He told me something else interesting. He has worked for a pretty large privately held company in Houston for many years. 1000's of employees. The CEO of the company found out what was going on and called my friend into his office. Since my buddy had missed so much work the past two weeks he was concerned he was in trouble. The CEO sat him down and within a couple of minutes had one of the best neuro surgeons in America talking to my friends daughters doctors. And, since her teeth were really banged up he had already hired and arranged payment for whatever dental work she would need. Among other things.
Remember the end of the movie "It's a wonderful life". This deal was like that.
Yesterday, two women with a mutual friend with a brain tumor were concerned that the three best ranked Neuro Surgeons were booked up for two weeks before their friend could be seen and operated on by these top docs.
I said that there was a reason why they were booked up, they are the top docs. However, if there was an emergency requiring quicker surgery, maybe the local docs could get a consult with one of these top docs. Hopefully what was done with your young friend can be done with this patient, the top docs consulting with the local doc.
My mother in law fell and broke her wrist three years ago. It was not set correctly, and she had constant pain and was losing the ability to write or use her wrist.
We had her fly out here to use the great hand surgeon we have in town. We had her xrays sent to this lady surgeon. She saw something that was a little puzzling in the Xrays. She took the Xrays to Stanford Grand Rounds and explained the situation and the fact that the patient was an 83 year old woman.
One of the Stanford top docs recommended a basic outpatient carpal tunnel operation/procedure followed with intensive rehab therapy instead of major surgery. If that didn't work, then try the major surgery.
Our doctor friend did the carpal tunnel procedure. My mother in law was eating salmon that night and started therapy 3 days later. A month later we sent her back basically repaired, functional and out of pain. The way the wrist was originally set, caused carpal tunnel syndrome. The top doc made the right diagnosis and therapy choice, and our local doc did the operation which was a success.