Irene...Re: Any success stories with Dr. Riech

From: Jenny (jenklow@hotmail.com)
Thu Apr 3 01:41:20 2003


Dear Irene,

I am working on going to Germany to have surgery with Dr. Kruschinski. I have been told by two people who recently went over there that their total expenses were between $11,000-13,000. Still this is not that bad, even though it sounds outrageous. Not many people have that kind of money laying around. But my family is pulling together (husband and kids) and we are working on ways to raise the money to go. If there is a will, there is a way.(bake sales, garage sales, sponsors) I'm sure others have some more ideas. I surely would like to know them too! Anyway, to be pain and adhesion free, it is totally worth the money. That amount covers airfare, a flat for 10 days, first surgery with 3 days in hospital, second surgery is a second look and done as an outpatient to make sure no new adhesions are forming, and also the doctor and nurse checking on you at the flat. You really can't beat that. Hope this helps!

Love and hugs, Jenny

At Wed, 2 Apr 2003, cathy:- wrote: >
>Irene, honey, there are definitely people who have been totally cured of
>adhesions by surgery with Dr. Reich. Bev Douchette is one, and you can
>find her story on the quilt I'm sure, as well as doing a search on the
>message board archives for "Bev" (There's only one Bev -- one in a
>million! After being cured of ARD she became a tireless crusader for
>other ARD patients.)
>
>Other people had surgery with Dr. Reich that failed, but they are
>nonetheless impressed that they got the very best surgery from the very
>best surgeon in the world.
>
>There is an adhesion barrier which was approved 15 months ago for use in
>Europe, the UK and Australia called spray gel. It is in clinical trials
>in the US. Some of our members have tracked down a couple of the best
>laporoscopic surgeons in the world who practice in Germany, and they
>have been travelling to Germany to have surgery. Several times per year
>Dr. Reich has been going to the Emma Klinic and doing adhesiolysis
>surgeries there with one of the 2 surgeons that our members have been
>travelling to. In the last 14 months approximately 2 dozen of our
>members have travelled to Germany for surgery with spray-gel, and a
>couple others who are citizens of the UK and Australia have had spray
>gel applied in surgeries close to home. This is of course not a
>scientific study, and not a scientific sample, blah, blah, blah. But on
>the other hand these are people who have had histories of 5, 10, 20, 30
>failed adhesiolysis surgeries, so you would actually expect a BETTER
>success rate from a scientific study than from the likes of of us. Well,
>in fact you couldn't get a better success rate -- every single solitary
>person that we know personally (through this group) has ended their
>surgery adhesion (and adhesion-pain) free. If spray gel were having a
>50% or 75% success rate, then you could argue about what your chances
>are. But 100% is 100%!!!! Those are just astonshingly good results.
>
>That's the good news... The bad news is about money. First of all, if
>you have extensive adhesions that will require extensive surgery to
>remove, then your insurance won't cover it. An adhesions expert knows
>that it will take 8, 10, 12 hours of grueling and incredibly meticulous
>work to have the slightest chance of leaving you adhesion free. Your
>insurance company will pay roughly $2500 for it. They will pay the
>hospital, nurses and anesthesiologists for an hour of operating room
>time. So even if you could find a doctor AND hospital willing, you need
>to understand that they would be doing this out of the goodness of their
>hearts because the insurance company sure won't be paying them. Dr.
>Reich does not accept insurance. Dr. Gerhart and Dr. Redan, who are
>his collegues in PA do accept some insurance, and sometimes Dr. Reich
>will assist and then you pay his fee out of your own pocket. On the
>other hand, there are lots of clueless meatball surgeons out there happy
>to take $2500 to spend an hour or so doing a hack job on your innards
>that will leave you worse off.
>
>So the deal with going to Germany is that you are on your own. It's
>much more reasonable than it sounds, though, because medical care in
>Germany works differently. In the US when you have any sort of medical
>procedure done a big part of the price is "overhead." You are paying for
>part of everybody's malpractice insurance. You are paying to pay off
>their student loans. You are paying for the salaries of all of those
>people who push paper to and from your insurance company. In Germany,
>both by law and custom, there are few malpractice cases. The government
>builds hospitals and trains doctors and nurses. They don't have all of
>the paperwork to push from place to place. When the Germans set the
>price for the surgery, they basically only charge for the things that
>you actually consume. People have reported that the total cost of the
>trip, including airfare for the ARD sufferer and a companion, and even
>some touristing on the side, is about $5000-$7000. Sheesh -- even for a
>"covered" operation in the US you could easily spend half that on
>deductibles and co-pays!
>
>Think about it -- suppose you have 5 surgeries in 8 years and pay
>deductibles and co-pays. And you pay thousands for drugs because all of
>the surgeries fail and leave you worse off than before. You could
>easily be out $20,000 AND be in constant intractible pain. As opposed
>to having your life back AND spending 1/3 the amount of money.
>
>Dr. Reich is absolutely the best, and you are a lucky person to be
>getting a consult with him. Since he practices with the docs at the
>Emma Klinic he can even give you more information about them.
>
>At Wed, 2 Apr 2003, I and J wrote:
>>
>>Hello: I was just wondering did anybody have total relief from adhesions
>>after their surgery with Dr. Riech? I really hope so. I keep reading
>>and all
>>I read is suffering. I know the type of suffering, and I guess people
>>cannot
>>understand it unless they have experienced it themselves. I do not wish
>>it on
>>anyone.
>>I decided to take a walk today,it defintely was up there with one of the
>>worst
>>decisions I have made. My pain today is horrible, the meds are just not
>>working
>>anymore. Have I just acquired a tolerance for them or is the pain
>>worse? I really do not know. My appointment with Dr. Reich is on the
>>8th. In reality it is only a week away, but that week of pain feels
>>like it could be a lifetime away. I guess I am just venting. I really
>>want to know if Dr. Riech has helped anybody?????
>>Thanks for listening,
>>Irene
>
>--
>cathy :-)
>


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