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Prostate Cancer: Alternative Treatments Found For Virile Males
“You’re going to die within two years or possibly 10 years”. That was the best case and worst case prognosis Gary Walton was given by his urologist upon being diagnosed in 2004 with an aggressive prostate cancer.
Walton, a resident of Rodeo, California, was 64 years old at the time of his diagnosis. Since then he has rebounded from that dismal prognosis and is retaining the richness of his life with alternative treatments that offer far less negative side effects than any of the treatments recommended by his U.S. doctors.
“It was devastating to get that diagnosis,” said Walton, “It was presented by the doctor like a death sentence. We asked him what kind of negatives would introduce at that time, and his response was, ‘there’s a lot of things that can happen, but you just have to understand that this is the only way that you can go.’
All the doctor wanted to do was to surgically take out my prostate. It was pretty much a given that after surgery I was going to be incontinent and impotent.” “Prostate cancer is devastating to a male because it attacks the male testosterone and the male physiology and consequently that’s all devastating mentally as well as the physical problems,” said Walton, “Men in their late 70’s and 80’s may have only slight sexual urges. But when you’re in your 50’s and 60’s and still virile, it’s absolutely devastating.”
The Walton’s researched alternative treatments, insisting on referrals to physicians specializing in Brachytherapy seed implantation and radiation. “Because of my Gleason number, I was told I was not a candidate for seed implantation” so I started radiation treatments. At no time did any of the doctors we saw give us any indication that there were other alternative treatments,” said Walton.
I was prescribed Lupron for about four months and the side effects were just horrendous. “Lupron has tremendously negative side effects for men. The side effects are that you lose bone mass, you lose muscle mass, you lose hair. You get heavy in the hips, your breasts enlarge. Your whole physiology changes from masculine to feminine. It is medical castration.
I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror. I couldn’t even recognize myself. I was also fainting so I couldn’t even trust myself to drive. I lost all kinds of energy. It was just totally devastating. “I joked with my wife, I said, honey “don’t throw any dresses away, because you married a man but you’re going to end up with a sister.“
After my 40 radiation treatments my PSA had gone down and it stayed stabilized for about a year, year and a half, but then it started doubling. We were very concerned that the cancer was returning with a vengeance.
I woke up one morning after a sleepless night and I told my wife, “you know this is a big wide world. In Europe, in Asia, in South America and in Canada, there must be some research going on that maybe we don’t know about here in the U.S., so one of the first places we went to was WHO, The World Health Organization. They suggested HIFU and Dendritic treatments. That’s when the Waltons chose to travel outside the U.S. for the treatments they required. “I could have gone to Canada, but because it was February, we chose Mexico.” Their research started by contacting HIFU in Charlotte, North Carolina.
HIFU has a contract with San Javier Hospital, Puerto Vallarta, for Dr. Raul Morales of the IIB Clinic for Dendritic and Dr. Carlos Garcia for the HIFU procedure. Robert Johnson, with HIFU, arranged everything for us including air and hotel accommodations and no-cost shuttle service daily from hotel to San Javier Hospital.
Between my first and second trip to Mexico for Dendritic treatments I had not taken any additional medications or treatments suggested by my doctors in California. I knew that since my PSA had been level for almost a year that it had to be due to the Dendritic treatment.
Walton said there are clinical trials of Dendritic treatments going on in the U.S. “I sought the opinion of Dr. Lawrence Fong, University of California San Francisco Medical Center. He is a specialist in the Dendritic area and feels there were worthwhile clinical trials going on showing positive proof that Dendritic treatments would be a good treatment procedure for all kinds of cancer.
Walton said it’s been his experience that doctors in the U.S. don’t give you all the information you need to make an analysis for yourself. “They are handcuffed and gagged by the healthcare system and by the hospitals because they ar so afraid of any kind of litigation,” said Walton, “They don’t have your best interests at heart. They have the hospital’s bes interests at heart.”
“I question why the FDA is so slow in the approval process when these alternative treatments have been proven and in use for years in other countries,” said Walton.
Walton has made three trips to Puerto Vallarta for treatment. Based on the predictable results, the Waltons anticipate maintaining his PSA level by making annual trips to Puerto Vallarta for the treatment. Each trip takes about week. The treatment procedure at IIB consists of four sessions that Walton describes in detail in a separate recorded interview.
“The cost of the HIFU treatment was $25,000.00. The first treatment of both HIFU and Dendritic in February 2007, cost $50,000.00. The last two Dendritic treatments have each been approximately $13,000,” said Walton.
”At all times we were treated with the upmost respect and professionalism. For a very difficult experience, in a strange country, everyone made us feel comfortable. We had an English speaking interpreter with us at all times during the treatments and available 24/7 for our calls and questions” said Walton.
“I truly feel that a doctor who has signed the oath and knows that there are other treatments out there that could be extremely beneficial, and if they don’t give you the information and allow you to know that and their patient dies, I think that is the most cruel thing that any doctor can do.” said Walton.
View pictures of Gary and Lea Walton and hear their interviews recorded live for Traveling4Health.com where you can avoid the annoying distraction of advertising links. Listen as Walton describes in detail his medical experience in the U.S. Hear his first-hand account receiving HIFU and Dendritic treatments at the IIB Clinic in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
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Retirement is expensive. Time to get creative.
Mexico physician and visionary, Dr. Jesus Gonzalez-Gaytan, former Medical Director of AmeriMed Hospital at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, and currently founder and CEO of One-Stop Medical is paving the way for Americans to maintain their health and standard of living abroad in Mexico. One-Stop Medical offers an innovative $660/year urgent care medical coverage plan for people living more than six months a year in Mexico’s popular resort town of Puerto Penasco, ‘Rocky Point’, and plans to expand the plan to other livable communities within Mexico.
You don’t need a crystal ball to see that foreign land developers looking to attract Baby-Boomers in the age bracket of 40 - 65 to buy second home or retirement abroad will sell more homes by featuring accessible medical facilities and health care in or near their land development projects.
“It amazes me that people buy million dollar homes in Mexico in locations that are booming with new home developments, but without ever asking themselves the question, ‘what if I have a heart attack; what will happen to me?’ I suggest you get that question answered to your satisfaction BEFORE you buy a home,” said Frank Carrillo, founder and CEO of SIMNSA, the only foreign HMO provider accredited by the CA Dept. of Managed Care.
Dr. Gonzalez has a privately owned medical company in Mexico rising to meet the challenge of serving the health care needs of expats including American retirees, and subsequently raising the standard of living of the indigenous population who will benefit from the economic stimulant.
It’s a win/win proposition for all people concerned. “I want to give the foreigners that live here the same quality of healthcare they are used to in the USA, and possibly improving it, by decreasing the paperwork and increasing the time dedicated to patients” said Gonzalez. The word to the wise is that both U.S. and foreign insurance companies will either compete or work together to provide medical coverage reimbursement for care provided to citizens living abroad, and that all entities involved will benefit financially from meeting the needs of consumers.
That all bodes well for retirees who broaden their horizons to include global solutions to lowering their cost of medical expenses, protecting their financial nest eggs, and maintaining their standard of living upon retirement.
Listen to live interviews with insurance industry experts and foreign doctors at Traveling4Health.com.
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Baby-Boomer and Seniors Retiring Where the Health Care is Good and The Cost of Living is Easy on Your Pocketbook.
Retiring abroad is just one of many ways in which our world is flattening. Many retirees view living an enriched lifestyle abroad a natural extension of the effective cost reduction solution which businesses have used for many years, off-shoring.
For instance, based on an income level of $50,000 a year, here is a cost of living comparison between Seattle, WA, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Granted, neither location is the ‘cheapest’ place to live, but both are recognized as desirable destinations in terms of quality of lifestyle; particularly relevant when looking to maintain a high standard of living upon retirement.
Click Here to compare the cost of living, including the cost of health care, between Seattle Washington and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
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Stem Cell Therapy in Mexico: A Parkinson Patient Walks Again!
For the last three years, 78 year old Walter White, an expatriate living in Antigua Guatemala, had been steadily losing his ability to walk as a result of Parkinson’s disease.
In July 2008, White underwent stem cell therapy at the IIB Clinic in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. “I was headed for a wheel chair when I arrived in Mexico,” said White. “In order to walk I had to have a cane in one hand and a person on the other.
White related that his father, who suffered from Parkinson’s disease’ had been in a wheel chair for a couple of years before he passed away, “and I didn’t want that to happen to me so I took a chance on stem cell therapy. It was kind of scary,” he admits.
According to White, the stem cell therapy consisted of taking bone marrow out of his legs for five days and then re-injecting marrow back into his body. “They never used a knife,” said White, “They used needles and I had local anesthesia for both operations. I never felt a thing.”
“They kept me in intensive care for a day and a night just to be on the safe side,” said White, “the whole treatment took about two weeks.
White said Dr. Raul Morales thoroughly explained everything about the procedure to him and to his wife. “Dr. Morales had a team of four or five doctors, and they checked me out beforehand from head to toe, including my heart,” said White.
After two weeks of stem cell therapy, White’s leg bones were strong enough to walk on his own. “Now I can walk without help and without a cane,” said White. The cost was $23,500.00
To research more options for living abroad and global healthcare options, visit Travelingforhealth.
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Mexico Is Our India for Medical Tourism and A Strong Contender for Baby Boomer Retirement Destinations
Mexican hospitals are equal in quality to the medical tourism hospitals in India, and Mexico has the advantage that it’s closer to home which translates into less stress of travel for American medical tourists plus, overall, a more sustainable senior health care resource for baby-boomers considering the cost savings of retiring abroad.
Mexico has several hospitals staffed with American and American-trained physicians and surgeons as well as American owned and run hospitals, like the AmeriMed Hospital Group, as well as private medical clinics for urgent care that have sprouted up recently in many of the most popular Mexico coastal towns.
So the big picture being painted here is that the same places you might go for surgery or a medical vacation in Mexico are popular retirement destinations for baby-boomers and for the same reasons; the health care experience and the feeling that you’re on vacation. Plus, there’s an abundance of American communities; neighborhoods where you’ll feel at home.
New neighborhood, same friends, is Mexico’s allure for baby-boomers looking at retiring abroad for the obvious savings in cost of living and for the high standard of living and choice of locations that feature accessible health care in terms of hospitals, urgent care and alternative care.
After all, how many times a year do you go to the hospital compared to how many visits you make to the chiropractor, the dentist, and to your physicians for common ailments and to specialists for your individual health care needs?
I’m not minimizing how important it is to have a good hospital accessible, but it does mean accessibility to urgent care, family physicians, specialty physicians and alternative care is what’s going to sell the homes for the community and resort developers in Mexico looking to incentivize American Baby-Boomers to retire abroad
So it’s the sustainable medical care in general that allows seniors to maintain a high standard quality of life, and that’s what matters most to retirees when picking a retirement destination.
More good news for seniors, is that American insurance companies offering expatriate medical insurance for American retirees are now facing stiff competition from private Mexican medical providers offering very affordable urgent care insurance to foreigners in popular Mexican coastal and resort destinations, and soon to offer full-coverage health care insurance for a fraction of the cost of a comparable insurance policy in the States.
Competition between the U.S. and Mexico in the health care and medical insurance industries bodes well for baby-boomers looking to sustain their quality of life upon retirement without depleting their financial nest egg for medical care.
Check out an example of affordable urgent care insurance available to foreigners living in the popular Mexican resort town of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point, Mexico), by visiting Mexican urgent care insurance at Travelingforhealth.
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$660/year For Urgent Care Insurance in Mexico Coastal Towns - A Boon to Baby-Boomers Retiring South of The Border!
How does an urgent care insurance policy for $600/year sound to you? That’s the deal being offered by Dr. Jesus Gonzalez-Gaytan, former medical director of AmeriMed Hospital, who started his own company in November 2006, promoting and developing a fundamental change in the way medical care is provided in all the Mexican resort cities.“Presently we are providing outpatient medical coverage to the foreigners that live in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point, Mexico) for more that six months out of the year. We are doing this through a yearly medical contract for $660 (U.S. Dollars) plus IVA (10% Mexico’s federal tax). This contract provides a yearly history and physical (this includes all the basic laboratory testing, EKG, X-ray, etc.), all the follow-up visits, any emergency visit with the emergency medications available, home visits if necessary and the organization of any transfers for hospitalization to a USA hospital,” said Gonzalez, “As soon as we have the Urgent Care Center we will expand coverage to all the weekend visitors.”
This healthcare project was established for the sole purpose of providing medical care and medical management to patients and hospitals in Mexican tourist cities, established with the goal of providing American style personal physician services and comprehensive health care in Mexican clinics and hospitals, at a reasonable cost and in an environment that is familiar and comfortable to the tourist patient that is accustomed to the high standards of healthcare present in all American clinics and hospitals.“Our specialty will be to provide the best emergency medical services to stabilize, treat and transfer any patients with the typical severe accidents that happen in these resort towns,” said Dr. Gonzalez, “With the JCI certificate we will obtain the market of patients that are looking for resort cities that provide programmed surgical procedures at better costs and in a paradise environment to recuperate from their surgeries. We are also developing Assisted Living homes to be made available to Americans with private long-term care insurances (”Baby Boomers”) and if possible to Medicare recipients at a much lower cost than in the USA and with the same or higher medical standards of care.
Dr. Gonzalez currently has one clinic operating in Puerto Penasco, Sonora (the resort town of Rocky Point, Mexico). With the master plan of managing an Urgent Care Center at Sandy Beach and later in expanding to full service hospital. Afterwards the construction of another Urgent Care Center in the Mayan Palace area (35 kilometers from Puerto Penasco) and the management of another similar projects at San Carlos, Sonora.
For a complete list of services, contact info and to view the contract for medical care, visit Traveling4Health
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Crème of the Crop: The Best Foreign Hospitals, by Country
In this interview, Rudy Rupak, co-founder and CEO of PlanetHospital details the vetting process his company goes through to locate the best doctors and put their seal of approval on foreign hospitals listed, by country. What follows are excepts from the live, recorded podcast at Traveling4Health/Healthcare abroad, as well as list of hospitals, by country, including contact information and links.
“Finding the right doctor is more important than finding the right hospital,” said Rupak, “our company is not hospital centric; it’s doctor centric. A building doesn’t cure a person; a doctor does.”
“We focus on hospitals that attract the best doctors,” explains Rupak. “we’ve visited every single hospital and met with the doctors personally; interviewing them and doing peer reviews and background checks.
I was frankly surprised, when researching for stats comparing the quality of health care by country, that I found no such statistics at the usual respected sources such as the Kaiser Foundation.
“There really isn’t that kind of data available in published form, but we’re going to do it ourselves,” said Rupak, “It’s a legal challenge. Some of these hospitals have given us data, but it’s for internal consumption only and we can only share it with individual patients, but we can’t publish it.”
“The problem is the hospitals are competing against one another, and they don’t want their data to be made public especially to the other hospitals,” said Rupak, “They’re sensitive about that. So although we have the data available, we cannot put a comparison sheet together just because of our convenance with each and every hospital.”
“We have destination managers located in every single country that we do business in, and one of their main functions is to visit the hospitals and make sure that we get all the data that is germane to the care we’re providing. The data collection is set forth by our Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer who put together the standards for our data collection,” he said.
Here are names and links to the top foreign hospitals, by country, according to Rupak:
Singapore: The three top hospitals there are: The Parkway Group, National University Hospital and Sing Health. “There are other hospitals of great reputation, but those are the three that our Chief Medical Officer was comfortable with,” commented Rupak.
Philippines: We choose to work with The Medical City Hospital, and with St. Luke’s Hospital.http://www.stluke.com.ph/
Thailand: We’re only dealing with one particular hospital called Samitevaj.
India: There’s the Wockhardt Hospital in Bangalore, the Apollo Hospital in Chennai; and in New Delhi, the Max Hospital and the Artemis Hospital.
Belgium: The Jan Palfijn Hospital.
Greece: The Genesis Hospital in Thessallniki; St. Joesph Hospital in Malta,
Brazil: The Albert Einstein Hospital and the Hospital Sirio Livanes in San Paulo
Panama: The John Hopkins Punta Pacifica.
Costa Rica: The Clinica Biblica
El Salvadore: The Clinica Diagnostico
Mexico: In Guadalajara CMPH hospital; in Mexico City the ABC Hospital; and the Angeles Hospital in Zonario (a suburb of Tijuana near the San Diego border).
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Retire in Mexico For A Better Healthcare Experience
American retirees Living Abroad are blowing the lid off the myth that medical care in Mexico is necessarily inferior to what you can get in the States. Many Americans who routinely visit Mexico rave about the doctors they’ve found and tell entertaining stories about what makes the experience both different and in many cases superior to their medical experiences in the States.
Washington State baby-boomers Randy and Nancy Krause spend several months a year in Mexico. They chose Puerto Vallarta as their home-away-from-home largely because of the standard of health care so vital to maintaining their active lifestyle.
The Krauses had no difficulty finding a qualified Mexican dentist and a chiropractor in Puerto Vallarta. “One morning my husband woke up with a tooth ache, so we had no choice but to go to a dentist, and as luck would have it the dentist shared his office three days a week with a chiropractor who turned out to be Dr. Oscar Margain who is about the only U.S. Palmer trained chiropractor in Puerto Vallarta,” said Krause.
The Krauses felt comfortable with the quality of dental care in Mexico, and were also entertained by the cultural experience in the office of Dr. Benjamin Vargas. The Krauses recommend Dr. Vargas for the quality of his work and the more personal treatment.
“The office looked just like a dental office in the States,” said Krause, “He was set up to look at our x-rays on his laptop. The only difference was that, while he was working on my husband’s tooth, two or three of the dentist’s friends hung out in the doorway talking to him.”
The affordable price of dental care is also typical; a crown for $350, and $275 for a root canal that probably cost $1,500 in the States.
The chiropractor they met through their dentist turned out to be the best chiropractor they’d ever gone to, according to Krause. “Between me and my husband we probably have 60-70 years experience with chiropractors,” said Krause, “and Dr. Margain is the best we ever worked with.”
“Their whole philosophy in Mexico is so different,” explains Krause, “certainly in the case of my chiropractor, Dr. Margain. His philosophy is to get you well in four or five visits, and he will say, ‘let me work on you and if I don’t do you any good don’t pay me’. Well that never happens in the States.”
“When we were down there this last time I had some medical problems, so Dr. Margain pulled out some forms from his desk, and he sent me out to the lab to have some tests,” said Krause, “I just walked into the lab, gave them the piece of paper Dr. Margain gave me, they did the tests, and three hours later I had the answers.” “That cost me $78,” said Krause, “That’s better and faster service than in the States.”
“I know enough people, besides myself, who for one reason or another have had to go for medical treatment not to have qualms about being able to get quality medical treatment in Puerto Vallarta Mexico,” said Krause.
For example, Krause tells a story of a woman who had a life-threatening experience due to an allergic reaction to noseems, and the good care she received at a hospital in Puerto Vallarta.
“She was in real trouble and was admitted for emergency treatment in a hospital in Puerto Vallarta for four days,” said Krause, “She had a private room and a private nurse. She thought the treatment was great, and the whole medical experience cost her $700.00 Here you might have to sell your house to pay for it.”
Listen to the live interview on Traveling4Health
