A Hangzhou native's experience in seeking medical care in the United States: We spent USD70,000 and finally came out of desperation
My husband was diagnosed with a cervical spine tumor two years ago. We have also experienced the feeling of the sky falling down. We have also faced surgical options. We even consulted Dr. Xiao Jianru in Shanghai. Fortunately, our two families have gone through the most difficult period of this life. The only difference is that we finally chose to go to the United States to see a doctor. So the story has a completely different direction. We have never been to the United States before, and we have no friends with American doctors, and our home is only a well-off home. Going to the United States to see a doctor is just a desperate choice in life.
I share this unforgettable experience with you, just to let more people know that there are other possibilities for desperation.
1. Onset
Like Shenjiangan, my husband is middle-aged. There are young and old in the family, and even coincidentally, he also has an older sister.
Three years ago, he often felt sore in the cervical spine, and he didn't feel abnormal at first. After all, eight out of ten modern people have cervical spondylosis. Until the Spring Festival of 2012, his cervical spondylosis got worse and he sometimes felt his fingers numb. So, he urged him to go for an examination. In the Orthopedics Department of S Hospital on Qingchun East Road, he took an MRI and got the film to see the outpatient doctor. The doctor watched for a long time, and said in a deep voice, "I can't judge your illness. You'd better find our Director F."
After ignoring various scenarios of finding a doctor, I saw Director F. He took the film and watched it for a long time. He hesitated and said, "You are a giant cell tumor of bone. It is a tumor of the spine. And your position is very bad. The tumor has eroded the second, third, and fourth joints of the cervical spine. Total replacement surgery is very risky."
Director F was eager to go on a business trip and took care of us, "You live in first, do various checks, and wait for me to come back for the operation. This operation is very difficult, and I can only do it myself."
A normal family, upon hearing this news, instantly felt that the sky had fallen. We don’t even have time to cry. The next day I asked for leave from the unit (thanks to the leaders of the unit and every colleague, I will always remember your support), and wholeheartedly started looking for information and contacting the hospital. There were only three questions asked: "Is it really this disease? What are the treatment methods? Where is the best doctor to treat this disease?"
The first thing I looked for was Z Hospital on Jiefang Road. It is an authority in Zhejiang Province. The three experts on spine tumors saw my husband's film and all agreed with the judgment of giant cell tumor of bone and believed that surgery was the only treatment. Because we asked directly, they were also blunt. This operation requires an incision of the cervical spine, removal of 3 cervical vertebrae, and replacement of titanium alloy support. Not only is the operation difficult and risky, but the patient's activities after the operation will be restricted. But without surgery, the face is paralysis. The best doctor in China for spinal replacement surgery is Dr. Xiao Jianru from Shanghai Changzheng Hospital.
Doctors all over China recommend Doctor Xiao Jianru. One can imagine how busy he is.
We finally hung up his number, number 63 in the afternoon.
I seriously started the math problem at the door. A patient looked at it for 5 minutes, and the number 63 was 315 minutes (I am not the last one), which is 5 and a half hours, starting at 1:30 in the afternoon, which is 7 in the evening.
And doctors can’t drink water, can’t go to the bathroom, it’s just the rhythm of an iron man. But 5 minutes, to a person who was in desperate situation and went to Shanghai to see a doctor from the field, it was cruel.
Finally it was our turn. Dr. Xiao's face was pale, with big bags under his eyes, but his attitude was mild. There was a circle of students and assistants around, and some assistants put up our film. Dr. Xiao glanced around and said, "Spine tumor, prepare for hospital operation."
Because the situation of the operation has been studied in advance, we tremblingly asked: "How confident do you think the operation is".
"There must be risks, but we have done a lot."
Asked again: "What will happen after the operation? What effect will titanium alloy have in the body for life?"
Dr. Xiao became impatient: "If you don't have an operation, you may be paralyzed and killed in a short time. Can you still care about how you feel after the operation?"
Going out speechlessly, really 5 minutes.
Walking out of the outpatient building, I was panicked. It started to rain. At this time, I saw the nurse pushing the bed and running in the yard. The patient lying on it was still hanging salt water and carrying an oxygen bag. The family members were holding umbrellas trying to cover the patient's head. Suddenly, I broke down.
I can’t imagine such a scene. I can’t put my husband in such a hospital. Perhaps the doctors think that the patient is just a number, one of hundreds of operations; but for me and my family, he is the only one, I can’t Let him lie on such an assembly line. I can accept the risks of surgery, but I will never accept the losses caused by negligence or contempt.
Since the surgical method was invented by the Americans and the surgical materials were made by the Americans, let's go to the United States for this operation.
2. Preparation
Although we have been abroad, we have never been to the United States. In the past two years, American hospitals have also started to make appointments for services in China, which are extremely expensive. But in 2012, there was almost no precedent to learn from.
First check which hospital to see.
American hospitals have a detailed ranking table, updated once a year, released by a third party, and comprehensively ranked based on mortality, cure rate, patient satisfaction, and probability of occurrence of medical accidents.
According to the overall ranking of hospitals in 2013, the top three are Johns Hopkins Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Mayo Center. They have their own strengths, not only have a strong medical team, but also a huge scientific research institution behind them. There are also rankings of various specialties, such as cancer. The first in the United States is the Anderson Center in Houston, such as orthopedics, and the number one is the New York Special Surgery Hospital, where Liu Xiang’s foot surgery was performed.
The 2013-2014 annual ranking of the best hospitals in the United States can be searched on Google. U.S. News Best Hospitals 2013-2014
Make an appointment next.
The basic medical process in the United States is that every family has a special family doctor. If you have any kind of illness, first consult a family doctor. He will make basic judgments for you. If necessary, he will help you transfer to a specialist for examination and treatment. There are doctors with better counterparts or better skills. Therefore, all specialists in large hospitals must make appointments to avoid finding the wrong department or the doctor in the wrong way when you arrive at the hospital; secondly, when you come home, your doctor has already studied your case, and he can discuss treatment with you Ways, so as not to waste everyone's time.
But for the Chinese, it is extremely painful. No Chinese doctor is willing to refer you, not to mention the United States, it is basically impossible to go to other hospitals in China. Our medical records are incomplete. Some reports are even handwritten. American hospital appointments should provide detailed examination reports, medical history, surgery or medication records. It is best to communicate with your former attending doctor, and to the hardworking and brave Chinese. In other words, all of this needs to be collected by ourselves, translated by ourselves, burned into CDs or made into electronic documents by ourselves.
At that time, we selected a hospital in each of the east and west, the Johns Hopkins Hospital in the east, which ranked first in the United States for more than 20 consecutive years. Many departments and operations were invented by this hospital. The UCSF medical center in the west of the University of California San Francisco Medical Center was ranked fifth in the United States at the time. I chose these two hospitals because they are both very strong. One is close to New York and the other is close to San Francisco. The transportation is relatively convenient.
For visa issues, according to the normal procedure, you should first contact the hospital, and after getting the appointment form, go to the embassy for a visa. However, it takes about a month to get an appointment, and it also takes about a month to wait in line for the interview. For the patient, it is really distressing. Moreover, both tourist visas and medical visas in the United States are B2, which are valid for one year, and the maximum stay is 6 months at a time. So from the first day of the appointment, we will apply for a tourist visa at the same time. Facts have proved that the final appointment form and visa are basically processed at the same time. For us, it saves half of the time.
For contact issues, all major hospitals in the United States basically have international centers that specialize in accepting international patients. The International Department of the Anderson Cancer Center even has a Chinese website. First, you have to find the website of the International Center, fill in the form according to his requirements, or send an email to his designated mailbox. It is best to have an American friend as the contact person, because of the time difference, it is basically impossible for you to answer calls from the United States. Having a local contact person will prevent you from missing the clinic's inquiries. After submitting the application, the International Center will assign someone to serve you. He will ask you for all kinds of medical records, medical history, examination reports, etc., of course, in English (there are special translation companies on Taobao, you can shop around).
This process may seem simple, but the Americans' stubbornness is maddening. The American hospital learned that the operation had been performed in 1999 and requested a detailed operation report and pathological biopsy report. The medical records from 15 years ago are filled with hand-painted symbols; to find the original records in a Chinese hospital is to find a drop of water in the ocean. The Americans still don't understand that this is the most important record of life, why can't it be found?
After this lesson, every report I made in the hospital was scanned and stored on the hard drive. Come and ask for it.
3. Go to America
My husband was diagnosed with cervical spine tumor on May 7th. On May 30th, we finally got the appointment form of UCSF medical center (University of California San Francisco Medical Center). The International Center arranged for our first visit on June 3, and the attending doctor was neurosurgeon DR.Chou.
There is a small episode. We have been seeing orthopedics in China. Doctor Xiao Jianru is also a spine surgeon, so we take it for granted that it should be an orthopedic surgeon. In fact, American hospitals have very detailed departments. The spine belongs to neurosurgery. In the same department, the doctors in charge of cervical intradural tumors and epidural tumors are different.
The appointment form not only contains the address, phone number, precautions, but also the doctor's detailed resume. You can also google the papers published by the doctor to see if the doctor has had a medical accident.
On June 1, we embarked on a journey to the United States. I feel uneasy and I don’t know how much it will cost. American medical care is famous all over the world; I don’t know whether it can be cured, because cervical spine tumors are always associated with paralysis and death.
But we always believe that if you go to the United States for surgery, at least patients will get the respect they deserve, at least doctors will have a serious attitude, at least the most advanced technology in the world is in the United States.
4. Initial Diagnosis
Finally, on June 3, we arrived at UCSF by car. It was basically a hospital without walls. It was just a block. The various outpatient buildings, inspection buildings, Teaching centers, research centers, and various free shuttle buses shuttle in various areas.
When we came to the designated outpatient building, we were looking around to check the house number. A fat Latino man with a folder in hand, a shirt and tie, greeted him with a smile and asked: "Are you from China? Mr. & Mrs Lin?" This It is Robert, the UCSF International Center who is responsible for receiving us. He is responsible for all appointments, medical records, and check-ups. During the entire treatment period, we never lined up once, and he contacted all of them in advance. He would basically accompany each visit.
When I came to the neurosurgery department, another Chinese man greeted me. He was an interpreter assigned by the International Center. American hospitals stipulate that for patients whose native language is not English, special translation will be provided when seeing a doctor to prevent misunderstandings and delays in the condition, and this service is provided free of charge.
Before going to the doctor, fill out various questionnaires, including the date of birth, nationality, race, etc., as well as medical history, drug allergy history, medication records, and even a privacy policy. After 7 or 8 questionnaires, an assistant will do various checks, such as height and weight, body temperature and blood pressure, hand strength, knee-jerk reaction and so on.
After everything was done, the translator and us were taken into a small room, waiting for the doctor to come. Before going to the United States, we have checked Dr. Chou's resume. He is a Chinese-born American-born neurosurgery doctor who specializes in complex spine surgery. He is an expert in minimally invasive spine surgery. He was once selected as the best in the United States. 100 doctors.
After a while, DR. Chou came in with a smile. He was in his 40s, tall, and wearing a well-fitting suit (the American doctors we met did not wear white gowns, but only assistants, students and the like. I’m puzzled for the reason.) When I came in, I shook hands with everyone present, and then I sat down and started talking about the condition. Although he is of Chinese descent, DR.Chou can't speak a single sentence in Chinese, and communication must be conducted through an interpreter.
After inquiring in detail about the onset and current physical reactions, he said to us, "I studied the MRI film taken in China, and think that your most likely is myeloma. If it is myeloma, you don't need surgery, radiotherapy is fine." A word stunned us. I ran 3 or 4 hospitals in China and listened to the opinions of 6 or 7 experts. No one has ever told us about this possibility.
DR.Chou took out a piece of paper and wrote down 8 words which are myeloma, giant cell tumor of bone, osteosarcoma, etc. He told us that tumors at this position of the cervical spine are basically these 8 possibilities, each of which is a treatment The methods, follow-up prevention and recurrence are different. For example, myeloma is very sensitive to light. He metaphorically said that "under light, the tumor will melt like a cream" so it can be cured by radiotherapy, but the recurrence rate of myeloma is very high, and follow-up treatment is needed in the later stage. However, radiotherapy for giant cell tumor of bone is useless and can only be done through surgery, but giant cell tumor of bone will hardly recur. He also briefly talked about other types of tumors, but please forgive me for not having enough brain capacity, I can't remember so many.
This medical department is thrilling, and there is a spine model next to it. DR.Chou will bring it over and show us the position. After he finished speaking, he smiled and looked at everyone's "any question?" experience of seeing a doctor in a Chinese hospital for many years. Faced with such an explanation, we really don't know what to ask.
Seeing that we have no problem, he went on to say: "At present, the most important thing is to determine the type of tumor and do a needle biopsy as soon as possible. With the answer, we will discuss the next step of treatment."
Then he asked my husband: "Does it hurt now? Do I need to prescribe painkillers for you?"
This question gave us mixed feelings at the time. Few doctors in Chinese hospitals take the initiative to ask about the feelings of patients. Maybe because there are too many people, maybe because the doctors are too busy, maybe because the Chinese have superb endurance, but as patients and family members. It is a great respect and comfort that a doctor cares about your feelings and takes the initiative to help you reduce your pain.
The entire consultation time, about one hour, costs $500. Because we don't have insurance, we can pay 40% in cash by ourselves, and the final payment is 300 US dollars.
5. Biopsy
The puncture biopsy is scheduled to show the huge benefits of the International Center at this time. There is no need to register, line up, or register. After Robert has made an appointment, he can inform us of the time and place.
On the day of the biopsy, there was still a big battle, accompanied by Robert and the translator, and all kinds of questions and forms at the beginning. (Every time you change a department, you will go through a round of questioning to check your weight, blood pressure, etc.)
Then her husband changed into a surgical gown in the locker room. The biopsy is equivalent to a minor operation, requiring local anesthesia and various precautions. The biopsy in China seems to be done by the doctor in charge while in hospital. The United States attaches great importance to pathology reports, which are done by specialized pathologists to ensure the reliability of sample extraction.
I can't enter the operating room. I can only wait in the special family rest area, with sofa, TV, magazines, and coffee, but I'm not in the mood. After more than an hour, the nurse informed me that the operation was over and my husband was in the recovery room. I imagined him lying on the hospital bed with salt water, and when he walked in, there was nothing except a band-aid on his neck. Asking how it feels, there is no feeling at all.
We were talking, the female doctor in charge of the operation came to the bed with three assistants (please forgive my brain capacity, I can’t remember her name). She first said to her husband: "What he did just now is very good (in fact, he I just lay on my stomach and didn’t do anything.) The puncture went well, and we got the ideal sample, and the results could be obtained in about a week.” Then began to confess that you should not touch the wound during the bath tonight, and you should come to the hospital if you have a fever. In the end, she took out her business card and handed it to me. If you have any questions, you can contact her.
After 5 minutes, the nurse informed us that we could change clothes and leave. I felt very disappointed. The extremely important needle biopsy was over without even staying in the hospital for a day. The final bill let us find the feeling of surgery, after a discount of 25,000 US dollars, 15,000. The cost of American hospitals is never reflected in medicines. It is determined by the level and number of people who serve you. Therefore, US$200,000 to 300,000 is a reasonable fee for surgery in the United States.
6. Referral
While waiting anxiously, a call from DR.Chou's assistant came. She informed us that the result of the biopsy was confirmed to be myeloma and no surgery was required. Therefore, we have to refer us to the radiology department for radiotherapy, and to the hematology department for examination to find out the cause and control the recurrence. Robert will make an appointment for us and inform the specific time and place.
In all kinds of waiting, we also began to understand the situation of myeloma. It is actually a malignant tumor of the blood. Plasma cells accumulate in large numbers and mutate to form a tumor. There is a difference between single and multiple. It will erode bones and is common in the spine and ribs, but its symptoms are not obvious and can not be detected by basic tests, and the misdiagnosis rate is as high as 70%.
The first one we met was Dr. Alexander Gottschalk from the Oncology Department of Radiology. According to his resume, he is an expert in radiotherapy and the director of the UCSF Cyberknife (Cyberknife) surgical program. The cyberknife is used to treat tumors with high-precision radiation with large doses of radiation. It can treat brain and spine tumors; breast, lung, pelvis and other cancers at one time.
When we were fully convinced that using Cyberknife (Cyberknife) can solve cervical spine tumors, DR.Gottschalk told us to use intensity modulated radiation therapy (Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy) because my husband’s tumor was too close to the central nervous system. It is suitable for high-intensity radiotherapy such as Cyberknife. It is done 20 times with intensity-modulated radiation, and a small dose each time is better. Being ignorant, I knew for the first time in my life that the types of radiotherapy can be dazzling.
I have heard too much about the horrible experience of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Of course I am concerned about the harm of radiotherapy. I asked: "Does radiotherapy cause hair loss? Will I have trouble eating?" DR. Gottschalk couldn't help laughing: "Don't worry, it will be a little bit at best. The throat is dry, and the surface skin is a little red, and the others are basically unaffected. Intensity-modulated radiation therapy is a relatively safe treatment." Then asked: "What about the therapeutic effect?" The doctor replied affirmatively: "The effect is very good for myeloma. A course of treatment is one month, and after waiting another month, we will do MRI again, and the tumor has basically disappeared."
After receiving such a reply, we were full of joy, and the stone finally moved away after a few months of pressure in our hearts. No surgery, no pain, no terrible sequelae, can you imagine a better result than this?
7. Turning point
It turns out that we were too happy too early. Every dark cloud is rimmed with gold, and there will be a shadow under every white cloud.
Because myeloma is a hematology disease, Robert helped us make an appointment with Dr. Thomas Martin. DR. Martin is an expert in the department of hematology and oncology. He has extensive clinical research on hematological malignancies and hematological cancers, and he is especially good at treating multiple myeloma and leukemia.
Omitting all kinds of preparations, I finally met DR. Martin. He is a Hispanic, with white hair and rich expressions. When I see him, I think of the term Martin, Uncle Mars. But Uncle Martin gave us a heavy blow.
Hearing that we had made an appointment with DR. Gottschalk to start radiotherapy, Uncle Martin frowned and waved his hand again and again, "No, stop for a while. You need to do some tests. Because you need to make sure that your myeloma is single in the cervical spine. There are still other parts of the body."
What, there are other parts?
"Myeloma is also called plasmacytoma. Plasma cells flow around the body with the blood. Therefore, only 3% of single myeloma, most of them are multiple. Moreover, the probability of recurrence of myeloma is very high. The probability of recurrence within one year exceeds 70%, and the probability of recurrence within five years exceeds 50%. You must be prepared."
We are confused again.
"However, don't worry about it. There have been new breakthroughs in myeloma research recently. A new drug was launched in June this year (referring to June 2012), which is very effective for stubborn cases of multiple myeloma. There are also several new drugs and The treatment has reached the stage of clinical trials. I estimate that myeloma treatment will change drastically within ten years."
He looked at his husband and said half-jokingly: "Maybe you can be cured by taking two pills when you get sick."
Excuse me, is this comfort?
Helpless, began to check. Take blood, urine, and bone marrow.
The bone marrow is drawn in the examination room of the blood center and operated by a male nurse. There are two types of nurses in the United States, general nurses and specialist nurses. Specialist nurses have to take special examinations, have certain professional skills, and some have prescription rights. The nurse who draws bone marrow belongs to the specialist nurse. They put a needle in the coccyx and ask "Does it hurt?" and answer "I don't feel anything."
Okay, are you from the "Pain-Sparse Planet"?
Another important examination is PET-CT.
This is an inspection project that has been heated up on the Internet. Some hospitals in China have introduced it. It seems that Zhejiang Province only has the Zhejiang First Hospital and the 117 Hospital (Medical Hall Jun’s Note: More than these two have). The cost per visit is 7000 RMB. Medicare. PET-CT can detect tumor lesions on the millimeter scale with an accuracy of 95%. It scans the whole body and can understand the lesions of the whole body at one time, which is not possible in other examinations. But the harm is also obvious. It requires an intravenous injection of a sugar metabolite to mark tumor cells. This substance has radiation and is harmful to the human body.
In my opinion, using PET-CT for the annual routine physical examination is the rhythm of death. But if your MRI or other routine tests have suspected that you have a tumor, then you should do it. After all, the accuracy of PET-CT in detecting cancer is higher than others. This radiation is negligible.
The cost of PET-CT in American hospitals is 7000 US dollars each time, and the process is the same as in China (well, the machines are produced by the same company).
Is it possible to spit on the intravenous needle technique of American nurses here? Her husband's blood vessel was so thick that he just pierced two needles and didn't penetrate it. Instead, he shed blood in his arm. He kept talking sorry, and seeing me shook his head from the side, he should have seen the infusion room of the China Children’s Hospital, the crying of children, the crowded parents, the invisible blood vessels, and the nurses. It's not a bunch of accurate ones, you might be scared to pee if it is changed to you.
8. Sentence
While waiting for the results, I received a call from Uncle Martin’s assistant, saying that the doctor had prescribed two medicines and asked what is the pharmacy near us?
It turns out that welgreen and CVS in the United States are both pharmacies and large supermarket chains, spread all over urban and rural areas. The doctor will prescribe your medicine to your designated supermarket, and then you will go to the counter to report your name, verify your identity and pay for the medicine. All medicines in the United States have no outer packaging, but are uniformly packed in orange translucent cylinders with instructions on how to take them. The pharmacist at the pharmacy will also explain the contraindications to you.
The two medicines cost more than 5 dollars in total. Compared with the consultation fee, it is almost negligible. No wonder American doctors don't like to prescribe drugs. Hospitals don't even set up pharmacies. They starve to death by selling drugs.
We finally waited for the day of the verdict, and we came to Uncle Martin’s office again. He smiled and said, “You are a single plasmacytoma with a 3% probability. There is only a lesion in the cervical spine. This time it can be resolved by radiotherapy. Lah."
Long live!
"However, as we talked about before, the probability of recurrence of myeloma is very high, and you must be checked regularly." Uncle Martin blinked.
"I found a local doctor for you. You can go to him for checkups and email me the report regularly. If you have any questions, please come at any time."
He handed a note with the mailbox and name on it, and when we saw that it was a hematologist at Zhejiang First Hospital, we immediately felt relieved.
9. Radiotherapy
Back to DR.Gottschalk's place.
What my husband is about to receive is Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy.
It uses CT and MRI to create three-dimensional images of the tumor and surrounding tissues. Based on these images, it controls the direction, shape and intensity of the radiation beam to ensure that high doses of radiation are delivered to the tumor while minimizing potential damage to healthy tissues.
UCSF Medical Center has been conducting intensity-modulated radiotherapy since 1997. It has two types of intensity-modulated radiotherapy: linear radiotherapy, which can have up to 25 fixed beams. Serial tomotherapy-This type of radiotherapy machine can rotate around the patient and perform radiotherapy from multiple angles. IMRT can treat brain tumors, breast cancer, gynecological tumors, head and neck tumors, lung cancer and prostate cancer. Which domestic hospitals have it, I'm not sure.
To prepare for radiotherapy, my husband was lying on the radiotherapy table, taking the positioning data from various places, and specially made a green hard plastic cover covering the head, neck and shoulders for him. Every time you go in the future, just cover this cover to ensure that it will not move and ensure the accuracy of the radiotherapy position.
My husband's radiotherapy is 20 times, once a day, 5 days a week, and rest on weekends.
The first time I got radiotherapy, I came out in less than fifteen minutes after I went in. I was taken aback and thought there was an accident. The doctor said it was done. In fact, the actual exposure time is only 2 or 3 minutes each time, and it takes more time to lie down and put on a cover.
As a result, we spent more time traveling back and forth between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, like commuting to and from get off work every day, spending 2-3 hours in the hospital for only a few minutes of radiotherapy, getting acquainted with the various means of transportation in the Bay Area, and seeing all along the caltrain. Of various scenery.
In 20 days, a doctor will come to see you and ask you "How do you feel? Is there any discomfort?" Your husband's answer is all "very good".
In fact, except for the tenth time or so, he felt a little itchy in his throat and a piece of skin on his neck became a little dark, nothing felt. At one time I even suspected that if I really lie down for a few minutes every day, the cervical spine tumor will be cured?
10. Rehabilitation
After 20 radiotherapy sessions, the cost is about 50,000 US dollars.
Robert helped us to make an appointment for an MRI examination one month later. At that time, it was time to really check the effect of radiotherapy.
Time flies, at the end of August, we once again returned to UCSF, and once again returned to DR.Chou's clinic. Well, everything starts with him and ends with him. In the United States, the attending doctor is responsible for the system. The first attending doctor takes full responsibility, and he determines the treatment effect.
DR.Chou turned out two MRI films, one was just made and the other was made in China 3 months ago. He pointed to the corresponding position and signaled us: "The tumor has shrunk significantly, indicating that the effect of radiotherapy is very good. This process It will continue until the tumor cells completely lose their activity and form a scab-like existence."
"The tumor erodes the bones of the cervical spine, so there are cavities in the second, third, and fourth cervical vertebrae. Fortunately, human bones have a self-healing function and can recover in about two years. During this period, you need to take calcium tablets to reduce collisions. , Such as rugby, skiing, etc."
"Which kind of calcium tablet is better?" "Calcium tablet is a very common nutrient. Just pay attention to the 800mg a day you supplement, and it must contain vitamin D. The brand doesn't matter, you can buy it directly at the pharmacy. The quality is about the same."
After taking care of these, DR.Chou took out DR.Martin's doctor's order again. I don’t know if it’s because the consultation fee is so expensive. Those who don’t need to see the appointments, reports, etc., can be handled at the same time by phone, email, and going to other doctors.
Uncle Martin's doctor's order made us stunned. Not only did he write a letter to Chinese doctors detailing the symptoms and treatment, but he also listed a table to inform us of the examinations to be done every three months, every six months, every two years, and every five years, concisely It's clear.
At the end of the letter, he left his email address and phone number, saying: "Any questions, you can contact me at any time. I will continue to track the progress of the patient's condition." Such services and such care finally understand where a harmonious doctor-patient relationship comes from. Come.
More touching us is: For three months, Robert and we have been like family and friends. In a Chinese hospital, no matter how good a relationship is, you can’t be like Robert. When you go to a new department and see a new doctor, he will accompany him. For all examinations, he will make an appointment in advance to ensure that you do not have to wait when you arrive. He will help you collect all the expenses. You can see the doctor first and pay the fee.
When we were ready to return to China, Robert copied all the inspection reports, treatment records, doctor's orders, and medication reports for us to keep on file. The most surprising thing is that all of Robert's services are free. He is an employee of the International Department of UCSF Medical Center. This is an additional service provided by the hospital for international patients.
The entire medical cure in U.S. is 3 months, never stayed in a hospital for a day, never took a bottle of water, even only took a few pills, and hardly felt any pain. The cost is more than 70,000 U.S. dollars, which is about RMB 450,000.
11. Follow-up
Two full years have passed, we have returned to China, and we are back on the track of normal life. According to Uncle Martin's instructions, he was regularly checked at Zhejiang First Hospital step by step. Everything is fine now, and her husband is completely normal.
The experience of seeing a doctor in the United States is a precious experience in my life and my husband’s life. In retrospect, I often feel in a daze. I was prepared to accept the test of life and death, and I was prepared to experience the long-term pain in the future. During my trip to the United States, I was resolved without any painful struggle. This was the result of my prayers every day, but I dared not ask for it.
Of course, I don’t know what is waiting for us when I stay in China and continue to watch. Until I saw the post of "Living-Six Months of Life and Death", I seemed to see the other side of the coin. I have no way to judge whether Mr. Shenjiangan and my husband are the same disease, nor do I know the medical gap between China and the United States. I just want to tell everyone through my own experience that there is hope in desperate situations.
Of course, it is impossible to expect that every patient with intractable diseases can go to the United States for treatment. However, it is helpful for each of us to understand other people's treatment methods, learn from other people's cross-division diagnosis and treatment process, and understand the origin of other people's harmonious doctor-patient relationship.
Before posting this post, I hesitated again and again. Fear of being considered too high-profile by others, fear of being considered by others that money is omnipotent. Going to the United States to see a doctor is just a little hope that we can grasp in despair. In fact, in the face of major diseases, money is not the most important, your judgment and choice are the most important. Each of us should start from ourselves and make the best choice within our ability.
For example, if you go to the United States, you may have spent a lot of money but still can't get medical treatment. If you face such a result, I will accept it calmly, because I have done all my hard work. Maybe in the United States, medical expenses are too huge, and we may have to borrow money. I will not hesitate because people are much more important than money. This has nothing to do with right or wrong, it is just my choice, and I will be responsible for it.
I share my experience with you. If I can give people in need a little bit of enlightenment and a little bit of help, I will be extremely satisfied!
