Fast sugery date with Dr Bertagnoli

[steve55]

I think Mark was as amazed as I was at how fast Dr B's people came back with a surgery date. Mark (MMglobal) submitted my films on Thursday 2/12 and my prognosis/surgical recommendation came back on Sunday 2/15. Surgery date assigned on 2/16. Surgery is 2/26.

The great part about all this is that I have beaten the deadline at which my Aetna coverage ends (Feb 28) and my Humana picks up (March1st). I think I have a fairly good chance at winning a 2 level ADR appeal with Aetna. Aetna seems to be the most ADR friendly carrier out there. Many others folks have won 2 level appeals also. Plus, the other great news about such a fast date is that Ive only gotten worse lately. I took 70mg ultracet along with 1 hydrcordone and I still was not able to fall asleep till 7AM saturday morning due to pain. Much of the time, I cant find a comfortable position to sleep . I used to be able to sleep on my sides. Nothing works now. And I cant stand this popping and grinding and grating noice I have all the time! Its so unnatural and unerving, not to mention some below the waste symptoms/irritations that plague me that Im 100% certain are directly associated with my neck pain. I cant have this surgery too soon. Im so miserable at this point Im not even worried about the surgical risks. Im completely stoked that Im getting this in on such short notice. Man its such great news. I was shocked! AT least I can say that this process is starting out on a VERY good foot, hopefully thats a good sign of things to come.

I feel confident Im a straight forward case and that this surgery will work for me.I know Ive got one of the top 2 multi level ADR surgeons in the world, if not the top one. Cant better the odds any better than that.

For anyone who cares to know, I was quoted $26,205 Euros (at today's 1.29 exchange rate, thats $34,000 USD)

[Cheryl]

Steve,

Best of luck to you. Thanks for sharing - your thoughts hit home. You have made the best decision with the information you have and for what its worth I think you've made the right decision. It will be hard to have regrets when you go to the best.

I'll be looking for your posts.

Cheryl

[Cindylou]

Good for you Steve! As someone else said, you know you are in probably one of the top, if not the top, surgeon's hands for multi-levels. That's piece of mind. I hope you have excellent results!

Cindylou

[dshobbies]

Steve,

Yes, things work fast when dealing with Mark. I wish you every luck with your upcoming surgery and know you are in the best hands. His staff is also very caring and very human. I feared 'Germany' but all fears were unfounded.

I flew in and out in business class. If this is beyond your means you might want to try 3 seats in a row. This is Maria's trick for comfort. But you'd better hurry, surgery is just around the corner

Dale

[Maria]

Steve,
Glad to hear you're on the list for surgery ASAP! No time to change your mind

Re the 3 coach plane seats, I'm a short (5'2")/slender female so a taller bigger guy might feel cramped. Some of the seats are uncomfortable this way for any duration so if you would choose to purchase a row or even 5 seats if that's more feasible than biz class then I'd suggest bringing some kind of mat you can lie across the seats for extra cushioning as I only fly nonstop from LAX to Tampa and it's usually a bit short of 5 hours straight (I buy 3 seats/row).

Perhaps you can sit longer than me which is less than an hour or a tortured hour plus in a plane but if not, do what you have to do.. it's well worth the comfort and for me the ability to be mobile once I get somewhere vs. precipitating a huge horrible spinal episode en route to my destination.

Or maybe you will just be "good to go" so to speak re surgery! Ok, wishing you the very best with your surgical outcome and recovery and glad it's so soon and you're that ready

[treefrog]

Great news Steve. That is really quick. I hope you are able to make all the arrangements in time, though I'm sure with Mark's help, it will all come together.

I think you have made the best decision you can make with the available information.

I look forward to hearing future reports.

[SASSY178]

Good luck to you!!! let us know how you make out. It's great to have a doctor that you believe in and that specializes in the technique. I see Dr. Yue at Yale who has worked with Dr. B in Germany. They are among the best in the ADR field.

[fortitudine]

Good luck Steve! It sounds like you are at the end of your rope. I hope this is the answer for you. We'll look forward to a happy post in a couple of weeks!

[steve55]

Thanks everyone.

Fortunatley, my mom had 300,000 miles on her AA miles account. It cost her 125,000 miles for the following routing:

I have business seats on AA on a 737 for the DFW /Toronto routes and First class on British Airways on a 777 between Toronto and London, and Business class on a British Airways A320 between London and Munich.

I think the 1st class goes all the way flat, and business probably half way between up and flat, like 90 degrees recline Im guessing?

[Justin]

I flew home at 2 weeks from Munich, Germany --> Atlanta --> New Mexico in coach and I was fine.

First Class should be relaxing. The key, no matter where you are sitting on the plane, is to make sure you get up every so often to help avoid a deep vein thrombosis.

Good luck and keep us posted. Drs. Bertagnoli and Fenk-Mayer are incredible surgeons.

[fuzzy]

I am pretty sure that business class should be fine but if you can get first class then go for it.

The less stop overs the better. If you can get non stop then go for that!

I stayed in Germany for 5 weeks after the surgery and I have to say I am glad I did. I would have been fine at 2 weeks but I really was still hurtin really good and didn't like the idea of changing planes in frankfurt (omg) but a 4 weeks I was pretty fit.


I wish you the best and I agree that is what I really like about the German teams. They can get you in quicker then over here in US. It all seems a little less cluttered.

I am pretty sure now I will be seeing them again as well, my neck is next.

[trkdoc714]

It depends on the aircraft. Most of the long business class flights I've taken had full reclining seats.

I took BA to Manchester from Chicago in coach once. It was comfortable enough but I still felt the need to get up and walk once in a while. Those are long flights!