my painful story

[MikeC]

Dear All;

This is my first posting on the forum that I fortunately discovered by accident.

I had a 2 level laminotomy in April 2011 and life has been miserable ever since. That was after consulting 3 surgeons who each had a different recomendation "do nothing" to "fusion", so I took the middle road, and have been suffering ever since.

I have seen my surgeon many times for follow up but all I hear is that my MRI is normal. That is a bad joke as I am in constant pain with numbness in both feet as the day goes on.

A friend of mine had mentioned disk replacement surgery in Germany to me at the time and I thought that was a crazy idea. Well two years later I no longer think that it is crazy, just scary.

My friend's son was operated on by Dr Ritter-Lang in 2008 and had good results, although he did mention that it was like a production line. Since I have been reading on the Internet I have come to realize that Ritter-Lang is
controversial.

I have been in touch with the office of Dr Thomas Bierstedt and his contact in
Germany; Malte Petersen. I see that Malte had been associated with Stenum and Dr Ritter-Lang but I have no information on Malte of on Dr Bierstedt, other than that they claim that he is one of the worlds greatest surgeons. They are recommending a 2 level ADR at S1/L5 and L4.

I had a phone call from Dr Bertagnoli's US agent, Tim Mcvair, who was rather
abrupt and had to hang up for another call. He has not returned my e-mail since our telephone conversation. Needless to say, I did not get a "warm and fuzzy" feeling although I cannot rule out this option.

The pain and numbness gets worse, it seems, by the day. I have a phone called scheduled with my physiatrist as HSS later today as I had asked her about ADR and I hope that she will give me some good advice. She has given my about 3 injections but they do not help. I have also tried Gabapentin and Lyrica which don't help either.

My questions are: does anyone have some feedback on Dr Bierstedt as there are very few comments on the forum? I would welcome any other suggestions that you might have.

Thanks for reading.

Mike

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by MikeC

I would welcome any other suggestions that you might have.

Mike welcome happy/sorry to have you here.

If you are looking at Ritter-Lang and are considering the M6 I would suggest you look at Dr. Pablo Clavel in Barcelona. Scour the message boards for some recent posts of mine for his contact info. A LOT of the patients here have had or are scheduled to have surgery with him and I think you would find a consultation with him beneficial.

-Jeff

[TPatti]

Hi Mike,
Sorry to hear that you have had to join this group but welcome aboard. I am very new so most have a lot more info than I do. Dr. Clavel seems to be consistently highly regarded. I have had great success communicating with his office so far, I have not yet had a personnel consult with him. I would like to, but I need to figure out how to handle my care back in Buffalo, NY after surgery. I can not find any doctors willing to be part of the aftercare that is needed.

[Claudia K.]

Originally Posted by MikeC

Dear All;

This is my first posting on the forum that I fortunately discovered by accident.

I had a 2 level laminotomy in April 2011 and life has been miserable ever since. That was after consulting 3 surgeons who each had a different recomendation "do nothing" to "fusion", so I took the middle road, and have been suffering ever since.

I have seen my surgeon many times for follow up but all I hear is that my MRI is normal. That is a bad joke as I am in constant pain with numbness in both feet as the day goes on.

A friend of mine had mentioned disk replacement surgery in Germany to me at the time and I thought that was a crazy idea. Well two years later I no longer think that it is crazy, just scary.

My friend's son was operated on by Dr Ritter-Lang in 2008 and had good results, although he did mention that it was like a production line. Since I have been reading on the Internet I have come to realize that Ritter-Lang is
controversial.

I have been in touch with the office of Dr Thomas Bierstedt and his contact in
Germany; Malte Petersen. I see that Malte had been associated with Stenum and Dr Ritter-Lang but I have no information on Malte of on Dr Bierstedt, other than that they claim that he is one of the worlds greatest surgeons. They are recommending a 2 level ADR at S1/L5 and L4.

I had a phone call from Dr Bertagnoli's US agent, Tim Mcvair, who was rather
abrupt and had to hang up for another call. He has not returned my e-mail since our telephone conversation. Needless to say, I did not get a "warm and fuzzy" feeling although I cannot rule out this option.

The pain and numbness gets worse, it seems, by the day. I have a phone called scheduled with my physiatrist as HSS later today as I had asked her about ADR and I hope that she will give me some good advice. She has given my about 3 injections but they do not help. I have also tried Gabapentin and Lyrica which don't help either.

My questions are: does anyone have some feedback on Dr Bierstedt as there are very few comments on the forum? I would welcome any other suggestions that you might have.

Thanks for reading.

Mike

Hi Mike,
Sorry you are in so much pain . Just wanted to tell you my experience with Dr. Bierstedt. He operated on my back last November, I have an ADR at L5/S1 and I recovered without any complications and must say that this was my best decision in a long time.
Dr. Bierstedt is very personable and never rushed me, he took his time to answer all my questions and made me feel at ease. The surgery went as planned. Dr. Bierstedt has only 2-3 surgeries on one day, not an asembly line!
I hope that you will feel better soon with whatever decision you make!!
It was worth it for me, almost brings me to tears because I can do things now without major backpain like playing with my kids or just do normal household chores.
Hope I could give you some feedback,
Claudia

[MikeC]

Wow, thank you for all the great input. I have seen the name of Dr Clavel I the forums and he had good reviews. This is a very scary venture here but living with the pain is not really an option either. My physiatrist from HSS called my today to tell me that ADR was not an good option for me, but that I needed to calm my sciatic nerve. Ok, we'll I have been seeing this doctor for 2 years and my sciatic nerve is not calmed at all.

I wish they would have just told me, "yes, great idea". Well life is not so clear cut . I am getting another opinion on Monday. In the meantime ..ouch!!

Yes, sorry to be here but glad that this forum exists.

Any additional input is always appreciated. Too much suffering for us. Were our backs only designed to last 45 years but now our life expectancy in 75-85 years old?

Looking forward to the dialogue.

Mike

[JEVE19]

Mike,

Can you get a copy of your x-rays and MRI?
If so, you can send this off to the overseas docs and get their opinion.
Some charge a fee for this, but it might be the best money you've spent to get
an opinion from a doctor not governed by the FDA rules.
As far as I'm concerned, it's the best money I ever spent!

[Lillyth]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Mike welcome happy/sorry to have you here.

If you are looking at Ritter-Lang and are considering the M6 I would suggest you look at Dr. Pablo Clavel in Barcelona. Scour the message boards for some recent posts of mine for his contact info. A LOT of the patients here have had or are scheduled to have surgery with him and I think you would find a consultation with him beneficial.

-Jeff

I was just going to say the same thing! I have never felt more comfortable with a doctor, and I think most doctors are idiots. (I've had a run of bad experiences until recently, including nearly being killed by one). I am looking at possibly six levels and feel completely comfortable with Dr. Clavel. When I opened up our consultation my first question was if there was a time limit for the consultation, and if there was I was prepared to pay for as much time as I needed. He seemed entirely perplexed and said "Time limit? There's no time limit."

No amount of money can buy THAT kind of care. Only a decent person who genuinely cares about his patients can provide that.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by Lillyth

When I opened up our consultation my first question was if there was a time limit for the consultation, and if there was I was prepared to pay for as much time as I needed. He seemed entirely perplexed and said "Time limit? There's no time limit."

No amount of money can buy THAT kind of care. Only a decent person who genuinely cares about his patients can provide that.

I had the EXACT same experience in my consult - I asked him how much time we had and he said - "as much as you need". :P

Seriously get him to review your images (for free) and then get a consult with him (for a reasonable fee).

-Jeff

[MikeC]

Originally Posted by Vicki_in_Florida

Mike,

Can you get a copy of your x-rays and MRI?
If so, you can send this off to the overseas docs and get their opinion.
Some charge a fee for this, but it might be the best money you've spent to get
an opinion from a doctor not governed by the FDA rules.
As far as I'm concerned, it's the best money I ever spent!

Hi Vicki; Thanks for your note. Yes, I have send my MRI and recnet X ray to Dr bierstedt, and I got an answer almost immediately. He recomments a 2 level ADR. My feet are both numb today. I am ready in my head to get on a flight to Germany, but some friends tell me that I am crazy. If they felt what I feel thay would already be in Germany! Mike

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by MikeC

Hi Vicki; Thanks for your note. Yes, I have send my MRI and recnet X ray to Dr bierstedt, and I got an answer almost immediately. He recomments a 2 level ADR. My feet are both numb today. I am ready in my head to get on a flight to Germany, but some friends tell me that I am crazy. If they felt what I feel thay would already be in Germany! Mike

Mike, in general i would recommend you try to get opinions from at least a few doctors to make sure there is a reasonable consensus of opinion as well as to feel out more options.