How far did you all have to travel?

[Nancy R]

The urologist who has the most experience is 2 hours away from where I live up in Albany. My urologist is having difficulty getting in touch with the Medtronics rep from my area (NYC) which makes me nervous b/c I know how important a good rep is in all of this. So I've been considering going to see this doc up in Albany but realize this may not be very practical if I have complications during the trial (or if I were to have the surgery, when I needed an adjustment). Did any of you have your Interstim done by someone far away? Should I opt for convenience over experience or vice versa? So confused...

-Nancy R

[Sandy]

Hi Nancy,

I live in Toronto and we do not have medtronics reps that come into the operation or trials with us, or at least we did not when I had mine done a year ago. DebbieB just had hers done and I am pretty sure she can vouch for that. (Interstim redone) I know she travels two hours and I travel about and hour and 1/2. I have had to go for 4 tuneups and go for a urodynamics on the 23rd as I still cannot get my bladder to empty to the feeling it has completed peeing. Other than that, it has made a big difference for me compared to last year. Stress is my biggest problem, so I have to keep that under control and lately my tailbone area has been achy again.

Sandy

[yvette]

Hi Nancy, I live in Massachusetts and I travel about 1 hour to 1.5 hours to see my Interstim surgeons and Medtronic Representative. I also still see my uro in the town I live in. (So in reality I actually have 3 uros! )

I was willing to go to Michigan (or even further) if I was not happy with what I saw in Boston. To me, my health is so worth it, and I feel I deserve the best care I can get. My body is the only one I got, and only I will take care of it the way it needs to be.....

I think the choice is ultimately up to you. maybe you will find someone close and experienced, which would be ideal. Perhaps they could set up some sort of arranngement with someone local (a collaborative effort of healthcare) should some complications arise. That way all your bases would be covered.
Best of Luck....
y.

[DebbieB]

Hi Nancy:
I think it is worth my trip to go see my urologist , he is about a two hour drive from me ..

As Sandy has told I had to have my InterStim done over, due to my lead wire being crack and had to have a new lead wire put in, it will be a week tomorrow..

I live in Canada and we do not have a Medtronic reps at all , my Urologist (which is Sandy's Urologist too) does all the adjustments for me, it is well worth my trip to go see this wonderful Urologist as I have had such wonderful results from the InterStim Implant.

It is sure worth all the travelling to get a good Urologist any day!!!!

Hugs ~~~Debbie~~~

[Ruth N]

Has your doctor done any interstim implants/ Have you checked the interstim website to see if any NYC doctors are listed.

I guess I am pretty lucky. My interstim urogyn is local. I travel to Long Island to see Dr. Moldwin once or twice a year for IC follow-up (he does not do interstim)and my local urogyn follows his recommendations.

Many of the interstim gals travel to their doctors. The main drawback seems to be not so much with the surgery but that they can't go for programming readjusments as often or as easily. Sorry I can't be of more help.

[Kara23]

Nancy,

I also live in MA. It takes me about an hour to get to mine from my house but he is 5 minutes from my work. I would travel the earth again if I knew I would feel this much better.

Good Luck in your travels

Kara

[Amanda]

I live in Michigan and my urologist is about 45 minutes from me.

Amanda
([email protected])

[Meghan]

My doctor is only about 15 minutes away from my house. He is a urogyn, my sixth urologist--yet the closest to me. I would have traveled a long way to ensure that the doctor was the right one for me.

[ChrisNes]

I had to travel 300miles to get my interstim. I hope to find someone close, a rep or someone in the area.
I have to drive an hour to get to a urologist and he didnt know how to help me.
I posted this on other sites,
Hey, I got my Interstim implant on the 19th and I took off my pad in my panties. so far no leaking with urge. I have 6 more weeks of doing nothing. The doctors want scar tissue to develope around the wires. I had a kink in a wire on my tailbone, the doctor thought that may have been why I was getting the surges, so he opened that up again and took the kink out. All is fine so far, I just have to keep telling myself not to lean over, reach, squat, or lift anything for the next 6 weeks. The pain med they gave me this time still gave me the itches. I am uncomfortable sitting in my chair so I just lay around. LOL I didnt know the device to change the settings would be so big. It is bigger than my cell phone and I have no room in my purse for it. I wld like to go to the post office and try it out lol...maybe when I am all healed Ill see if I set off any alarms.