Good place for knee surgery

Background first: following a fall back in March, I've been going through increasingly severe knee pain which got so bad I could barely walk. I wanted to try TCM, but they wanted pictures to make sure nothing was really wrong before starting acupuncture, so we took an x-ray and did a MRI.


My TCM doctors decided this was merely arthritis because I'm old (53!) and fat (I prefer to think of myself as a plus-size woman), started me on Celebrex (which helps reduce inflammation of the synovial sac) and calcium pills and we began a series of treatments including daily acupuncture, herbal steam, electric current and short wave radiation. Since I started we have now quit the steam and short wave, and substituted massage and warm, herbal wax.


Although this has been slowly releiving the pain, I was still concerned because it looked to me like there was tissue where it shouldn't be in some of the MRI sections (I'm a licensed massage therapist with almost a year's training in anatomy and physiology) and because the translator who read the technician's report of the MRI had to look up the word "meniscus" which are the cartilage "pads" between the femur and tibia.


So I sent the x-ray and MRI to a PT friend in HK who also does acupuncture for his assessment. The result: an obvious and severe "bucket-handle" tear of the posterior medial meniscus. I'm heading down to HK at the beginning of next month to meet with him and an orthopedic surgeon for further assessment and to discuss treatment options, but sooner or later I'll need surgery to repair this.


So at last, my question. I have no medical insurance and I'm self-employed. I've heard that HK can be as expensive as the States and I know that's beyond my means. I've also heard that surgery in Thailand is of a high quality and a lot less expensive. Anyone had any procedures done there? How did you find a doctor, and what were the costs like? Is there anywhere else that you've heard of?


I wish there was a way I could get the knee back into good shape, scrounge the money together to get insurance, and then get this done. But even if I go to a different doctor, the current MRI is dated right on the film so I'd have the expense of a new one, plus trying to manufacture an excuse for getting one done in the absence of a visible problem, and it would keep coming back to when did the tear occur? My mom was an RN and as a therapist I'm just not a big fan of lying to your doctor about how and when an injury occured. Health care practitiners need full disclosure to accurately assess what should be done to facilitate healing. If you're fudging the time line by months or even years, it can't help.


So, to me, finding a way to pay for this myself is the only option.


Suggestions? Ideas?

here is dr lee details, hope it helps


http ://www .emedihub.com/profile.php?pid=233

Good issue - money vs. quality of life.


I'm sorry I can't offer any more constructive advise!