Medical Endeavors w/ my Herniated and Degenerative Lumbar Disc

I'm almost ready to leave! I've spent this week buying comfortable clothes for my post-op, especially cotton sweat pants and plain Hane's t-shirts. I've also prepped the room with a higher bed, fixed the hard-to-open door to the rest-room, and acquired a reacher/grabber. The UK hospital has instructed me to run a few pre-op tests with my family doctor: -Mid-stream urine -MRSA nose -MRSA groin Basically they're testing for infections and possible immunities to antibiotics. The hospital has really been bugging me about the results, which only means these are very important for them. I'm off on Sunday October 31st and arriving early Monday November 1st. That same day I have a pre-op assessment and a late consultation with Mr. Boeree. Surgery is Wednesday November 3rd.

I carry Bupa International insurance which I highly highly recommend! Not only do they cover you anywhere in the world, but they don't care about FDA approval processes too much. Not only will they cover 100% of the costs, but they will also provide room and board for my mom! For those late to the party, I'm getting an M6-L disc replacement in my L4/L5 spine with Mr. Nick Boeree. I bought my place tickets already and I have hotel reservations nearby. Details on that: -Continental economy on the way over -Continental first class on the way back 2 weeks after surgery: with flat seats! -Flight cost 80,000 miles + $300 in taxes. -Hotel accommodations in a holiday inn down the road for $120 a night. Wish me luck! I'll keep you updated with pictures and progress. I'll also try to get some surgical pictures in there!

After meeting with Dr. Zigler at the Texas Back Institute and a failed Epidural Steroid Injection, I went on and contacted Mr. Nick Boeree. He was one of the leading surgeons for the Charite and the Prodisc, and now has moved on to being one of the primary researchers for the M6. I paid for the phone consultation (About $400) and got a call from him at exactly the time we specified. We started talking about my scans, my symptoms, prior treatments, etc. He said I might have an extra vertebrae that he needs to confirm with an X-Ray, but this is only to adjust the surgical technique. He also said my L5 disc is a little small and might be the reason why my L4/L5 disc failed. After that we dove into his prior experience, which is tremendously exhaustive. He said he switched over to the M6 simply because it's an amazing disc that works! He said he has no monetary interest in it, and he has had tremendous success with it. I asked about durability of the M6, so we talked about the mec