oppostie patella tendon graft, who in New England?

[macdadmorgan]

After getting a ton of input, and one out of three people in the know saying its a bad idea, I want to go contra lateral patella tendon graft. At least the right people in the know said it was a good idea.
One buddy who is an anesthesiologist at springfield VT said he knows a guy in cow hampshire that does them, i think he might have study under Sanders or Sherbourne. Haven't got a whole of him, so I want to ask if anyone on the boards knows, that would be awesome. I have to get my shit together and finally get this thing done! I am not to keen on flying, so with in a few hour drive of western mass is key.

Thanks
Morgan

[drmark]

No one in New England does this procedure.

Choose your poison. Indianapolos or Houston.

Dr. Shelbourne(I believe) and I are on all the insurance plans,
and you only have to be there for five days and
won't need to come back.

[macdadmorgan]

Would there be any way to make BCBS pick up the tab on the hotel room? Or is flying, and hotel always on the patient?
How would I get a referral, I don't know how to get a whole of my mri, but I guess that I should figure that one out on my own, either way, you don't take a new mri do you?
What would the lead time need to be at the sanders clinic?
What would I do about follow ups?
Should I look for a surgeon who is cool with looking at me after someone else cut me, would I want to be put on a KT1000-2000 after a few months?

Thanks
Morgan

[drmark]

The last thing I would want you to do is to get a new MRI. If you come down here, bring the disk of the original MRI.

As far as my practice is concerned, our clinic and the hospital are in network for BC/BS. You woud have to pay your deductable and copay. We are always booked up for at least two weeks, but with the summer, it lightens up a bit.

The hotel room and airfare is pretty cheap if you book it a few weeks in advance on one of the travel website. Your insurer won't cover that.

We have absolutely no trouble communicating with our patients via email and internet. Sutures dissolve on their own, andif you have a gym membership or a stationary bike and some simple weights in your garage, then you won't need to see a PT, provided you are a self-starting type of person.

The last thing you need is a local doctor scratching his head over things they never say before and can't figure out. Thats why I always have my cell and laptop with me.

Findiing someone with a KT-1000 to check the stability is nice, but isn't absolutely necessary if you are doing ok, the chances of which are somwhere never 95%.

Beth and in my office takecare of the business end of things, need for referrals, etc. Send her the front and back of your insurance card, your date of birth, SS#, and all your points of contact and one of them will get back to you promptly.
Her email is bmw@sandersclinic.net

[liberman]

without questioning a trained surgeon, i would recommend reading more about the allograft. check out all the posts here about it. call steadman-hawkins and talk to the docs there. they are leaders in the field and have worked on folks who are still competing on the highest levels. it may turn out to be the wrong way, but it seems that most top athletes are going this route. messing up both legs seems like a complete hassle and major decrease in quality of life in short term, which will impede your healing just due to depression, or atleast it would for me.

as far as i can understand it, the only downsides are the need to force yourself to be careful because you start feeling so good go fast (is that a bad thing) and the small chance that the graft won't take, which seems to a non-issue if you go to someone good.

don't get me wrong, i had a major second guessing as i was waiting to go into surgery, but i am happier and happier with my decision as i learn more and i hear about all the folks who have gone this route successfully. don't let the cost of a hotel room and a rental car make the decision for you. the rest of your life is way more important.

[liberman]

i have heard good thing about the hospital for special surgery in nyc, so if your insurance will cover that the same, i might look into it. they are known to have some of the top docs there and perform on athletes. vail is beautiful place to be and i bet some maggot might help you out with a place to crash. they are also super nice folks there, which helps with the whole ordeal.

[Woodlandclown]

without questioning a trained surgeon, i would recommend reading more about the allograft. check out all the posts here about it. call steadman-hawkins and talk to the docs there. they are leaders in the field and have worked on folks who are still competing on the highest levels. it may turn out to be the wrong way, but it seems that most top athletes are going this route. messing up both legs seems like a complete hassle and major decrease in quality of life in short term, which will impede your healing just due to depression, or atleast it would for me.

as far as i can understand it, the only downsides are the need to force yourself to be careful because you start feeling so good go fast (is that a bad thing) and the small chance that the graft won't take, which seems to a non-issue if you go to someone good.

don't get me wrong, i had a major second guessing as i was waiting to go into surgery, but i am happier and happier with my decision as i learn more and i hear about all the folks who have gone this route successfully. don't let the cost of a hotel room and a rental car make the decision for you. the rest of your life is way more important.

hamstring too--i was good for me and tiger woods too.

[drmark]

If allografts had a 95% sucess rate like the patella tendon, I would do them.

Allografts are good for patients to have because they have about a 65% chance that they will work. That better than even money.

Allografts are bad for doctors because 35% of the patients you install them in are madder than hell at you because it failed.

So, like Clint Eastwood said, "Do you feel lucky"?

[macdadmorgan]

I thank people for there input, but I am pretty set on what I decided. This injury happened in january and I have been wadding through tons of info,here, google, Journal of Sports Medicine, or something like that, and others. I need the graft to take, and want it to be as strong as possible. As the numbers go, well the opposite patella graft seem to have the most success. Being self employed, I have to rehab as quick as possible, so I can get back to making money. I have nothing agenst the hamstring, but the rehab is longer, and the failure are more then patella. An allograft is just not for me, but works for plenty.

[macdadmorgan]

Beth and in my office takecare of the business end of things, need for referrals, etc. Send her the front and back of your insurance card, your date of birth, SS#, and all your points of contact and one of them will get back to you promptly.
Her email is bmw@sandersclinic.net

I emailed her yesterday, very curious to see if my insurance covers it.

[IVANWOLK]

Have you tried Wm. Mitchell, M.D., from The New England Baptist anb Newton-Wellsley Hospitals. Email for more info if interested.

[macdadmorgan]

You can't just through a name out there, what procedure does he do? Their are a lot of ortho's in the baystate that are good, just none do what I want them to do, or none I know of. If I have to stay in state, I will either go with Sklar, or one of the orthos in foxboro clinic. But hey, I am open eared til I get this nailed down, should be sending my referral to the sanders clinic this mourning to see how much my out of network cost will be, that will be a huge factor, becouse it all boils down to the bottom dollar.