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[DanishViking]

What's up guys. I completely forgot to share about my experience almost doing LL with AFA in Turkey. The reason why I remembered was that I wrote in my calendar that I most likely could arrive home if I decided to go through with it today. I have linked to the receipt that proofes that this isn't something I have made up.

I got picked up by there private driver in the airport after arriving at the SAW airport in Istanbul Turkey. Then I got to the hotel where the entire team is operating at and we took some "before" pictures and discussed the different questions I had around the surgery. I also met 3 patients, 2 doing LON on femurs and 1 Precice patient the day afterwards. All of them was satisfied and was back to do the other segment. They were very friendly and answered all my concerns in details. I decided afterwards to pay for the surgery for Femur Precice.

The next day they drove me to the private hospital in Sakarya and before that they stopped at a different hospital where I took some X-rays and had some regular check-ups. I met Mustafa Uysal who was supposed to operate me, and he especially asked into why I wanted to get the surgery. He also asked if I had any illnesses or something, and then it came to my mind that I forgot to tell him that I have Renauds Syndrome. The short explanation of it, is that when exposed to even the slightest cold my ligaments including fingers and toes turn blue/white because of lack of blood flow. He also told me that he wasn't 100% sure that the Precice 2.2. 10,7 mm nail would able to fit in my femurs, since he was forced to ream alot, since my bone canal was pretty short even for my height which unfortunetly is very rare...  And he doesn't use the 8.5 mm nail, since he had a very thin 150 cm girl bend the nail even tho she was careful. So this added in some extra risk of complications for me.

With this into consideration I decided to cancel the surgery and either not do this type of surgery at all or just wait for the new weight bearing nail from Nuvasive, because I knew that it would most likely also offer the smaller diameter of 10 mm like Stryde offered, which almost guaranteed would be able to fit inside of me. Almost as soon as I told them under 24 hours before the surgery that I wanted to cancel the surgery anyways, they started the refund and I recieved the money the following day. They drove me back to the hotel and they from there wanted me to pay 900 dollars as a cancellation fee. I of course understand that they had some expenses and also asked for some kind of receipt so I knew what I had payed for. The only thing I wasn't happy about was the fact that I had to pay 50 dollars for them going grocery shopping for me without me asking for it, which is a negligible thing anyways.

They overall seemed like a good choice if you have to do it in Turkey, however if you are to scared to do it in a third world country, it might be better to go with Dr Giotikas in Athens Greece since his similiarly priced while also having decades of experience.

Link to reciept:

https://ibb.co/0BRZ3MR

[TheDream]

Cool that you went there and got some more information Viking, also good to hear you got your money back.

Based on the receipt it looks like AFA charges 55k for the internal femur + 3 months accommodation. At that price how come you didn’t go to someone like Birkholtz?

[DanishViking]

The accomodation and food is only an estimate of the cost of my stay troughout my time at the hotel. Not something I actually had to pay upfront, since I had my GF their as well that was going to cook for me (spoiled I know). So technically speaking they would have been cheaper to go with, however also more risky, which in hignsight probably wasn't the right prioritization (if that's a word lol). But yeah his package and overall balance between quality and price to performance is hard to beat. Only big negative is that his operating in South Africa, however with weight bearing into the picture makes it way more tempting for me.

[Acemace86]

What is wrong with operating in South Africa?

[DanishViking]

1. It's one of the most dangerous places on earth crimerate wise

2. Most patients who do LL are wealthy people from the western side of the world (Europe/America), so it's a very long time sitting after LL which can lead to pulminary embolism I believe, which is pretty dangerous. However with a weightbearing nail in the picture being able to stand up and walk to the toilet and not sit for like 10-20 hours in a row makes it more compelling in my opinion.

[Acemace86]

Has any American surgeon advised on what size nail will fit you based on x-ray?

[1team]

1. It's one of the most dangerous places on earth crimerate wise

2. Most patients who do LL are wealthy people from the western side of the world (Europe/America), so it's a very long time sitting after LL which can lead to pulminary embolism I believe, which is pretty dangerous. However with a weightbearing nail in the picture being able to stand up and walk to the toilet and not sit for like 10-20 hours in a row makes it more compelling in my opinion.

You'll be waiting a long time for the weightbearing precise nail to get to South Africa. At least 2025, ask Dr Franz as it could be longer

[DanishViking]

AceMace86 no only Mustafa Uysal. But I think I will book a consultation with a different surgeon once Precice Max releases in 2025+. Don't mind waiting for the right nail and skipping 5 months in a wheelchair /walker.

[DonBones]

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[tallmen]

I did my femurs with 8.5mm nails because I also had a small bone canal and my doctor didn't want to overream. I did fine and recovered well without any bending. Also, precice max is not available in less than 10.5 mm so your only option is 8.5mm precice 2.2. Just be very careful not to bend and do it with an experienced surgeon. You'll be fine.

[TheDream]

Maybe you missed it Viking but Paley gave a long talk about the new Precise Max vs. the Stryde and Current Precise in a cyborg4life video https://www.youtube.com/live/i8eVt0r1xoI?si=1DJI1XmNhlrEwpkv. Time stamp 21:20 he starts talking about the nails but it takes a few minutes before he gets to the precise max.

[Acemace86]

You know if you would go ahead and do precice 2.2 you will be done before you ever have a chance at precice max.

[Beemer m3]

once i heard doctor recommended 4 months of wheel chair . but also u got to remember u have to go to pt while lengthening so technically u wont be sitting.

[DanishViking]

50:12 it says that the smallest diameter is going to be 10 mm not 10,5 mm so I have hard time believing you overandover. I know what you mean by not having wait, but for me in my case it's the only thing that makes sense. Not only in terms of convenience but also in terms of safety.