[Jstuckey]

Ican: as far as your follow up concerns go, this is how mine went:

I was there (England) for 3 weeks post-op. I started therapy there, saw the surgeon and pain doctor regularly for follow-up for the 5 days hospitalized, and the 2.5 weeks afterward as an outpatient. The therapists told me exactly what to do when I got home for the first 12 weeks, and I took that information home to my local therapists (who knew nothing about artificial discs - but didn't need to since the therapy protocol was handed to them, and I knew about my disc). Once home, I continued to refill pain prescriptions as needed from my family physician, and started therapy following the instructions and restrictions given to me. I emailed or called my surgeon with questions (he gave me his personal cell phone number) whenever I felt confused or concerned about something. I had xrays at 6 months and 1 year that were sent overseas to be reviewed by my surgeon - the one who knows the hardware and what it should be doing! (I sent my xrays on CD in the mail, but there are more techy ways to do it). He emailed me back with his review of my studies, what the placement looked like, anything special I should know/be doing. (Really no different than sitting in your local ortho's office and reviewing your studies on a board in front of you). All of this interaction was part of the cost of the surgery and is no additional fee (except the therapy/pain meds here at home, of course).
I've never had any problems that needed treatment, but this surgery is pretty much a one-time shot at getting it right. It isn't something they can really go back in and tweak with a follow-up appointment, so if something did go terribly wrong, it would be a brand new set of full-blown surgery circumstances to deal with rather than a follow-up. Everything less than "terribly wrong" is addressed with therapy, posture, lifestyle, etc. Does that make sense?
This has all worked well for me, but there are other scenarios too.