Re: England/MIS

[Guest guest]

I was able to get a surgery date with McMinn about 6 weeks after

he approved my X-rays and other tests. The person I mostly

corresponded with (aside from Dr. McMinn, who sent me a long email

after he first saw my X-rays, answering a bunch of questions that I

had sent in a letter with them), is his office manager, Pam .

Her email is:

pamcharles " at " mcminncentre.co.uk She should be able to tell you how

long the waiting lists are at the moment, and give you advice about

how to send your X-rays.

You only need to send your X-rays and a letter describing your

condition, and Dr. McMinn will be usually be able to advise if he

thinks you are a suitable candidate. He doesn't charge for this

service. But you pay a fairly stiff consultation fee to see him (and

usually one of his staff surgeons as well) in his office that day

before surgery. Total cost of my surgery and hospital stay, including

all the assistive devices that were supplied such as crutches, cane,

toilet seat, grabber, etc. was almost £11,000. They keep you in

hospital for a week (you go in one day pre-op), and then you have to

stay in England, preferrably not too far from Birmingham, for another

week, if you are flying from Canada.

I had only a 4.5 inch incision. I think that's fairly minimal.

The downside is that they had to twist my leg around a lot in order to

work in that small opening, and I had a lot of muscle spasms for a few

months afterwards. However, most muscles were not cut, just separated,

and I was walking well on one crutch within 5 days, and could limp

around without anything within a week or so (although I didn't usually

do that). At 9 months post-op, I seldom have pain anymore unless I

overdo the exercising. But I'm not supposed to do any impact sports

for a year.

n

rBHR Oct.2003 McMinn