So basically I have found the cheapest way for people living in 1st world countries to get Limb Lengthening done. You could get the surgery done for as little as $10,000 total cost including flights, living, physical therapy, literally everything. How? Keep reading... and no this is not some advertisement for any doctors. This is just a strategy for working the insurance game.
Over View Of Grand Strategy:
Essentially you will be going over to cheap countries to get the first surgery done which is technically the only "elective" surgery throughout the process. The rest of the surgeries are medically necessary, or are preventative in nature, which in the state of Oregon in the United States does covers a lot preventative surgeries. SO when you come back to your home country what you will tell the doctor is that you have had infected pin sites. Insurance will cover the cost of having the metal frames removed because removing them is a "preventative surgery" to avoid the risk of pin site infection. Infections are a BIG deal in the medical industry. When you have frames removed the Ortho surgeon will doing plating, LATN, LON or if you did straight externals, will just have the frames removed for good. The 3rd surgery of having the plates removed or the rod taken out will also be covered by insurance because why? You guess it, it is medically necessary to avoid infection. In New Delhi, India there are a few doctors that will do straight illizarov externals for like $5,000 dollars. Then you fly back to your 1st world country which has a good health care system, and finish your limb lengthening journey there. It gets even better, since I am not working, I qualify for social security disability, as well as a bunch of other public resources, so at least back in your home country you won't be burning through savings. Also, you could even live with your parents to save money, not recommended lol jk
Overview Of Tactical Strategy:
Step 1:
Make contact and reach out to a few orthopedic doctors prior to leaving the country, and unofficially (meaning ask the doctor not to put this conversation on your medical records) explain to him what it is you will be overseas, and your strategy for completion of limb lengthening journey, which I will give you throughout this blog post.
What to tell your home orthopedic doctor: Basically tell him the truth, that you will be going over seas, and you are reaching out to him/her to see whether or not the orthopedic surgeon will take over your case, one doctor turned me down, but that is because I tried lying at first saying it was an accident, and that turned him off, so its best to tell your doctors the truth. They know how to code anything up in order to have it covered by insurance, so they main thing you have to do is just be friendly lol so they will help you.
Side note: If you can get a wheel chair for free, consider bringing a wheel chair with you to the country, you are planning on going to, if you can. This will save you close to $150.00 usd. And every thing adds up.
Step 2:
Fly to prospective country get whatever procedure your heart desires. If money is not an problem then obviously do internals method that doctor Paley recommends. If money is a factor then consider doing straight illizarov externals tibia. Then you can do LATN once in home country, Or if you want to do LON then thats fine too. I did LON, and I think I would of rather have done LATN just because now the nail, inside my leg leg/tibia shaft, is short after lengthening 6.5 cm. My theory is that this is causing me pain but I am unsure because I just got my illizarov external devices taken off on september 1st 2016. I did 6 months in those things, when if I knew what I know now, I would have only done 3 months in them. Some people think that its stupid to leave your Doctor during the lengthening phase; hind sight is always 20/20 but from my perspective it would not of really mattered if I lengthened next to surgeon or with an orthopedic from my home country. My surgeon wasn't much help anyways, he was way to busy, and always having 2 many patients. Plus when I got home I went to Slocum Orthopedic center in Eugene, Oregon, and the facilities are far more advanced than that of India.
Side Note: Reach out to Orthopedic centers that handle a lot of sports medicine like athletes because facilities are generally better with more advanced medical solutions.
Step 3:
If you choose to do lengthening in your home country you will probably want to wait at least a few weeks to heal from surgery before flying (YOU WILL NEED A LETTER FROM YOUR DOCTOR SAYING YOU ARE MEDICALLY CLEARED TO FLY). If you want to lengthen in the country you chose then thats fine to, but you will spend more money on living costs, but if thats not a problem for you then it doesn't really matter. I am just writing this to show you how to save a little bit of money. Lastly, when you are back in the 1st world country see if the doctor will do whats called a stem cell bone marrow injection. These are what they give professional athletes and College athletes to regenerate different tissue cells. In our case its bone marrow. What they do is take bone marrow from my hip, and then mix it with blank stem cells, which turns the stem cells into bone marrow specifically for your body. Insurance will cover it if your doctor says that you have a "delayed union" this is good because these shots are not cheap. It is best to get the bone marrow stem cell shot done at the same time you are getting the second surgery, so that way you don't have to deal with another surgery at a later time.
Any one have questions?
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Topic: How to get the surgery done the absolute cheapest way, and the most safe. (Read 9075 times)