[JEVE19]

You mentioned that your wife is worried about your overseas surgery going bad.
After finding this forum and doing alot of reading, I actually felt more fear of going to a doctor here with less experience than the overseas doctor's have.
Our doctor's can still only do a one level ADR. The overseas docs have been doing multi level ADR's for years now. We just can't close that gap here in the US.
Most of us were all in your shoes at some point. The thought of going overseas for surgery seems crazy but then when you read most of our outcomes, we are all so glad we did it.
The M6 seems to have really good results at this point. I feel I dodged a bullet not getting a Prodisc put in. Only time will tell, but there are too many bad Prodisc posts to read about on Google, etc. The disc is as important as the doctor.
You'll keep seeing me say this but make sure you ask why a doctor recommends the disc/fusion/etc. Is it because it's the best for your case, or is it the best they have to offer.
Those could be two very different answers.
Once the disc is put in, it's not like a doctor can go in there an tweak it if something's wrong.
Once it's in, it's pretty much a done deal. This is where more experience comes into play.
The overseas docs we discuss on here usually have way more than the US docs do.
It is a big financial burden though and some just won't be able to have a choice in the matter. If you do have a choice, then consider ALL options.
Best thing I ever did was speak to the overseas docs on the phone.
Just think of that...when have you spoke to your back doctor here on the phone?
What about email? Geez, I had my docs home phone, cell phone, office phone, and email.
I would have never got that here in the US.
Honestly, once my surgery was over...the only thing I needed my US family doctor to do was order my x-rays for me. Dr. Boeree emailed me what he was looking for in my x-rays and I printed that and gave it to my family doctor who ordered what he had asked for.
Other than that, everything else was pretty much covered by phone and emails.
Dr. Boeree told me that I didn't really need to go to a physical therapist.
I was trying to do that but it was costing me $125 a visit.
When I told my doc that, he told me to find a gym or a trainer who had good experience with someone needing to start off slowly. Told me to try swimming, try a cross trainer, very basic pilates. Just told me to not bend backwards, don't lift heavy weights and not to do twisting motion (like sweeping a broom type of movement) for at least 6 months.
I found a gym here that had a pool. They also had trainers who worked with me and set me up with a basic plan. Been moving forward ever since.

I'm just trying to take away a little of that overseas fear I think we all felt before went.
Talk to these doctor's on the phone, it's such a different conversation than most of the conversation's you've had with the US docs.