[dridobits]

Hi Jill,

I should have asked for lydocaine but to tell you the truth I don't remember what I got. I got no relief at all from the facet block and I didn't on the first one.

I have gone in depth and know what is covered and what isn't. My HMO isn't really set up to do or handle ADR revisions for sure. I can go out of the HMO, and they will do follow up care, but if say I have an emergency in the hospital as a result of the surgery this they will not pay for. If however, I leave and check out of the hospital they will cover it. Strange. Basically, they will cover after care but I will have had to leave the hospital. Also much of this is on an "individual" basis. So my bigges concern is having a problem where I had to stay an extra week in the hospital, or an ADR revision problem down the line which I couldn't really pay for.

I have an appt. w/Dr. Bitan on this Thurs and one after that, so for now it's mostly informaiton gathering. It's really important to get every freaking detail when it comes to the insurance. They won't send me out for ADR as they do it (like only 2 cases so far). They won't send me out on their $$, it will have to be my own.

The doc last week said for me he preferred fusion as with my osteopenia and facet arthritus he was afraid of the disc slipping. This, obviously is only his opinion.

I'm wondering how people deal with the issue of having the surgery in Germany and how to deal with the financial issue if there are problems down the line.

So, I'm off tmrw. to the Big Apple to see the docs. Will report more later.