[Maria]

We shouldn't be punished for exercising the freedom to make a sound medical/surgical decision and act upon it.. many a good surgeon would likely do the same if he or she were hard pressed and in a similar situation I'd be willing to wager.

My PM is a die hard "there are plenty of good surgeons here in the US so why would you go to Europe??" He gets ticked off when I mention it so I stopped even saying I was thinking about going vs. just doing it here but lately he's now taken to saying things like "you think surgery will help your pain? think again"... that was last week when I mentioned the idea.

He's told me on 2 seperate other occasions he thinks surgery is not the answer for me re my lumbar spine condition..

This doctor has not seen me when I wasn't taking pain medication and how different my personality/presentation can be. Before pain meds I was writhing in pain most of the time, lying in bed crying all day long and wishing that I didn't exist.

So he has seen me pretty well maintained so to speak between pain meds and ESIs. I don't think he has much if any education re what's happening in Europe/other places with newer spinal technology and the incredible recovery stories like some here ~

How'd I get on this topic... oh yeah, not wanting 'tude for exercising freedom of choice. Isn't this country all about freedom? (now I'm really going off but you catch my drift)... losing business is one thing but it doesn't help to make people feel that they "shouldn't" do something when it's a viable option with a much more seasonsed surgeon in the newer technologic advances and where there aren't FDA and insurance barriers/hurdles/rings of fire ...