Date Posted: February 20, 2024 at 12:33 UTC
Last Update: February 22, 2024 at 11:41 UTC
My name is Dr. Frederick Stewart. I live in Florida, and I work as a psychiatric physician assistant. I came here to have my back fixed.
I went to quite a number of surgeons in the United States. It first started last February. I am 62 years old, and I decided to lift something that I should not have tried to lift about. Two days later. I had pretty severe back and leg pain. I have worked in neurosurgery before, and I was hoping that it would go away with exercise and physical therapy, but it did not. So I started to look for options and eventually arrived at the conclusion that I would need surgery.
Patient Video Review (Patient Testimonial) – Dr. Frederick Stewart from USA, Spondylolisthesis Treatment In Turkey
It started to affect my life fairly quickly. Within a week of me injuring myself, I was unable to lift anything. Besides my job, I have several projects that require me to lift heavy objects at times. Because of that, I had to hire extra people, and it costed me a lot of extra money on the projects. And so it gradually leveled out, but it never really got significantly better.
So I was aware of medical tourism, and I started looking at different places, including Mexico, Poland, and other countries. The reason that I decided to come here was multiple reasons. The first of these was that I looked at the Google reviews for the hospital, and they were exceptionally good. Mostly fives, and a lot of places were nowhere near that.
Having been in surgery before, I am well aware that people do not get that kind of result in general.
The second was price. In the United States, this operation would certainly be 5 to 6 times, maybe 10 times as much money, and the insurance companies are unlikely to pay for it. So that figured into it. And by the time I calculated how much the flight would be and the treatment, and the fact that the reviews were fantastic, I decided to come here.
My first contact with the doctor and the medical team was excellent. I had already been to see two neurosurgeons in the United States that I knew quite well, actually. They, aside from the price issues, they actually missed part of the diagnosis that the medical team here got correct. And if I had had the surgery in the United States, I would have had to have a second surgery, which, of course, would not have made me happy.
When I came, I was expecting to do an endoscopic discectomy at two levels. What the surgeons explained to me after doing the second MRI and me telling them what my symptoms were, which is the same thing I told my doctors in the United States, was the discectomy alone would not have taken care of all of the symptoms. So again, I am very happy that I came here.
I was aware of the robotic spine surgical system before. After the surgery, I did not even know I had the surgery. I had no recollection of even going into surgery. All but all of the pain was gone, so it was wonderful.
The next day afterward, we did some walking; by the second day, I was able to walk up and down the hallway. With none of the pain that I had formerly in my legs and buttocks and low back. I really did not seem to need much therapy because all the pain was gone.
My treatment here, compared to the United States, is much better. There is something important that I should tell you about this whole process here.
So maybe two days or less than two days to get MRI’s, X-rays, blood work and all. In the United States, best-case scenario would be 3 to 4 weeks, the best if they okayed the surgery, which they probably would not.
The staff and the physicians here, I felt more caring. I think the nursing staff has been more attentive. And in the United States, if I were to press a call button, it might take half an hour to get a nurse to come in the middle of the night. My nurse was usually there within 30 seconds to one minute. Clearly, the staff is well-trained. The hospital is very clean. I could not be more pleased.
I got picked up at the airport in a limousine; that would never happen in the United States, except maybe if you were the president, but otherwise not. My plane, Lufthansa, was 5 hours late, and the chauffeur waited for me the extra 5 hours. It was great! So yes, I am extraordinarily happy that I came here!
I would absolutely recommend coming here.
I live at the beach in Florida. Since February, I have not been able to walk on the beach every day because of the pain; just getting back to that alone would be wonderful.
As far as work, it has affected my work, so now I can get back to doing what I normally do for work.
Frederick Stewart.