I first want to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has replied to my posts. You have given me a lot to think about, and though it was all incredibly overwhelming to take in, it is what I think I needed.
As of right now, I haven't canceled my surgery appointment, but I have a pretty good feeling I will in the coming weeks. I now have a lot of doubts about the procedures that were going to happen, and I refuse to go into surgery with any doubts. Years ago I had a discetomy with someone I thought was an excellent surgeon. I now question his abilities as I reherniated one of those discs 3 weeks later, and many of my later problems, mainly the nerve damage were made all the worse by the amount of scar tissue I had after that surgery. I now know I need to be 100% certain of what I am getting into.
I guess now my question is where do I begin?
I feel so in the dark about how to proceed with regards to finding a good doctor who will do what I need. I know many people on here have had wonderful success overseas, mainly in Germany. My father is from Austria originally, so communication with anyone in Germany would not be a problem for us. I would love to find someone here in Ontario willing to do the operation, one to make it easy with insurance, but also to recover at home vs. in a hotel room.
I will make a new thread as well, but if anyone could PM me or reply about their experiences with ADR surgery both in Ontario, Canada or overseas as well. Some things specifically I'm wondering are:
-Has anyone found a good doctor in Ontario that will do ADR on L4/L5?
-Does any doctor in Ontario do ADR on both L4/L5 AND L5/S1?
-How long does it take to get in to have surgery with Dr. Bertagnoli?
-How much does it cost?
-Does OHIP cover any of it?
-How long do you have to stay in Germany to recover?
One good thing about if it were overseas travel, my mom is a flight attendant, so the flights there and back would be cheap, and we would also receive a discount on hotels as well. So I would only need to know the actual cost of the surgery, not the travel arrangements as well.
I'm sure I will think of more questions for you all. Please bear with me and thanks again so much for all your support and concern! Without you I have have made a terrible decision!!!
Christina
PS. Mark, I will PM you with my contact info and I greatly appreciate you taking the time to help me out.
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