I'm def gonna reach out to him again. He told me he was working on bringing down the cost over there. How's the recovery going?

[RP_OutWest]

I have had several conversations with Dr. L and his PA Natalie. They have moved the date to December 6/7 for surgeries. The package includes 6 nights at the hotel, 2 days and 1 night at the hospital (overlapping the hotel), all meals at the hospital and breakfast at the hotel, and transfers to and from the airport. Of course you should contact Natalie for specific details and current information.

I have not committed to this as I will be traveling alone and Dr L and Natalie only plan to be in Switzerland until the Monday after the surgery. Dr L did say I could return on the same flight with them if that made me more comfortable.

After several conversations with Dr L, I very much like his personality and candor. It is very clear he has some mad surgical skills. If he were able to perform this surgery in the US, he'd be my choice. If my wife were going with me, I would most likely choose him also.

At this point I'm leaning toward Dr Bierstedt because the better immediate post op care. My wife prefers I go with Dr L because of the state side follow up care (if needed).

[Stonewall_Boris]

Wow,

Given I do not know much about Dr. L this has so many unanswered questions about it. I admit freely that I don't understand the American health system but to me, a Canadian, I'm doing a 'what the heck'.
What if you can't make it back on the plane?
If you can't make it back on the plane, who is expected to take care of you?
Your back surgeon has just left the country, if you can't make it back home who is familiar with the procedure he did?
And on and on and on

But this is my experience, -Dr. Bierstedt, upon my question, if something goes wrong, can it be rectified by a Canadian doctor?
He looked down, shook his head and said no, I'd have to see him again. Which is why I believe he is so insistent about the placement of the artificial discs.

[Boxer78]

I also consulted w dr L over the summer and he was eager to get started w the m6 but wanted to get the hospital to lower costs before he committed. He was against me going to Germany as his words were "they just want your money" but this was mostly directed towards bertegnoli who gets a million a year from prodisc??!!!! He never heard of Bierstedt, Dr L went on to say its important to have someone stateside to follow up with. He also stated it's all about the surgeon not the disc? So why bother going over seas to use the m6 if it doesn't matter?? I'm definitely going to contact him again to see how things are progressing overseas. He told me how he spends hours fixing the mistakes of other surgeons!!! "I spent 6 hours the other day fixing someone else's mess" I get the sense he's in a league of his own and even his treatment plan for me differed greatly from Bierstedt and clavel!

[RP_OutWest]

Stone, I had all those same questions which is why I'm going with Bierstedt. Dr L appears pretty compassionate; I doubt he'd leave if there was trouble in the first few days. But, then again he's only there for 3 days after surgery and there could be extra cost with the private hospital.

Boxer, Dr L certainly is in the who's who of spinal neurosurgeons. I seriously considered having him perform a two level Mobi-C. But since my problems are from DDD and the two levels above look to be affected also, I want the 6-degrees of motion from the M6.

[Stonewall_Boris]

RP,
One thing I appreciated with the ONZ program was that they kept track of you. You must stay at the hotels they made arrangements with, no choice. So I felt comfortable that they would know where I was. Other doctors that I checked out over seas recommend getting a cell phone and call them if you have post op problems. That didn't leave me with a warm and fuzzy feeling.
And yes, they do keep track of you, even the cab drivers are in. We left a bag at aventgarde on route to Medicos and they called the driver to come back. I was late for a session at Medicos and they called my wife in our room to find out where I was. Since my surgery was close to Christmas both Dr. Bierstedt and Malte popped by to wish us a merry Christmas and a happy new year. Both of them mentioned they were getting reports from Medicos.
But they are somewhat flexible, I wanted out of the Hattigen hospital 2 days before when I should have left but they couldn't get a hold of Dr. Bierstdt. The next day I packed my bag and said I'm going back to the aventgarde one way or another. Dr. Bierstedt came by and checked me out, he had also heard we were planning to go to Paris, he said it was okay if I was feeling well enough. I liked that they knew how I was doing throughout the stay but were flexible enough to change the program.
Laurab, you may want to comment here as Dr. Bierstedt did your surgery at a different hospital.
Edit, I think I may have gotten out of the hattigen 2 days before the schefule. Stayed one night at the avantgarde, went to medicos/marriot the next day, they were in a panic because I was there to soon, other surgery patient having his surgery the same day arrived a day later.
Tpatti,
I know you had surgery the same day as another manitobian. What was your discharge experience?

[RP_OutWest]

That's good info, Stone, I'm hoping to get released 2 days earlier from both the hospital and PT. My plan is to be in Germany for 9 days after surgery. If the doctors and I agree I'm fit to travel, I go home early.

[TPatti]

RP,
I think it is to your benefit to partake in the rehab offered at Medicos. The muscle massage and lymph node massage each day is really beneficial to your healing. After a week you can feel confident that there is no infection at the incision site, they check this daily while you are there. It is also good to have a week under your belt before flying for blood clotting reasons. Even though you are away from home, I found it to be really beneficial to have the time to focus on my initial healing.

Gman, or anyone else recently there: what are your thoughts?

[Stonewall_Boris]

RP,

Do NOT plan on getting out any earlier than what Dr. Bierstedt recommends. Plan your stay based upon what the doctor says is reasonable. When I asked Malte how bad my case was in comparison to others I was rated a 3 out of 10. We didn't initially plan a side trip, it just happened to go that way. Go with the schedule they give you and plan your stays at the hospital and Medicos with what they say.

[TPatti]

I agree with Stonewall, I was just trying to be "softer" about it:)

[Stonewall_Boris]

RP, tpatti,
I just thought of something, RP are you planning a one way ticket there, and pending your outcome another one back? That being the case then if the docs let you out early that's fine. If your booking round trip then stick to their recommendations.