Guest guest Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 thank you to at totallyhip whose site help me find 's and his members site which led me to Dr. De Smet and his staff. A special thanks to Verne from the Midwest and Cathy from Texas whose random phone calls encouraged me to go to Belgium. Also, Steve from Madison for pre-op consulting as he was coming out as I was going in. Also, my roomate and his wife who have become good friends this past year. I'm an ex pac-10 defensive back, ex roofer and could not jog a half-mile since 1992 because of osteoarthritis in my left hip which eventually went to the right. Today, exactly 1 year later 9:00 am Belgium time I can TRY anything I want, from snowboarding to full court basketball without any lack of confidence in my hips. I'm an extremely lucky fella. Jeff bilat/desmet/ 1/21/03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 21, 2004 Report Share Posted January 21, 2004 Dear Jeff: Aha, Jeff! I lost track of you. I appreciated your phone calls w/ me before I made the final resurf decision. NO, I do not believe all surgeons are equal, but I do believe that Boyd was pretty damn good for me. My point being that there are SOME good US guys, as well as DeSmet. My general deterioration had gotten so bad, as well as my insurance situation and personal financial situation, that getting 80% paid and seeing Boyd was (right then) the best choice for me. It is true, I would rather pay for this than a new car! Having your excellent recommendation for DeSmet (as well as others) has been a cloud because I did not go to him. That was lifted a bit by my reading his recent Award Paper publication. It showed that (at least), Boyd was doing the same things DeSmet was. This is REALLY good news. That is what I tried to convey in my post. I still think the manufacturing of the BHR makes a lot of sense to me from an engineering and physics standpoint. Time will tell if the differences are large enough to matter. I sure hope not! :-) I am at 4 weeks now, and swimming. This is great! I sincerely appreciate your support and phone calls. Just knowing the details of what you went through helped me make my decisions. Your honesty, thoughtfulness and willingness to talk were outstanding. I agree totally that the cadre of folks who helped you (see post below) mirrored the folks who helped me. Tug Setzer even called me the day after surgery and THAT was a lift! My most respectful thanks, Dave > > Reply-To: surfacehippy > Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2004 08:05:59 -0000 > To: surfacehippy > Subject: 1 year 2bhrs > > thank you to at totallyhip whose site help me > find 's and his members site which led me to Dr. De Smet > and his staff. A special thanks to Verne from the Midwest > and Cathy from Texas whose random phone calls encouraged me > to go to Belgium. Also, Steve from Madison for pre-op > consulting as he was coming out as I was going in. > Also, my roomate and his wife who have become > good friends this past year. > I'm an ex pac-10 defensive back, ex roofer and could > not jog a half-mile since 1992 because of osteoarthritis > in my left hip which eventually went to the right. > Today, exactly 1 year later 9:00 am Belgium time > I can TRY anything I want, from snowboarding to full court > basketball without any lack of confidence in my hips. > I'm an extremely lucky fella. Jeff bilat/desmet/ 1/21/03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 24, 2004 Report Share Posted January 24, 2004 Jeff: Great hear you are doing so well. I am also coming up on my 1 year anniversary. You were the first hippy I met in Belgium before my surgery. Thanks to you for your advice and encouragement prior to my surgery. I was frankly really nervous and unsure of the whole thing until seeing how well you were doing so quickly after surgery. I have lost and Chris' email address and would really appreciate it if you could send it to me. I am really anxious to see how is doing. 's decision to go to Belgium, given his background, also really made me realize that I had made the right decision by choosing Dr.DeSmet. Even though it was a very trying time there in Belgium, I look back on it as one of the bright spots in my life.(Maybe it was the beer).I am even considering going back to Ghent sometime in the future to see all the stuff I missed the last time. Stay in the same hotel, talk to people going in for surgery, see Jan, Mark and the good Doctor. Hopefully we will all cross paths again in the future and catch up. God Bless!!!! Shipp > thank you to at totallyhip whose site help me > find 's and his members site which led me to Dr. De Smet > and his staff. A special thanks to Verne from the Midwest > and Cathy from Texas whose random phone calls encouraged me > to go to Belgium. Also, Steve from Madison for pre-op > consulting as he was coming out as I was going in. > Also, my roomate and his wife who have become > good friends this past year. > I'm an ex pac-10 defensive back, ex roofer and could > not jog a half-mile since 1992 because of osteoarthritis > in my left hip which eventually went to the right. > Today, exactly 1 year later 9:00 am Belgium time > I can TRY anything I want, from snowboarding to full court > basketball without any lack of confidence in my hips. > I'm an extremely lucky fella. Jeff bilat/desmet/ 1/21/03 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.