My 3 mo X ray - Discs tilted all over the place

steve55 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 09:52 PM

Dr Biton called me back already, as I had emailed him with my I phone picture of my x rays around noon. He's a super nice guy as katie said. He said he would work with me on the price so that it works out close to what Id end up paying by going back with Dr B. He said that he felt confident that he could probably waive my 30% in my plan. It seems to me some of these docs are happy even with only the Insurance co's 70% payment. He said he would not hold me to overages or anything the insurance co wouldnt pay for.

He did say that the top disc looks like it has issues too, and didnt think its only because of the bottom disc's effect on it. But he also said that I may not need to do anything about the top one as it's not that bad and as long as its not causing pain, I might be best to just leave the top one alone. Of course its all preliminary and he surely needs the originals and more work up before being conclusive with anything. He did put my mind at ease and said he didnt think anything serious could happen in the meantime, and said he felt the revision was a easy fix due to it being cervical and for me not to stress out about it. So, thats REALLY reassuring.

dshobbies · #2 (**permalink**) 05-21-2009, 11:52 PM

Steve,

Can't comment on Dr. P but I think you have 3 good choices with the 2 Dr. Bs and Dr. R. I think I would trust any of them and since the cost is not too much of a factor anymore, you can stay in the US if you prefer. Though the airfare would be less, the hotels in New York and Los Angeles are a lot more expensive than those in Bogan/Straubing but I guarantee, the TV is better.

If you come to LA, I'll be happy to take you to lunch

.

Dale

Cheryl · #3 (**permalink**) 05-22-2009, 12:02 PM

Steve,

I am amazed at how well you are dealing with this. Great job moving forward. I know the calls alone can be ovewhelming.

Best of luck.

Cheryl

Katie · #4 (**permalink**) 05-22-2009, 09:11 PM

I am so, so happy that you were able to touch base with Dr. Bitan so quickly. He did come through like I thought he might

What a relief, with the reassurances he has given you. It must feel like a ton of weight off your shoulders. Take a deep breath, enjoy the weekend, and know you are in good hands, no matter who you decide to go with. Congratulations on sorting this out so quickly.

steve55 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 05:43 AM

This morning, I again was awaken early in the morning by unbelievable excrutiating pain in my left shoulder. It's completely bebilitating throbbing pain. It's very severe and something completely different than any pre op pain I ever felt. Ultracet only helps if I double or triple up on it. Dr Peloza's pain mgt doc called in some hydrocordone for me. I came home from work after a fairly descent work day , popped a hydrocordone , and went out to eat with my mom. Everything is fine when suddenly it hits again. It was so horrible and debilitating that I couldn't even stay at the restraunt to eat our food. It must be related to one of the tilted discs, its not even close to the recouperation pain ive had post op.I just hope I don't worsen between now and next Friday as I await to see dr Peloza.Im only waiting on dr Peloza cause I'd prefer to just get this next one done locally if the price is affordable.

I must admit, I was very impressed with dr bitan. I sense he's got the tools to handle my type of surgury and he seems more than willing to make it affordable.

mmglobal · #6 (**permalink**) 05-23-2009, 09:19 AM

Bitan does bring something special to the table. He spent many years specializing in scoliosis surgery (he was president of the pediatric scoliosis society.) This experience gives him a great deal of reconstruction experience. A such a heavy hitter in spine, he gets the difficult cases. I've watched him in the OR and he's pretty amazing with his efficiency and accuracy. The procedures I watched him do were very 'difficult to get right' procedures and he made it look easy to get perfect sizing and placement. I believe that the approach for cervical revisions is much easier and less risky than lumbar because of the small muscles they have to go through and no great vessels in the way. I've watched explantation of cervical hardware and it really seemed to be very straightforward compared to the lumbar revision surgeries I've seen. I think that all of the options you've discussed are very reasonable. I am very hopeful for a good recovery for you.

I have a slight tilt in my upper disc but it's not related to subsidence. It turns out that I was tilted before surgery and believe it's because of my posture and anatomy. When I get home, I will start working on trying to correct it with PT. Let's hope we'll not be brothers in tilt for too much longer. (I've got more time now... you can call my US or German cell, just be mindful of the time difference - pacific time + 9 hours.)

Mark

steve55 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-28-2009, 05:48 AM

Well, dr bitan's people said that my humana insurance will not cover ADR removal (which they normally charge the insurers $25,000 for) but will cover the fusion. They said that humana reinburses at Medicare rates. So, they will get reimbursed about $4,000 for the fusion. Therefore, the best they could do was $15,000. Now, what I'm wondering is how is it that dr b's people are quoting me more for this revision surgury than a us doctor who doesn't really have any responsibility for my situation in the first place? If german prices are 1/2 as much as us prices, you'd think that dr b's people should be quoting around $8k for the revision instead of $18k. I don't get it.

I don't blame dr b for my disc failure, and in fact, he did a great job freeing up my nerves as all my pre op symptoms are gone, but I am a bit dissapointed to find that a us doctor (of great reputation by the way) is able to do this revision for less than dr b's team and the us doc bears no responsibility in this in the first place. It seems not right.

I guess this is one example of a situation where a place like stenum would have really come in handy with their free revision policy. After the quote from the us doc, I really find it hard to believe I'm getting any kind of discount on the revision with dr b's group. I don't know, am I missing something?

Anyways, I'll get a quote from my local doc, dr Peloza , this Friday. I have a feeling they won't be so flexible on price as dr bitan's group. We'll see. So far, I am again very impressed with dr bitan's team. They are very responsive and easy to work with. Dr bitan seemed very motivated and interested to help me, and very straight forward too. Mark is supposed to be checking with dr regan for me, but I have a feeling bitan's quote will be hard to beat. I'll need to make a decision by Monday. My left side of my back, neck, and shoulder are in constant pain (level 3-4). The right side is perfectly fine, so I'm confident removing the disc will resolve this. I just hope fusion doesn't create it's own set of symptoms.