[Maria]

Back when I was considering ADR at 2-3 levels I got the best responses from Bertagnoli's and assistant. I don't think I would really care about his investment in Pro disc as so many surgeons here in the US have the same thing going on. Not to say it's ideal but the question is what kind of surgeon is he and can he do the work. Yes I do agree with the part about getting responses prior to surgery because if I can't have good communication during the "courtship" or before I pay what about after I'm all paid up with probs on the side if they're happening or occur and generally I think if one is able to put more $ on the table and there is another surgical need or option the response will be there. That's business.

I personally think what Zeegers is asking for the consultation is quite worth it if you'd go back and read something that Victoria wrote re the consultation and Vicki replied to... sounded like quite a good deal for all the work that Dr.Zeegers will put into his consultation. Not to mention he seems to have quite a reputation as a Spine Master.

You aren't going to get guarantees regarding the outcome and what next or so I think though you should be able to get some "possible scenarios" .. no one can tell how long anything will last in your case exactly only what is known about the product itself to date or how it's supposed to function, last etc.

You are a complicated case is what I would say but not the only one with this situation. I imagine it's more common than you think and I also imagine that many people are fused all the way down to the sacrum at least before ADR technology came into play here in the US and probably even after because surgeons were being cautious picking only the best candidates for ADRs in maybe in the first 10 years or so or at least so I think. I could be very wrong about that however I sort of doubt it as surgeons in the US are really concerned with liability issues/lawsuits etc and I think it might be difficult to bring about a suit against a surgeon out of the country for anything less than a major mind blowing screw up re some surgical occurrence ...

Maybe lack of response on the part of the surgeon is because he has not had good follow up with these patients for whatever reason so he doesn't know how they are doing only how they did post op. Maybe he's got to have someone gather the information so the response time is taking a while. Maybe no response is a response if you know what I mean. I think I'd give it a bit of time as I imagine he's a busy surgeon so perhaps he or the assistant will get back to you in a certain amount of time. That may not be acceptable to you and may encourage you to make other decisions.

Take all this into consideration. You have a lot of hardware in your spine so my advice is unless it's emergent take your time getting your opinions and making your decisions.

re a US surgeon following you post European spine surgery with your degree of hardware might be difficult to find if not impossible however maybe not. I'd maybe check that out too in the "what if" realm although I don't know that anyone would answer that hypothetical a question at this point and even if they did if it would mean anything at the point you might need more surgery.

If you have insurance that you might want to use for surgery here in the US after having the surgery in Europe that's another question as to what might be covered or might be denied. Again it may be difficult or impossible to know.

So to me it would seem logical to go with the things that a specialist can and will answer and make your decisions from there.