Hi ANSNJ,
As NJ Gene points out I went to see Dr. Bierstedt in Hattegen. I went for lumbar spine ADR's, 3 levels. Maybe not the same for cervical spine ADR's. I did see patients on the same floor with the cut on the side of their neck and they seemed to be doing well. Ran into another patient at Medicos that had had the cervical ADR 7 years ago at the time we met him.
A few things that made my decision;
- Dr Bierstedt is world class amongst ADR surgeons
- He will only do 2, 3 if its a emergency, surgeries a day
- He uses a fluoroscope to make sure the implants are in the correct position
- The hospital in Hattegen is "full service" which means if you have a complication not related to your surgery the hospital has other doctors that will deal with it. ie heart conditions, whereas some other facilities will
take you to another hospital for treatment.
- They use a device that captures your blood from the surgery and "recycles" it so you don't need a transfusion from someone else
- The price they quoted was the complete price, even if I had to stay in the hospital longer, they arranged insurance to cover for some of this as I recall up to 250,000 Euro
What I discovered post op;
- Dr Bierstedt is a very personable man
- Maltle Peterson takes care of the details of your trip and hospital stay
- The doctors, nurses and all staff at the Hattegen hospital are first class, they know what you are going to go through and are prepared for it as they have done it so often
- Free wifi at the hospital and Avantgarde hotel
- The Courtyard Marriott and Medicos was kind of a work in progress when we went there as the info was not on the website
- The Courtyard Marriott is a very fine hotel, my wife enjoyed the exercise room at the top of the hotel, I liked the steam and sauna rooms. Wifi was limited to 30 minutes on the main floor area
- The Marriot has an awesome breakfast buffet as does the Avantgarde (first hotel)
- Medicos care and PT was very good. They came up with a program of daily routines that you are to follow. If you don't show up for a PT session they will follow up to see if you're okay.
- Medicos PT was pretty much all day but not overly tiresome, much of it being like massage therapy
- Lunch at Medicos was good
- The 3rd floor lounge at Medicos is awesome, free wifi, nice snacks, juice and Cappuccino, great view
- Everyone in Germany was nice
- With Dr. Bierstedt they knew where we should always be. They had set-up transportation from the airport, to the hotel,
to ONZ, to the hospital etc etc etc and if something got missed they were on top of it. We forgot a bag at Avantgarde and the desk clerk noticed and phoned the cab driver and we had to return to pick it up. Through a scheduling mixup at Medicos my wife got a phone call to the hotel room as to where I was
- At Medicos I had my dressing changed daily and my progress monitored
- At Medicos I had my blood pressure and blood work checked routinely.
- Breakfast was included at Avantgarde, my wife got lunch and dinner with me at the Hattegen hospital
- Breakfast, lunch and supper was included at Marriott/Medicos
- Medicos and the Marriott are a bit out of the way, we rented a cab to get us to a supermarket to pick up a few things, ask the PT's
- Member TPatti is there right now and may have more updated info
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