ADR in Ontario Canada
 

Hi I am new to this forum. I need to either have ADR or fusion at the l5/s1 level. I was wondering if anyone knows or has had experience with any surgeons in Ontario Canada that perform both?
thanks

I live in Toronto but decided to go to Dr. Zeegers at the BetaKlinik in Bonn, Germany (at my own expense), so I'm no help.

The only guy I know of in Ontario is Dr. Kevin Gurr in London Ont.

London Health Science Centre
4th Floor
Westminster Tower
800 Commissioners Road East
London ON N6A 4G5
Phone: (519) 685-8500

However, I've heard rumors that you'll be older than Yoda before you get your first appointment. I dunno if it's true though. Might be worth a try, as he was the first surgeon in Canada to do ADR. It was back in 2001, if my memory serves.

I also heard there was a guy in Montreal and also in Quebec City. Surely we have someone in Ottawa too, but I've not heard of one.

Dave

EDIT: Oooh, I just found this post:

http://www.adrsupport.org/forums/f51/adr-canada-8136/

and in the outcome forum:

http://www.adrsupport.org/forums/f47...ing-good-6830/

I had my ADR's done in Brandon, MB by Dr. DeMeulenaere. However I'm having a lot of trouble after the last one and I'm not sure if it has anything to do with what the doctor did or not.

Wish you the best.

I've run the gamut with almost every surgeon in Ontario over the past five years and posted my story in a couple of forums. Give up on Gurr...I had no use for him. There isn't a surgeon in this province that admits to doing ADR now and even if they did, I wouldn't go for it as they don't have the experience. OHIP told me there were fifteen surgeons doing ADR but wouldn't tell me the names of more than five. Those five said they didn't do it anymore.

There is a good fellow in Quebec City though, and OHIP will cover it. If you want to get more details on any and all of my experiences, I'd be happy to chat either on the phone or by PM/email.

I ended up going to Brazil to see Dr. Luiz Pimenta for three levels and couldn't be happier. Of course it was self-funded, but worth every cent. I had significant neurological problems from spinal cord compression at C5/6 and unbearable pain and spondylosis at L4/5 and compression at L5/S1. As mentioned above, no Ontario surgeons will operate "just for pain" and to them, the cervical level was just "too dangerous". According to Dr. Pimenta, it was Spine Surgery 101, and anyone worth his salt should have been able to do it without issue. I'm glad I was given the runabout and had to go out of country.

All the best, and I'm here to help if you like.

thanks!
 

Thanks for the replies! hey look its Dave, i have read the links that you sent, they were informative.
Robin, sorry that you are having problems since your surgery. What sort of problems? if you don't mind talking about it.
Maddie, I am hoping to be able to have my surgery in Canada...soo expensive out of country....but also want someone with experience, that I am comfortable with...so might consider the alternative.
Does anyone regret having adr and wish they went with fusion?
thanks...hope everyone has a painfree/less day.
Karen

Absolutely no regrets about ADR. Even though I'm not pain free, I'm MUCH better than before (it's now about 5 months post-op).

Dave

Hi. I just thought it was interesting that we both signed up on the same day, needing the same surgery. I'm looking for info on L4-5, L5-S1 ADR outside of the US also. I don't know anything about Canada. That's pretty close to Indiana. I'll keep a watch on your posts. I'm currently leaning toward Dr Bertagnoli in Munich, but I'm fearing the cost. Already in the works for a second mortgage. Just saw my local ortho surgeon (who wants to do an ADR and a fusion - but insurance won't pay) this morning, and he worked with Dr. B 9 years ago when he was learning ADR surgery. He spoke highly of him and was actually more supportive of going oversees than I ever expected from an Indiana physician.
Anyway.... good luck with your research. I'm overwhelmed and questioning every day if I really feel bad enough yet to go through with this.

Hi Joell,

I have to run for a bit, but just to let you know that the cost of my surgery in Brazil with one of the very top surgeons in the world was $10-$15K less than going to Germany. Just a thought....

Plus waiting longer for surgery sometimes backfires. I was told that the chances of being pain free or having less pain went down the longer a person waited. The nerves sometimes won't forget that they don't hurt anymore, for lack of a better explanation. I am very lucky and my pain is down at least 80%.

Appreciate all info! Thanks! Sending info to Munich and Barcelona tomorrow. Will check out Brazil as well!

Sometimes it takes a while to get a response from Dr. Pimenta....he travels a lot I think. My first MRI went missing and I sent a second to his San Diego address. I can PM the address if you want to send it to both.