Runestonez
Retired Moderator
Some of you who know me know that I went away in July 2009 to India to have spinal surgery...I have been injured for around 7 years...give or take. It was my last chance to have surgery or give up and go to a wheelchair.
My hubby and I went to my doctor who absolutely refused to sign our OHIP forms...(in Canada if you have OHIP approval they will help pay or pay for all of a surgery...even if it is out of country...takes alot of wrangling but it can be done). Anyway thesurgeons here (9 altogether) said I was too young tohave the surgery that it was too dangerous, too risky...(I was injured at 29 and am 37 now!) that I would end up paralyzed or with a colostomy bag, etc...they only gave me a 60% chance of coming through the surgery whole...they went so far as to tell me that I should wait till I was in a wheelchair or couldn't take the pain anymore...then if they did the surgery and I was paralyzed that it was win/win because I was already in a wheelchair anyway.
So we mortagaged our house to the hilt...begged what we couldn't finance and got enough to pay on our own. We booked our trip through this company we found that facilitates out of country surgeries...and we went. I contacted 11 other people who had used them and researched the heck out of them first!
The surgery has worked really well so far. (OHIP will not cover me if it didn't work--a little "catch 22" to not getting their approval!)
It was actually worse than we thought...we thought we were going to India to have 4 discs in my back replaced...but found out I had a seperated spine and 5 herniated discs! lol
My spine was collapsing into my pelvis. BUT--the surgery was actually going to be cheaper...because they could save most of the discs...except for one!
SO I had a titanium and polypropylene cage screwed to my spine to pull it back together and they removed the one dead disc and fused(without bone grafting) the bottom vertebrae...they realigned my spine and spaced out the vertebral spaces that had collapsed and the others discs should heal on their own now that everything is stable again...
We were so scared...but the surgeons there were totally confident...what was risky here turned out to be routine there! I was in and out and back in my room in 6 hours...and they had me walking the next morning!:shock:
SO we came home. I was so happy!:biggrin2:
I was able to walk on my own without a cane and no walker or wheelchair!inkbouce:
The company asked me to be their "poster child"of sorts...and I agreed.
There are approximately 600,000 Canadians who can't get surgery because they are backlisted! So being able to travel to India etc would be a great choice for them! We were working to convince the gov't to start pursuing other means for people who need surgery.
I did interviews for CBC Radio1, CTV, CBC News and spoke at a breakfast conference for The Consul General of India and the heads of surgery for India and Canada. The whole experience...the doctors and nurses were amazing and it was a lifesaver for me!
THEN...the company that arranged the travel(noties to the hospital orsurgeons)and setup the meeting with the surgeon started avoiding me. I asked about our invoices and receipts and they kept promising and promising and finally in November I contacted them and told them enough...I wanted to know what we owed or were owed we had been home for over 3 months. Part of the contract was that the estimate had to be paid in full before we could go...$32,905.00, but any left over amounts would be refunded back.
Well...they owe us around $12,000 -$15,000 dollars in re-imbursments...turns out they were "robbing peter to pay paul" as it were and when my surgery didn't cost as much as they thought...they had no money to re-imburse us! So I have no way to get our money and since I have no receipts(they are holding them)...we can't even claim the medical expenses on our income tax! They were completely ignoring us...so I sent them notice that we were going to have to pursue legal means if we didn't hear from them...we gave them 30 days...36 days ago!
I was going to go to small claims...but there is a HUGE jurisdictional mess because they are in BC and I am in Ontario...so I finally caved and called our family lawyer...he is really mad...and is thinking along the lines of breach of contract and criminal fraud...so I could be resposible for having this person sent to jail instead and blowing up their business...
I have been mad as heck for the last week...but now that I know what is coming...
Yes I gave them more than a few chances to contact me...yes they are avoiding me so I can't even send my check up X-rays to India for the surgeons to review them so I can go back to work.
I don't know what I feel now...I really don't want to have to do this...
Danielle
My hubby and I went to my doctor who absolutely refused to sign our OHIP forms...(in Canada if you have OHIP approval they will help pay or pay for all of a surgery...even if it is out of country...takes alot of wrangling but it can be done). Anyway thesurgeons here (9 altogether) said I was too young tohave the surgery that it was too dangerous, too risky...(I was injured at 29 and am 37 now!) that I would end up paralyzed or with a colostomy bag, etc...they only gave me a 60% chance of coming through the surgery whole...they went so far as to tell me that I should wait till I was in a wheelchair or couldn't take the pain anymore...then if they did the surgery and I was paralyzed that it was win/win because I was already in a wheelchair anyway.
So we mortagaged our house to the hilt...begged what we couldn't finance and got enough to pay on our own. We booked our trip through this company we found that facilitates out of country surgeries...and we went. I contacted 11 other people who had used them and researched the heck out of them first!
The surgery has worked really well so far. (OHIP will not cover me if it didn't work--a little "catch 22" to not getting their approval!)
It was actually worse than we thought...we thought we were going to India to have 4 discs in my back replaced...but found out I had a seperated spine and 5 herniated discs! lol
My spine was collapsing into my pelvis. BUT--the surgery was actually going to be cheaper...because they could save most of the discs...except for one!
SO I had a titanium and polypropylene cage screwed to my spine to pull it back together and they removed the one dead disc and fused(without bone grafting) the bottom vertebrae...they realigned my spine and spaced out the vertebral spaces that had collapsed and the others discs should heal on their own now that everything is stable again...
We were so scared...but the surgeons there were totally confident...what was risky here turned out to be routine there! I was in and out and back in my room in 6 hours...and they had me walking the next morning!:shock:
SO we came home. I was so happy!:biggrin2:
I was able to walk on my own without a cane and no walker or wheelchair!
inkbouce:The company asked me to be their "poster child"of sorts...and I agreed.
There are approximately 600,000 Canadians who can't get surgery because they are backlisted! So being able to travel to India etc would be a great choice for them! We were working to convince the gov't to start pursuing other means for people who need surgery.
I did interviews for CBC Radio1, CTV, CBC News and spoke at a breakfast conference for The Consul General of India and the heads of surgery for India and Canada. The whole experience...the doctors and nurses were amazing and it was a lifesaver for me!
THEN...the company that arranged the travel(noties to the hospital orsurgeons)and setup the meeting with the surgeon started avoiding me. I asked about our invoices and receipts and they kept promising and promising and finally in November I contacted them and told them enough...I wanted to know what we owed or were owed we had been home for over 3 months. Part of the contract was that the estimate had to be paid in full before we could go...$32,905.00, but any left over amounts would be refunded back.
Well...they owe us around $12,000 -$15,000 dollars in re-imbursments...turns out they were "robbing peter to pay paul" as it were and when my surgery didn't cost as much as they thought...they had no money to re-imburse us! So I have no way to get our money and since I have no receipts(they are holding them)...we can't even claim the medical expenses on our income tax!
They were completely ignoring us...so I sent them notice that we were going to have to pursue legal means if we didn't hear from them...we gave them 30 days...36 days ago!I was going to go to small claims...but there is a HUGE jurisdictional mess because they are in BC and I am in Ontario...so I finally caved and called our family lawyer...he is really mad...and is thinking along the lines of breach of contract and criminal fraud...so I could be resposible for having this person sent to jail instead and blowing up their business...
I have been mad as heck for the last week...but now that I know what is coming...
Yes I gave them more than a few chances to contact me...yes they are avoiding me so I can't even send my check up X-rays to India for the surgeons to review them so I can go back to work.
I don't know what I feel now...I really don't want to have to do this...
Danielle
