Formal Introduction

[TPatti]

Thanks, funny thing is that last week I had a signature line that had a lot of my history and it is now gone. One of tomorrows projects

[TPatti]

I met with my primary car physician to discuss surgery in Europe and see if he would be on board-NO
He did say he would be willing if I had a local neurosurgeon to take lead role of follow-up, that has not gone so well, I have met with one from all major practices and am waiting for an appointment with the one I have not yet met with, they said it will be late February to get in for a consult.

I am wondering if I could use a doctor that one of you has had, pay the out-of-network insurance fees and use my local primary as a liaison as to not have to travel for every appointment. I need to redo my signature line, but Dr. Clavel is recommending a 3 level adr, if anyone thinks of a doctor I might approach please let me know.

Todd

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by TPatti

I met with my primary car physician to discuss surgery in Europe and see if he would be on board-NO
He did say he would be willing if I had a local neurosurgeon to take lead role of follow-up, that has not gone so well, I have met with one from all major practices and am waiting for an appointment with the one I have not yet met with, they said it will be late February to get in for a consult.

I am wondering if I could use a doctor that one of you has had, pay the out-of-network insurance fees and use my local primary as a liaison as to not have to travel for every appointment. I need to redo my signature line, but Dr. Clavel is recommending a 3 level adr, if anyone thinks of a doctor I might approach please let me know.

Todd

Todd that is terrible news.

What did he say? - I just am not going to follow you as a patient if you do this? He won't prescribe pain meds etc.?

[jss]

Todd,

It took me weeks to find an ADR surgeon (he's a neurosurgeon) to do my follow up. Here's a link to his healthgrades page. When I found him he'd just moved to the DFW area and I was his very first patient; so he was hungry for business. I hope he'll still such follow ups.

Good luck, Jeff

[TPatti]

Originally Posted by JeffR

Todd that is terrible news.

What did he say? - I just am not going to follow you as a patient if you do this? He won't prescribe pain meds etc.?

He said that because of liability if he was to order med.'s and/or films he is taking on a level of responsibility for a non fda appoved surgery and one that he himself is not qualified to follow up on. He said he would be part of it if a local neurosurgeon(I guess "qualified" in his eyes) took the lead because a neurosurgeon would know what he was looking at. He said good luck, I don't think you find anyone locally to do this, but let me know.

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by TPatti

He said that because of liability if he was to order med.'s and/or films he is taking on a level of responsibility for a non fda appoved surgery and one that he himself is not qualified to follow up on. He said he would be part of it if a local neurosurgeon(I guess "qualified" in his eyes) took the lead because a neurosurgeon would know what he was looking at. He said good luck, I don't think you find anyone locally to do this, but let me know.

Well at the very least you should get him to get you the X-Ray films needed for a consult with ADR specialists, e.g. Texas Back Institute. Then you can get these sent on to Clavel etc.

Sorry this is such as mess for follow-up for you. Have you combed the forums for Buffalo patients? There may be someone on here who has a committed doctor...

[JeffR]

Todd,

What about Dr. Lauryssen in California? About Carl Lauryssen, M.D. � nataliebricker

He is going to be one of the Doctors who will do the M6 trial and he is going to start implanting devices in Dubai later this year. Maybe you could get him to take you on and then get his support to Follow you after surgery with Clavel, I know of at least one other person on the board who had him as a doctor and he followed up with them post surgery with Clavel...

Also here is the link to the M6-cervical trial:

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01609374

The contact info may lead you a Dr. closer to you...

[TPatti]

Thanks Jeff

[Lillyth]

Originally Posted by TPatti

Thanks Lillyth!
How did you go about finding a local doc to be your support after surgery for pain meds, pt, follow up images, and any bumps in the road that might come up? I am feeling confident that I will end up overseas, do not have money in my back pocket but will be able to leverage assets to pull it off, but I feel like my biggest hurdle is going to be having a doc here that is an advocate for me.

Where are you located geographically?

My doc SUGGESTED I go to Europe in the first place. He took one look at my spine and said I couldn't get the procedure I needed here in the states. So he is willing to follow me here in the states. He is one of the few docs doing two level ADR, but that is only with worker's comp. They will pay for it, insurance will not.

He does want me to see a pain management specialist because I have severe allergies to medications, so I am working on that right now.

You just had lunch with Jeff, so I assume you live close? Can you go to his doc?

[JeffR]

Originally Posted by Lillyth

You just had lunch with Jeff, so I assume you live close? Can you go to his doc?

Unfortunately we live close but in different countries . I'm in Canada and he's in the U.S.