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My 3 mo X ray - Discs tilted all over the place
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| iSpine Discuss My 3 mo X ray - Discs tilted all over the place in the Main forums forums; Steve, I am amazed at how well you are dealing with this. Great job moving forward. I know the calls ... |
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05-22-2009, 12:02 PM
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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
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44 Year Old, mom of 3 DDD - l4-s1- woke up Feb 2005 and couldn't walk Tried PT, Injections, Accupuncture, drugs, etc. 2 level Prodisc ADR L4-S1, Feb. 18, 2008 Dr. Bertagnoli - Straubing, Germany - SUCCESS - Now I struggle with Neck Pain likely c5-7 PT, injections, rhizotomy.......MRI and CT Myleo not consistent with pain symptoms, waiting that out, keeping my passport valid 
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05-22-2009, 09:11 PM
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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.
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DDD Herniated discs C4/5 & 5/6, L3/4, L4/5, L5/S1 Severe compression of spinal cord in two levels All conventional therapy exhausted, including spinal injections, PT, massage, etc. In appeal with Gov't Insurance for Out-of-country coverage for ADR hybrid surgery of above discs. Recently discovered that I am severely allergic to all common metals used in surgical hardware except for Titanium.
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05-23-2009, 05:43 AM
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Update
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.
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2/26/09 - c4-c7 3 level ADR Prodisc Nova with Dr Bertagnoli. 100% success. 9/22/09 -Dr B opened me up to find a staph infection was eating my vertebrae causing ADR subsidence. Had to remove all 3 ADR's and convert to 3 level fusion. Mostly pain free 2 weeks post op. 9/20/10 - I think I jinxed myself. As soon as I told dr b and dr Sullivan I was doing well (on 6/1/10) I tanked and have experienced the return of pain. My neuro says the new pain is at t4. Last edited by steve55; 05-23-2009 at 05:56 AM.
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05-23-2009, 09:19 AM
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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
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1997 MVA 2000 L4-5 Microdiscectomy/laminotomy 2001 L5-S1 Micro-d/lami 2002 L4-S1 Charite' ADR - SUCCESS! 2009 C3-C4, C5-C6-C7, T1-T2 ProDisc-C Nova Summer 2009, more bad thoracic discs! Life After Surgery Website President: Global Patient Network, Inc. Founder: www.iSpine.org
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05-28-2009, 05:48 AM
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1st quote
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.
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2/26/09 - c4-c7 3 level ADR Prodisc Nova with Dr Bertagnoli. 100% success. 9/22/09 -Dr B opened me up to find a staph infection was eating my vertebrae causing ADR subsidence. Had to remove all 3 ADR's and convert to 3 level fusion. Mostly pain free 2 weeks post op. 9/20/10 - I think I jinxed myself. As soon as I told dr b and dr Sullivan I was doing well (on 6/1/10) I tanked and have experienced the return of pain. My neuro says the new pain is at t4. Last edited by steve55; 05-28-2009 at 06:02 AM.
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05-28-2009, 06:24 AM
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Comparable Surgery?
just wondering... not defending... I understand your frustration.
I wonder if there is any difference between the type of revision and fusion between the two docs. I saw that Drs. Fenk-Mayer was referring to some specific cage for your revision. I do not know anything about the surgery you are looking at, I just wondered if that might explain the cost difference. We all know that Germany is usually less expensive. I spent 4 days in the hospital, as most people here talk about going home same day from cervical adr. Could that be part as well? Is it a comparable time in the hospital? Not that we all like to stay in the hospital any longer than we have to
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MVA 2005 - impinged and displaced cord at C5/C6 Prodisc C5/C6 2006 Germany - Dr. Bertagnoli C6/C7 no bulge, just tears and fissures. Multiple ministrokes 2009 prevents ADR surgery As of 10/2010 no relief on radicular C7 Trying to arrange C6/C7 prodisc FDA has not approved for 2nd Levels on cervical. Headed to Germany as soon as I am cleared for surgery.
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05-28-2009, 06:39 AM
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Reply
Good point, I dont know anything about different cages out there. Perhaps I should ask exactly what kind of cage they plan to use? Does it matter? Are some better than others? DO I need to ask specifics as to the name of the cage Dr B or Dr Bitan would plan on using? I know nothing about fusions and the different cages/hardware for them. Maybe MArk or someone can step in and educate us a little bit. Dr Fenk meyerer did not specify what type of cage , she just said " Removal of the ADR. Fusion of this semgnet by a zero-profile cage, which can be fixed with little titanium screws."
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2/26/09 - c4-c7 3 level ADR Prodisc Nova with Dr Bertagnoli. 100% success. 9/22/09 -Dr B opened me up to find a staph infection was eating my vertebrae causing ADR subsidence. Had to remove all 3 ADR's and convert to 3 level fusion. Mostly pain free 2 weeks post op. 9/20/10 - I think I jinxed myself. As soon as I told dr b and dr Sullivan I was doing well (on 6/1/10) I tanked and have experienced the return of pain. My neuro says the new pain is at t4.
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