Stock to buy: REST Pillar Procedure

Sounds like insurance will start paying for this procedure and the CPAP
manufactures will see a decrease in sales.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincitie ... 604989.htm

"The company lost $7 million on sales of $4.8 million last year. Restore's prospectus says that losses are expected to continue through at least 2008."


Meister, I'm not that patient. LOL!

I had it done today. The worst part was when he stuck the needle in to
give me the novacaine. Doctors don't ever have the patience to let
the topical take effect, before they stick the needles in. I couldn't
feel a thing when the inserts when in. My throat is very sore now. He
said that I was his 7th one. One guy said it cured him of snoring after
one week. His wife agreed. Another patient was in his late 70s with
a number of health problems. He said it didn't help him. The other
four saw some improvement in their symptoms. Time will tell!!

Cost was $1200. Now I will be working toward some insurance payment.

meister wrote:I had it done today... Cost was $1200.

Hey Meister! Congrats on the Pillar!

At $1200... how are these guys losing so much money???

How long did the proceedure take?

Doctor talked for 2 minutes, then I signed a paper which stated that
the procedure was totally voluntary, I had no recourse, and I shouldn't
have any expectations. Then he numbed me up and left the room for 5 minutes. He came back in and inserted each strip, one by one. It took
him about 2 minutes to insert each one. I felt only some slight pressure.
Then he had me rinse my mouth and gave me a prescription for
Amoxicillin, and also Tylenol #3. Out the door I went! So maybe 20
minutes total, plus 10 minutes of me asking questions. I think his cost was $700. I begged him to put one or two more in, but he wanted to wait.
He thinks that radio frequency ablation can we combined with the Pillar
for harder cases. I have SEVERE apnea.

I am just so frustrated with PAP therapy. Every problem possible I have
faced ... major leak problems, rainout, waking up throughout the night,
mask cutting bloody notch in my nose, my wife moving to another room
due to the noise, etc. But I did get relief from my anxiety, ED, and
exhaustion, when I could get it to work! But what a pain to clean hoses,
mask, etc. A royal pain is trying to backpack/camp with a heated
humidifier, giant VPAP III, gallon of distilled water, etc.

So now, with a slightly sore throat I wait and hope.

I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Meister,

Good luck - I really hope this works for you.

I contemplated it once but the doctor was so keen to do it so quickly after I 1st went to him, that I opted out then never went back.

Keep us posted.

DSM

interesting. pls. keep us posted. tks!

2 days after procedure. Throat pain disappearing, but is still
black and blue with some swelling. Still snoring.

Sometimes feels like a piece of grass is caught in my throat. I use
this analogy, since I mow the lawn a lot, and I am a consummate mouth
breather, so I have many experiences with grass on the back of
my throat!!

So the ENT who performed the procedure asked if anything was
different. I said "No changes whatsoever in my sleeping habits or
in my nightly statistics". He then said "Many times it takes 2 to
3 months to see the results".

So I trotted off to a 2nd ENT for a 2nd opinion. He studied my sleep
test and said "Your sleep apnea is way too bad for the Pillar to do
anything. You need a UPPP! Sign here and we can schedule your
hospital visit. Unfortunately we have still found nothing to remove
the horrible pain associated with this surgery. I will try not to make
you talk like Donald Duck, and hopefully you won't have water and
food coming out your nose. The UPPP has about a 20% chance of
helping you."

So I will wait some more for the Pillar scar tissue to shrink my palate.
I guess some sort of Radiofrequency Coblation might shrink it.