[NJ Gene]

Mike,

One of the downsides of going overseas is the inability to do background investigations of such facilities. For whatever it's worth, most doctors in the U.S. think that people who go abroad for ADR are crazy. However, many of those that have done so are living pain-free lives when U.S. doctors told them that not much can be done here. Many of these patients were told that they have to accept living with the pain, accept living a sedentary life, and in some cases, expect to spend the rest of their lives in a wheelchair. One individual to contact on this site is Lillyth. She recently had six levels of ADR done by Dr. Clavel!!

In your case there is one thing you might consider, especially since you are located in Texas. One of the best known ADR surgeons in the U.S. is Dr. Jack Zigler of the Texas Back Institute in Plano. Furthermore, my understanding is that they assist you in getting your insurance to cover the procedure. The FDA recently gave the go ahead for doing two levels of ADR. Therefore, it's possible that you might be able to get it done at TBI with your insurance covering it. The only downside is that they cannot use the M6 disc (not FDA approved, but known to most closely mimic the real thing. It's produced in Sunnyvale, CA but due to politics does not have FDA approval. It's been used overseas for over a decade with excellent results).

I hope this helps.

Good luck!!
Gene