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  #1  
Old 07-01-2010, 04:23 PM
mattbrand mattbrand is offline
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Default Dr. Bertagnoli, Pro Spine and C.C. Curasan Consulting

Does anyone have any experience with paying this C.C. Curasan Consulting company with the Hellenic Bank in Cyprus for Pro Sine and Dr. Bertagnoli's services? Doing research it appears Dr. Bertagnoli is a very good surgeon and Pro Spine a good health care provider. Any one have any information pro or con to this view? However, I am very concerned about sending my payment up front to this C.C. Curasan Consulting company. Are they legitimate, is my money safe and if I cancel surgery for some reason will I have any problems getting my money back? And how about filling a claim with my insurance company? Any problems with the fact I paid this company and not Pro Spine and Dr. Bertagnoli directly? Thanks for any personal experience inputs, or guidance any one can provide.
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Old 07-01-2010, 08:21 PM
annapurna annapurna is offline
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We've had to go through Curasan three times now for two ADRs and ACDT. The've been okay but Bertagnoli's office staff is a little unresponsive. Things worked out each time but there was some short tempers on our part due to lack of communication from Pro-spine.

I don't know if you're proposing to handle the bank transfer yourself or use Pro-spine's agent. We've always done it ourselves and found a good bank with a low fee for the transfers and reasonable exchange rates. If you do decide to handle yourselves, triple check all of the information on the transfer forms so the money ends up in the right place. You're welcome to ask for advice but I'd really suggest that you find a really knowledgable bank professional wherever you end up. That way you're getting answers about your bank's way of doing business.
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Laura - L5S1 Charitee
C5/6 and 6/7 Prodisc C
Facet problems L4-S1
General joint hypermobility

Jim - C4/5, C5/6, L4/5 disk bulges and facet damage, L4/5 disk tears, currently using regenerative medicine to address

"There are many Annapurnas in the lives of men" Maurice Herzog
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Old 07-01-2010, 11:18 PM
mattbrand mattbrand is offline
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annapurna,

Thanks for the reply. Is Dr. Bertagnoli as good as some say he is? I have had 8 surgeons here in the US refuse to do ADR since they say I have so little disc space left. One here in the US said he would consider it but I would have to fly out to California to see him in person before he decides. (I’m in Chicago.)

Are you completely satisfied with the surgery and care you received? Any word or tips on the flight back? I am having lumbar ADR, at the L5-S1 level and is 7 days or so in the hospital and 7 days in the hotel enough to be fit to handle the rigors of a return flight? I will also be traveling by myself and have to lug a suitcase around. I plan on packing VERY light of course.

Matt
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Old 07-03-2010, 11:59 AM
annapurna annapurna is offline
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We're completely happy with Bertagnoli and Fenk-Mayer, his assistant and a heck of a surgeon in her own right. We're less happy with the office's speed in answering emails but it seems like there's some level of electronic mess causing problems there. We're fairly unhappy with their US agent Tim Vicknair but even he has tried to be helpful. No surgeon is perfect and no surgeon would promise success but Bertagnoli does good work and we continue to seek him out because of the good work he and Fenk-Mayer have done for us.

We've been doing the pack light and travel to Europe for surgery for a bunch of times, mostly knee work when you're returning on crutches and even more limited. If you like, PM me and we'll exchange phone numbers so we can give you a data dump of everything we've learned about travel, the flights, and Straubing/Bogen as well as give you an idea of what to expect with the surgery. A quick dump of thoughts is to consider buying cheap one-way clothing and entertainment (we buy used books) that can be carted over to Germany, used while you're there and discarded to lighten your load on the way back. Check carefully and you might be able to find dual voltage chargers or bring a computer with a dual voltage supply and find cables to charge all of your other items fom the laptop. There's a good grocery store in Bogen and in Straubing so, if you can figure out a way to comfortably move food to your hotel, you can eat cheaper and avoid having to sit in restaurants when your back isn't up to it. There's a really good hotel in Bogen that we like, but it's a little Spartan. It's the Pensioner Schreiber, though I may not have the spelling correct.

Flights back are rough unless you can get into first or business class. There's no two ways about that. If you can't afford the upgrade consider staying longer in Germany to get further along in your healing.
__________________
Laura - L5S1 Charitee
C5/6 and 6/7 Prodisc C
Facet problems L4-S1
General joint hypermobility

Jim - C4/5, C5/6, L4/5 disk bulges and facet damage, L4/5 disk tears, currently using regenerative medicine to address

"There are many Annapurnas in the lives of men" Maurice Herzog
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Old 07-04-2010, 10:58 AM
mattbrand mattbrand is offline
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annapurna,

Sounds great about the data dump. Not too sure what "PM me" means but my phone number is xxxxxxxxxx. My name is Matthew (or if you prefer just Matt is OK with me).

So, please pass off your phone number or e-mail to me and I'll call (or whatever is convenient for you) to get some more info.

Thanks again! Matthew

Last edited by Harrison; 07-04-2010 at 03:54 PM. Reason: Deleted phone and email
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Old 07-04-2010, 03:54 PM
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Harrison Harrison is offline
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Matt,

I caution people not to post phone numbers of emails on this site for several reasons: solicitations from spine brokers (salespeople), and ensuring that your email does not get picked up by spambots!

It happens all the time. I deleted your personal information; I encourage spine patients to send PMs (private messages) when they care to reach out to others. Just click on the members screen name then send a private message.

BTW: Annapurna is two different persons who share the same screen name -- great people!
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  #7  
Old 07-16-2010, 02:48 AM
haayers haayers is offline
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Matt - hello! My husband just got wheeled into surgery w/ Dr. Bertagnoli. He is being operated on as I type this. We had to go through CC Curasan for payment as well. Our bank charged an outrageous fee, so we sought out a transfer agent which did the transfer at considerably less fee. Try transfermate.com. We worked with Craig Feldman, he is based in Chicago. We had a little snafu with the payment being posted at CC Curasan, because the reference on the payment was generic, and didn't state my husband's name specifically. A few tense hours, but we figured it out, and all is well. We have heard nothing but great things about Bertagnoli, we met with him in his office 2 days ago to discuss the surgery, and now I sit here waiting for my husband to be out of surgery! We stayed at Hotel Theresientor the night before we checked into the hospital, and we will go there after we leave for about 7 days. In all, our trip will be 16 days, which Dr.B's office said would be fine.

Also, Dr. B's office works with a driver, Peter Hoch who will pick you up from the airport, and bring you to appointments, and drop you back off at the airport. He takes care of carting all the luggage, so no worries there. I have not posted much on this site in the past, but I sure have done a lot of reading out here, leading up to the surgery, now I am hoping to return the favor. Good luck!
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Old 07-16-2010, 01:06 PM
mattbrand mattbrand is offline
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haayers,

Good luck with the surgery! PLEASE let me know how it went. I am looking also for information about facet joint pain after ADR surgery--how often this happens and when. Some say it will happen eventually in almost all cases of ADR to some extent due to the excessive movement ADR causes. If not right away years down the road.

Any news you can give me on this that you have dug up in your research? I could find nothing and many surgeons I have seen have said I am especially prone to this since I have so little disc height left. Why not ask Dr. Bertagnoli while you are there? After all, he has done thousands of ADRs and should be able to give an assessment of the problem.

Thanks again!

Matt
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Old 07-17-2010, 05:36 AM
haayers haayers is offline
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Thanks I will ask, it is not a question we had thought about previously. We just saw Dr. Fenk-Meyer, she said surgery went perfectly, and 1 hour quicker than expected. Hubby is still pretty groggy, so I have not been able to get an assessment from him about what kind of pain he is or is not feeling. There are at least 2 other americans here at the hospital with us, in varying stages of post surgery. One I believe is being discharged today.
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  #10  
Old 07-17-2010, 03:02 PM
mattbrand mattbrand is offline
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Thanks again!

Any info you can get is greatly appreciated.

Hope your hubby continues to do great. Keep us informed on his status! And any other news you find fit to print...

Matt
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