Appointments at American Access Care

[HollyBarr]

Anti-coagulants, and also pre-procedure bloodwork to determine things like serum creatinine levels are not.

This is important to be aware of - the anticoagulant Arixtra is expensive and it's an additional out of pocket expense.

Quite valid, Cece! The Arixtra can be something like $3K! However we have ways we can try to work around this, specific to each patient's individual situation, and generally even self-paying patients don't end up paying this.

[Rompers]

Holly, I happened upon Dr. Sclafani's post on the American Thanksgiving Day that he was recommencing practice and immediately sent a request for a "date" with him! A couple of weeks later I applied to AAC as well. (as Chicago is closer)

Is this "way too soon" to expect a reply for Dr. Sclafani given the size of his backlog? Any idea of a time frame for either Dr. S or Dr Makris?

With apologies, ...since I decided not to wait on Canada, ...the wait is hard!!

[anamishguy]

Has anyone been contacted by AAC in Chicago? Are they swamped?

I have an appt in March for consult/procedure.

[Donnchadh]

Has anyone been contacted by AAC in Chicago? Are they swamped?

Did you try contacting them directly? Information is on Dr. Markris 1st CCSVI procedure thread.

Donnchadh

[belsadie]

Holly, You're one of those "Behind every great man" people THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
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THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU[/b]

[Cece]

I have an appt in March for consult/procedure.

that's great news, anamishguy!!

I looked up info on credentialing, here is what I found, I am sharing here because of the well-wishes I've received and because there are others also waiting on the credentialing process:

• UHC: From the time the National Credentialing Center (NCC) gets a clean and complete application from the provider to the Credentialing Committee recommendation, the National average for May, 2009 was 22 days. tp://tinyurl.com/627zkay

Another insurance company listed it at 40 days. From the same link, there is references to there being a 90-day deadline for completion of the credentialing process after the receipt of all missing application info, per House Bill 125 guidelines. So, there would seem to be hope, it cannot take forever. ;)

edited to add: I've been rescheduled but was only pushed back 2 weeks! That's nothing. Fingers crossed....

[SCGirl]

I'm a little confused. I am going to Dr. Mandato in Albany next month. Is he part of the Sclafani group? And if not, why did I not get in the Sclafani group?

[Cece]

I'm a little confused. I am going to Dr. Mandato in Albany next month. Is he part of the Sclafani group? And if not, why did I not get in the Sclafani group?

SCGirl, no, Dr. Mandato is part of Dr. Siskin's group, that's completely separate. Did you fill out the registration for American Access Care and just not hear back? Holly is about to do a flurry of scheduling, more people will be getting dates soon.

[SCGirl]

I filled out the form that Holly sent me and received information from Mandato's office, as part of the All Access Care.. or at least I thought..

[SCGirl]

Has anyone been to Dr. Mandato? Should I cancel and wait for Sclafani..? Gosh, I was excited and now..

[Cece]

Has anyone been to Dr. Mandato? Should I cancel and wait for Sclafani..? Gosh, I was excited and now..

Dr. Mandato was discussed in this thread, with links from there:
http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-14927-mandato.html

You'd be getting different treating methods if you go with Dr. Mandato:
Plavix, an antiplatelet, after the procedure instead of Arixtra, an anticoagulant, before the procedure;
no use of IVUS;
more procedures scheduled per day;
willingness to stent, albeit infrequently, vs no stents;
waiting three months after the procedure before follow-up vs a follow-up ultrasound at 1 month (and again at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, etc months);
no high pressure balloons.

With all the docs using different methods, we end up choosing our treatment when we choose our doctor, so it's important IMO to understand the choice we're making even if on some of these it's not clear what's best.

[HollyBarr]

Holly, I happened upon Dr. Sclafani's post on the American Thanksgiving Day that he was recommencing practice and immediately sent a request for a "date" with him! A couple of weeks later I applied to AAC as well. (as Chicago is closer)

Is this "way too soon" to expect a reply for Dr. Sclafani given the size of his backlog? Any idea of a time frame for either Dr. S or Dr Makris?

With apologies, ...since I decided not to wait on Canada, ...the wait is hard!!

We're going through Dr. S's requests now. Don't believe there's currently any substantial wait (few months, tops) for either Drs. Makris or Sclafani. Please PM if you want to further sort out which you would like to go to and/or your particular registration.

[HollyBarr]

Holly, You're one of those "Behind every great man" people THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU[/b]

For all that typing alone it is you that very much deserves thanks!

[HollyBarr]

Has anyone been to Dr. Mandato? Should I cancel and wait for Sclafani..? Gosh, I was excited and now..

SCGirl, please PM me so we can hopefully straighten this out.

[hopeful2]

For folks planning on going to Brooklyn for the procedure (newlywed4ever and others), I have only the best things to say about the staff there and the whole process.

You'd never know it's only been a few weeks since the Bklyn clinic began dealing with CCSVI patients---things are running really smoothly and handled professionally.

The clinic is a short hop from Hotel LeBleu by taxi and costs $8. Bizzy spoke of the Hotel in a previous post and I agree with what she said.

Regarding restaurants, Brooklyn Bread has good food for breakfast, lunch, and supper (with extensive open hours). Avoid Thai Sky unless you are willing to risk vomiting a lot the night before your procedure (like I did).

My procedure was 3 hours and my recovery was a full 4 hours but this stuff varies for each of us so don't plan on copying me!

I'm still low energy and it has been 6 days since Dr Sclafani finished up my procedure. It seems somewhat common for it to take time to bounce back so I'm not rushing out to do more than what's necessary.

I'm glad I prepared stuff before I left for Bklyn in case I was too tired when I came home. That's one tip I'd offer up to future Bklyn patients to make recovery at home a bit smoother: prepare ahead of time if you can. Hope that helps.

Shout out to Holly for her efforts in this gig. And to Dr. Sclafani who, in the end, makes it all happen.