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International Assistance Any topics relating to traveling or communicating with international treatment locations are here. |
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#1
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Seems like people are coming out of the woodwork
Is it just me or did others here that made the committment to go to Europe to have ADR; all these friends, co-workers start comin up and asking: 1. Have you looked into Laser surgery? 2. Have you been to the Mayo Clinic? I know they all mean well; but do they think that we have all done our research?! I didn't wake up and decide this overnight. They don't understand what we know, what we feel, the options that prior fusion pateints have here...It's really baffeling how all of the sudden people think they know more than you or think you're being rash!
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54 yr old female 5'7" 147 lbs. non-smoker conservative treatments failed 2007 fusion @ C4-6 peek cages, failed due to long term use of cox-2 inhibitor 2008 revised C4-6 donor bone, plate & screws 2009 fusion with Roi-C @ C3-4 2015 MRI & CT mjr ddd @ C6-7, segmental kyphosis at C7-T1, 2-level M6-C prosthesis by Dr. Clavel Barcelona Spain 2019 H.O. formed behind M6-C @ C6-7 left nerve rt & in spinal canal. 2020 Revision C6-7 to a CP-ESP prosthesis by Dr. Schmitz Dusseldorf Germany Last edited by Cheryl0331; 04-14-2015 at 06:30 PM. Reason: typo |
#2
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What kills me is this American attitude (by both non-ADR surgeons and people alike), "Just give it time, it might get better" or "Why do you want to get cut open?" In my case, I am not in excruciating pain at the moment. However, I had that pain at C3/C4 and C4/C5 prior to their respective fusions. Now I have a herniation a C5/C6 which is getting worse. Sorry, been there done that. I don't believe in doing nothing. I found it interesting that the radiologist report of my MRI indicated that C5/C6 was impinging on the spinal cord. Yet a spine surgeon who I saw recently who didn't perform ADR suggested that this wasn't the case (not pressing against spinal cord). I don't know if this surgeon is blind, but I'll go with the radiologist's report. That's their specialty. My late father happened to be one (a radiologist). All that matters is that my family is on board as is Dr. Blumenthal.
Gene
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Car Accident 2002 - Small Herniated Disc C3/C4 1998 Larger Herniation and Cervical Fusion C3/C4 2005 Herniation C4/C5 - 40 epidural steroid injections from Oct 2005, - Oct, 2007 2008 - Foraminotomy at C6/C7 on left side Feb, 2010 - Cervical Fusion C4/C5 Dec, 2010 - Lumbar Fusion L3/L5 2013 - Bulge on C5/C6; herniation C6/C7 right side Mar 26, 2013 - Foraminotomy at C6/C7 on right side May 5, 2015 - ADR with Dr Blumenthal of TBI for C5/C6 using Mobi-C |
#3
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It always amazed me how many people thought they were Surgeons as soon as I hurt my back. Also at that point it seemed like almost every person knew of a person that was worse after a back surgery. I finally learned to just shrug my shoulders and move on.
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L5-S1 Herniated Disc nerve compressed 6 months of PT 2 Right SI joint injections 3 L5-S1 injections 6 facets injections |
#4
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Thankfully I never had to go through that. I did much of my research in private. The only ones that knew about our plans was myself, my wife and our banker (had to remortgage our house). It wasn't a week that I notified my family that I was scheduled before surgery. It was less than a week that my work knew about it. I recall the team meeting at work, "and by this time next week I will have had my surgery". And then my mom phoned me and had to see me. She never does that. So days before we were to leave to Germany she told me she had cancer.
Last edited by Stonewall_Boris; 04-14-2015 at 11:49 PM. Reason: Clarification |
#5
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Agree...
Everyone likes to shoot from the hip with what they've heard. This isn't the kind of decision you can make in five minutes (preaching to the choir, aren't I?), yet people think their "five minute best guess" is what you need to hear.
A lot of it is "availability bias" - everyone weighs the "available" stories over the "actual" stories; Problem is, the bad/rare/unusual stories are the most available ones. (Highly Recommend: Your Medical Mind, by Jerome Groopman) Most planes land safely - but which ones do you hear about on the news?
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32 Years Old C5-C6: Disc bulge, bone spurs, mild cord compression; Arm/Shoulder Pain, both sides. L5-S1: Mild disc bulge, managed with physical therapy |
#6
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Quote:
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#7
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and here you go
Yes, you see; I was required by my employer to give a 30 day notice if I was going to be out for medical that was non-emergency.
I figured it would start to get around so people may as well hear the facts from me. So I put all of my research in my email and still people don’t get it! I talked about the ALDDD and why the M6-C is a better fit for me; how it’s made here be not available to US ;o) It’s like talking to a wall…
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54 yr old female 5'7" 147 lbs. non-smoker conservative treatments failed 2007 fusion @ C4-6 peek cages, failed due to long term use of cox-2 inhibitor 2008 revised C4-6 donor bone, plate & screws 2009 fusion with Roi-C @ C3-4 2015 MRI & CT mjr ddd @ C6-7, segmental kyphosis at C7-T1, 2-level M6-C prosthesis by Dr. Clavel Barcelona Spain 2019 H.O. formed behind M6-C @ C6-7 left nerve rt & in spinal canal. 2020 Revision C6-7 to a CP-ESP prosthesis by Dr. Schmitz Dusseldorf Germany |
#8
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Planes aren't so scary...
Availability bias is the natural tendency we all have to overweigh examples that we can easily recall when a topic is introduced. Because our memories more easily recall events which are dramatic and/or familiar, we overestimate the importance of such examples. In actuality, these types of examples might be very rare (part of the reason why they are so memorable) Getting in a car is much more dangerous (statistically) than getting in a plane, yet most people feel the opposite way. The media, in turn, contributes to this by over-reporting (for months on end) the most dramatic examples. Not to get too far off topic, but... Driver-assistance and awareness technologies, and self-driving vehicles would probably save more lives (and injuries) than just about any other large-scale investment we could make. See: Driverless Cars on the Rise - CEA Excerpt: Quote:
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32 Years Old C5-C6: Disc bulge, bone spurs, mild cord compression; Arm/Shoulder Pain, both sides. L5-S1: Mild disc bulge, managed with physical therapy |
#9
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Interesting,
JAMA Network | JAMA | Effect of Availability Bias and Reflective Reasoning on Diagnostic Accuracy Among Internal Medicine Residents But I still fail to see how it is relavant. |
#10
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what I think you're trying to say here is...
Quote:
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54 yr old female 5'7" 147 lbs. non-smoker conservative treatments failed 2007 fusion @ C4-6 peek cages, failed due to long term use of cox-2 inhibitor 2008 revised C4-6 donor bone, plate & screws 2009 fusion with Roi-C @ C3-4 2015 MRI & CT mjr ddd @ C6-7, segmental kyphosis at C7-T1, 2-level M6-C prosthesis by Dr. Clavel Barcelona Spain 2019 H.O. formed behind M6-C @ C6-7 left nerve rt & in spinal canal. 2020 Revision C6-7 to a CP-ESP prosthesis by Dr. Schmitz Dusseldorf Germany |
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