Bertagnoli/questions answered/fees

[Tableone]

Thanks so much to both Vicki and Maria for putting such time into giving me so much info! I really appreciate it. Also, thanks for the articles which were helpful.

I've done a year of research on ADR below Scoliosis fusions and the authors of the two articles that have been written on this looked at my images. One is in England and the other in New York and they think it is viable on me. This surgery is done in Europe for people like me. It has only been done a few times in the States. I am just getting the tests done and then they will give me their price. Yes, the conventional literature states that any deformity disqualifies you from ADR. But, this is only the conventional USA opinion.

What I'm struggling with now is where to have the surgery. I don't think I can afford a US surgery. I have MediCare and they will not cover it. From what I understand, if I have the surgery in Europe no one here will want to do my revision afterwards...on the other hand, I'm probably disqualified from a revision anyway and will have to be fused when it breaks down, so maybe it doesn't matter where I have it done as most surgeons will fuse you?

I don't need another opinion now, so I don't want to spend a months rent on Zeeger, although I will search this forum to see if he also does surgery on people. What I need is a surgeon. There must be others in Europe, so I will look around. If anybody knows any other surgeons overseas, please let me know. I wrote to one in India but he told me there were no expert ADR surgeons in India. I thought this was honest of him, as his website said that he did ADR.

[vnf]

Need to remove for personal reasons

[Tableone]

Hi Vicki:

Thanks again for all this info. The reason why I want to avoid being fused to the sacrum is because I already have almost my entire spine fused. I cannot express what this is like...how awful and limiting this is. If I was just a regular patient who had not had my spine already totally fused, I would consider getting a few levels fused and I wouldn't care.

[Maria]

L5S1 if fused or not doesn't have much motion anyway.. so this is the level that I believe if fused would be Ok and ADR above it might work IF you are a candidate... that's sort of what I was facing .. a hybrid surgery.

Ok here's the other thing.. you don't want to waste a month's rent on another opinion re Zeegers.. he is a master spine surgeon from what I read... so if you pay to get his opinion and he gives you either what you want to hear which is what it seems like you are after really.. or maybe not depending on if he thinks you're a viable candidate as Vicki pretty much says.. you're still getting an EXPERT opinion! The cost is INVALUABLE from what I'm reading with regard to the time he spends going over things and giving you his expert opinion.

You are looking for a surgeon .. well IMHO you must realize you may not hear what you want to hear however you might hear what would be best for you with regard to putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

You may or may not be a candidate for ADR at the last two lumbar level and you may or may not do well however it would at least be nice to find a surgeon that might answer your questions and perhaps if you pay the $1100 to Zeegers that's what you'll get.

I just hate to see you make a less than well informed decision because you don't want to spend another $1100 which in the grand scheme of things is very little.

Wishing you the best and I do hope you'll consider Zeegers amongst whomever else you're considering getting opinions from.

[Tableone]

I just wanted to let everyone know that Dr. Bertagnoli's assistant doctor did email me back, it just took her a while. They did answer my questions with good, direct answers.

Thank you for all the info everyone has supplied.

[Maria]

Hi T1
Good to read you got a reply back with direct answers to your questions. That must have made you feel so much better! Hope it helps you in your decision making as well. As always wishing you the best with your ongoing spine endeavors. Lots of input to contemplate and decisions to make I would imagine

[fuzzy]

One comment I like to add is that the Bertagnoli team ProSpine made me a bill that was a all inclusive price with out detail to exactly what was done and for how much. This was a big problem for my insurance and they paid non.

When I had the Zeegers surgery they detailed out by German standards exactly what was done and had codes for everything and that got me most but not all paid!

Bertagnoli refused to give me a detailed bill, German style. This was disappointing and a little bit dubious to me and it cost me money. In restrospect I regretted not having the c spine surgery with Zeegers who, at the time, was between hospitals.