Yes, I feel quite confident based on what I've read and seen on this forum that the people who are still dying from the disease really aren't getting the proper treatment, full stop. Hang in there Ian, and, if possible, try to find out if there are any more options for your stenosis. I'm not sure if yours was subglottic or tracheal (or both) but frankly, I've read about people getting balloons every month or so and it just seems to me that there has to be a better way (meaning, I know for a fact there is a better way, but there has to be some way that people in your part of the world can access that better way, no). If nothing else, it's not great for you to keep going under anesthesia so frequently. My ENT says that if he can even save me one surgery, by operating at the very last moment (right when it starts to affect my life, as opposed to recurring stenosis, which he can now see when he scopes me, but I can't yet feel), it will be worth it. As he says, as only a New Yorker can "hey, it's not nothing, it's surgery and the biggest risk to this type of surgery will always be death, no matter how skilled the hands."