Jump to content

A Second Opinion? - U.S.A


Recommended Posts

I just wanted to let everyone know about an option for second opinions on their neurological condition.

Many major hospitals are now offering whats called "remote medical second opinions".

I did mine through Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. They are consistenly rated the best hospital in America. Many different areas of neurology and nuerosurgery are available for second opinions.

In Sept 2010 I had a Perimesencephalic Non Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage here in Los Angeles and I was only moderately satisfied with my experience with the neurosurgons here. I was told I did not need any surgery so naturally I was cautious and wanted a second opinion.

Basically what you do is go to the John Hopkins website and download all the necesarry forms. Fill them out and mail them in along with all of your written reports from your hospital stay and CD's of all your images of any radiological imaging you had like CT's, MRI or cerebral angiogram. I also included my discharge report as well.

The information is then reviewed by the appropriate neurological specialist at the hospital.

I received my written report back from them in 10 days. It was 3 pages long and very detailed and very informative.

The cost for everything was $550 (american dollars).

Here is the link to their website.

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/second_opinion/neuro/index.html

I highly recommend this program. If anyone has any questions please feel free to message me.

Edited by Karen
U.S.A Members Information - U.S.A included in Thread Title
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sounds very interesting! What was the outcome from the Johns Hopkins guys?

Well, they basically confirmed my original diagnosis of perimesencephalic SAH.

First doctor said : perimesencephalic SAH

Second doctor : perimesencephalic SAH

Third doctor : "not typical" perimesencephalic SAH

Fourth doctor (Johns Hopkins) : "classic perimesencephalic" SAH

So basically doctors can disagree. One says "not typical" and the other says "classic", haha.

I am now done with getting opinions and majority rules 3-1.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess you had a perimesencephalic SAH then :) Not that I know what that is... will go and Google it later. Mine was an aneurysm on the ascending communicating artery - I think one of the more common places to have an aneurysm and I'm just glad I had fabulous treatment in two NHS hospitals. I have an online friend who had an SAH in the USA and boy did it cost her a lot of money!!

Hope you can relax now and take time to heal. Take care!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Sami and that was the reason for the editing of the thread title.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

We have members of many different Nationalities using this forum and healthcare does vary, so where possible, I like to add the origin if necessary, in the thread title, to clarify and to prevent any confusion for members.

The UK has a public National Health Service and we are not automatically given or offered any records of our medical notes or scans on discharge....

Hope that this helps to clarify. :-D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

hi surfer,

i think i read on one of your earlier posts about you being a keen cyclist, have you got back in the saddle yet? If so how hard do you push yourself? I would like to think i can continue mountain biking in a while & see if i can really get back to top fitness, its one of the things i'm focusing on during my recovery to keep depression at bay. I had the same kind of sah as you but only 3 weeks ago.

regards

parf

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hi surfer,

i think i read on one of your earlier posts about you being a keen cyclist, have you got back in the saddle yet? If so how hard do you push yourself? I would like to think i can continue mountain biking in a while & see if i can really get back to top fitness, its one of the things i'm focusing on during my recovery to keep depression at bay. I had the same kind of sah as you but only 3 weeks ago.

regards

parf

I am 10 months post SAH and I am still just doing easy, low intensity stuff. I have biked a few times but very slow and only a few miles. Last month I jogged for the first time since my SAH but it was only a mile, lol.

My original doctor told me to wait 3 months before resuming exercise so if you are at 3 weeks then I would really wait and take some more time to recover.

I know that at 2-3 months I kinda felt like I had recovered fully and was ready to start charging on the bike and stuff but then I had a few months of headaches and back problems and nausea.

To be honest my main reason for not getting back into working out is due to fear of another episode of SAH. I am trying to buy the book of the mountain climber who had NASAH and apparently he ran a marathon about a year after his SAH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...