[nasakido]

@phillyjoe

I completely agree. If you do not have confidence in your doctor then you will not have confidence in what implant device your doctor chooses.

I chose Dr. Zeegers because he reminds me of my doctor here in Cali. He has been very easy to work with, but I learned something about him that I have come to respect. He is very detail oriented, and precise. He expects people to be more aggressive with their care in that they are proactive not reactive to what needs to happen with what testing, etc. needs to take place. It is always a good thing to let a doctor advise, but the lead should be driven by the patient.

I did not wait for him to tell me what needs to be done. I knew I needed a new MRI so I pursued it until it was approved. After I was forced to resign because of the settlement I applied for Medi-Cal, and they are so much easier to get things approved than BlueCross ever was. Next, I read that most of the doctors overseas like to see a Bone Density (DEXA) scan done, so I pursued it at the same time too, along with an X-Ray (AP/LAT/EX/FLEX). The only thing I paid for was the Orthopedic Analysis Metal-LTT test. This test is not full-proof as what I have learned it really reveals is a "potential" risk to hypersensitivity, but it does not necessarily mean you will develop hypersensitivity to a given metal. Especially if your test comes back with Normal or Mild-Reactive results.

I started pursuing my surgery more aggressively once I learned Workers Comp was going to settle. Just to be done with them and move forward with my care I settled for just enough to cover going overseas, and then for physical therapy afterwards. Once I knew the settlement was going to happen, contacted Dr. Zeegers on June 19th. Since then I have contacted a total of seven other doctors, and have kept all of them up-to-date on my care. In the end, after careful prayer and thought, I decided to go with Dr. Zeegers. I wire transferred the money to Dr. Zeegers for the diagnosis fee on July 20th, and then scheduled my X-Ray, MRI, Bone Density Scan and purchased the Metal-LTT test, and had everything done and reports uploaded to Dr. Zeegers by August 18th.

If for some unforeseeable situation should occur and I cannot continue with Dr. Zeegers, I at least am ready to pursue one of my other choices in the order I prefer, i.e. Dr. Biren Desai, Dr. Clavel, Dr. Bierstedt, Dr. Bertagnoli, Dr. Riiter-Lang, Wooridul Spine Center. I also was in touch with Dr. Rischke, but he is too expensive for me, and Dr. Andreas Schmidtz (never heard back even after four emails)

I also agree that the implant comes second after your choice of doctor; and after you factor in potential metal hypersensitivity. I don't think my test results really say that much in regards to metal hypersensitivity. I pose as a risk, but there is not enough evidence to support whether mild-reactive results really are a risk at all.

However, I still researched the snot out of all the current implants, and I would feel comfortable having the Activ-L, Baguera-L, Freedom or LP-ESP... still have my reservations about the M6-L being a viable option for the lower lumbar at the L5-S1 or L4-L5 level.

This has taken a lot of hard work, and as I posted on my blog you have to run like you know the end is near, the final sprint to the finish line. You simply cannot be lax or slow down no matter what. This is my opinion though, and this is me. Everyone is different and deals with situations differently. Being hurt has turned me into a fierce fighter for my health.