Since seeing you in your clinic in Sept, I went back to my surgeon in my home town. He once again told me he didn’t feel he could help me. He went so far as to say maybe he is losing his edge. He referred me to another surgeon who is new to our area. He recently finished his Fellowship in Houston, TX. This surgeon agreed with your recommendation for surgery but felt he doesn’t have enough experience to do the surgery. That being said, I feel my only option is to come back to your clinic for surgery even though it means traveling & having to make plans for follow up care. I do have some questions I would like answered & if this is not the place to address them, I will be contacting your office.
1. How much experience do you have with redo fusions & with this being redo of C5/6 & new fusion of C4/5, will it all be done from the anterior approach?
2. If I have surgery there, will it be in the hospital associated with your clinic?
3. How long will I need to stay in the area following surgery? Cost does become a factor since we will be coming from out of town.
4. Will I need to return to Vail for follow up care or can some of my therapy be done in Rapid City following guidelines from your clinic?
5. How long is the recovery time following a redo surgery?
6. Will I need any additional test such as having my vocal cords checked prior to surgery or will I just need to see my primary care provider for clearance?
I thank you in advance for the service you provide to patients & look forward to your response.
Cathy
