Hello All, There are some great comments here. Thank you! All so true. I have a note on finding docs in general. I have been the lucky gal who always ends up in the 5% - who rupture, who need rare surgery, who grow a massive fibroma and need radiation for a condition commonly treated in Europe that way but not here. Yeah me for being special.

I have had to find a variety of experts to deal with outcomes that "don't usually happen". This means the guys who take care of the 5% and are up on the latest for weird conditions. I have solved this by doctor shopping. So tedious but worth it. I start by looking at a group of specialists' CV which are often on their webpage. I have leaned towards those who did fellowships at large academic centers I respect. They have had a better chance of seeing things at a tertiary referral center and competition to get a fellowhip is fierce. My surgeon trained at Stanford in microsurgery and peripheral nerve at Washington U in St. Louis at an excellent nerve program. The training gave me confidence and he DOES know what he's doing. More than I can say for some of the hacks I have encountered. Because he's on a lower exremity restoration team I ended up finding other docs I trust through him. I travel 3 hours to Medical City in Houston to see three different specialists. It is absolutely worth it. For me, even in a city as large as Austin we just don't have that kind of care, damned town's grown to fast....

Sending Healing Love
Littlepaw