Posted by juanantoniod on May 20, 2006, at 1:16:42
In reply to Re: How VNS Therapy is Going, posted by crazy777girl on May 19, 2006, at 22:46:50
Dear "A",
I guess I have no regrets about starting VNS Therapy. If you have any specific questions, I would be happy to answer anything you want to ask.
If I could do it over, I would have had the book, "Out of the Black Hole" sent to me overnight instead of waiting for it. I would also have been a LITTLE more proactive/aggressive in finding a doctor and surgeon, rather than waiting for Cyberonics to do it.
Although my case manager was AWESOME, I would have forced myself to get up each morning and call her EVERY DAY to push my case through. Since I have Medicare, the insurance authorization was not an issue. It was one of finding the right doctors.
OH, now that I think about it, here is what happened, briefly. I was expecting my PDOC to be interested in prescribing and dosing the VNS Therapy, so I waited for my appointment to see him and then found out he had NO interest in it, but would support my getting it and verify my need for it.
So, I would have just called him and asked, then been on the phone every day with Cyberonics and psychiatrists until I found one.
When I did finally find a psychiatrist, I was told that I would work with the surgeon he works with. However, the PDOC that was doing the VNS had never done one before, so he had no surgeon connections. He was supposed to meet with one 2 weeks after my visit with him, because of scheduling conflicts. (He is in Hawaii 10 days each month.) Then I found out that the surgeon he was to meet with had NEVER done ANY VNS implants. I said, "NO WAY!" I wanted an experienced surgeon. So I waited for Cyberonics to find me a surgeon, which they did amazingly fast. The surgeon's office had me set up for the eval one week and the surgery the next, before I even came in, which was to be the next day. That day, the office met in the A.M. and the surgeon's assistant found out that he had signed an agreeement with a new hospital that he had to do all depression VNS implants at the new hospital. So, I had to wait for him to see me at the new hospital office, then that hospital needed to have 2 PDOCS recommending it. My 2 PDOCS counted as 1 (go figure) and they wanted me to see one of their 2 staff PDOCS. Luckily, he was able to see me the day after I met with the surgeon.
Although, in retrospect it went very quickly, if I were you, I would get the PDOC AND surgeon lined up BEFORE you even get approval. If you have insurance and/or can afford it, I would even go have consults with both of them NOW, then when you get insurance approval, all you have to do is get a pre-op visit and labs.
OH, you know what else? I had to have a pre-op H&P (History & Physical) to clear me for surgery. This included a stress EKG, which again, luckily, was done in a day or 2, but if I were you, I would go in NOW to be cleared for surgery and get whatever tests done now that you can. Then when you are finally approved, everyone just needs to "sign off" on it, get some recent labs and then you are good to go.
I know that is a long answer and I didn't expect it to be, but I hope it is helpful.
Let me know if you have ANY follow-up questions as you get into the process. My email is essentialpumper///nospam///at///gmail.com.
Take good care,
Antonio
P.S. The surgeon that did my implant had done "hundreds" for epilepsy. Be sure to find a surgeon that has done a significant amount of these implants. (However many you are comfortable with.) Your Case Manager at Cyberonics should be able to give you some names, telephone numbers, and numbers of surgeries the doctor has done, because they have been doing this for epilepsy for years.
poster:juanantoniod
thread:574518
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060515/msgs/646139.html