initiating contact with Natale's office

What's the best way to initiate contact with Dr. Natale's office to discuss the possibility of traveling to Austin for a consultation/ablation by Dr. Natale?

Just call TCAI and tell them what you want. There's a web form you can fill out, but I would recommend calling instead. Contact info can be found here.

Okay... long delay between posts, obviously but a forum post from March 2018 here indicates that there may be a choice between flying to Austin once (consultation one day, ablation next day) and making two trips about a month apart. Seems as if one trip would be much cheaper, but in the scheme of things, I just want the best possible outcome.

For those of you who have flown to Natale in Austin... any non-obvious points a person should consider when making the decision to make one rather than two trips?

Thanks much for any advice!

Karen



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2018 02:05PM by kbog.

Quote
kbog
For those of you who have flown to Natale in Austin... any non-obvious points a person should consider when making the decision to make one rather than two trips?

Aside from the obvious cost factor, not really. Doing it in one trip means arriving two days ahead of time. Day 1 is just getting there and allowing yourself some time for airline malfunction, etc. You really don't want to miss a procedure because a flight got canceled. On day 2 you'll have a chest CT, blood work, a short consult with Natale, and the usual paperwork to sign. And then day 3 will be the procedure. If all goes well, you'll be released day 4 around noon-ish. They ask that you remain in Austin for two days, so you'll chill at your hotel or bop around Austin doing what you like, depending on how you feel. You'll probably feel just fine and you really should go sample the Tex-Mex, BBQ, and Mexican food.

If you do it in two trips, you'll do the CT, blood work, consult, etc on the first trip and then just the procedure on the second. So it really is kind of six of one, half dozen of another with the only difference being time and cost.

If you live in a northern climate and your procedure is scheduled in the winter, two trips could be viewed as a plus. If your procedure is scheduled in the summer (like mine was), well, you have my condolences. ;-)