Date Posted: February 20, 2024 at 12:33 UTC
Last Update: January 30, 2025 at 10:05 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 try to lift something 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 cost 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
of 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 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, and 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.