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[SpeedDialer]

I'm going to do LL surgery in Greece. I will come back home to America after maybe 7 weeks and will get some X-rays done in America.

If my primary care doctor refuses to fill out the order form (I heard this is a thing) for the x-rays, what are some other good options to be able to quickly find a doctor who will fill out the x ray order?

For internal femurs with g-nail

[BelowTheMean]

For mine, Dr. D provided me X-ray orders each time. Not sure if foreign doctors can do that in the US

[zaozari]

If I understood the question well, you go to any orthopaedic doctor, explain the situation and he will most probably  prescribe the Rx request. You can even ask your doctor in Europe to write a letter to his American colleague asking that. Of course you need to pay everything that is not included in insurance.
This was what I did in Europe after a first consultation to an orthopaedic doctor,  to use for more prospective informations, prior to doing LL (I'm still doing research).

[SpeedDialer]

ty!!!

A thought entered my mind: "I could stay in Greece for the whole 7cm lengthening. Or I could leave after 6-7weeks and finish the lengthening at home but then I'd need to pay for the xrays back at home in the USA out of pocket. Which is better? When factoring in safety and cost"

What is your advice? How much would the xrays cost to get every 2-3 weeks at home? Trying to get an estimate but the xray place say they can't give and estimate until I see a doctor in person, which is taking some time

[tallmen]

I'm going to do LL surgery in Greece. I will come back home to America after maybe 7 weeks and will get some X-rays done in America.

If my primary care doctor refuses to fill out the order form (I heard this is a thing) for the x-rays, what are some other good options to be able to quickly find a doctor who will fill out the x ray order?

For internal femurs with g-nail

Who is stopping you from going to some LL doctor in US after that. You can go to Dr. Assayag or even Paley. or Dr. D.

[jlk]

man if it were me id enjoy every fking second of greece. treat it like a vacay! you’ll have so much more fun

[SpeedDialer]

What are my options now?

Dr. Gioitkas says I need to send him x-rays for roughly 10ish months after the surgery (which means when I go back to USA, I need to keep sending him x-rays)

The x-ray place near my place in USA (separate from my primary care doc office) says they need a doctor's prescription

My primary doctor doesn't want to prescribe the x-rays because she feels uncomfortable that the surgery is elective and doesn't seem to want  get involved it seems, she sort of wants me to see a surgeon

What do I do? Do I ask her for a referral to a surgeon or what do I do?

[tallerwouldbenice]

Find another doctor online

[Medium Drink Of Water]

Go to an orthopedic surgeon.

[6CMFemurs]

Do you have an HMO or PPO? (I am assuming HMO based on your story?)

[SpeedDialer]

"Do you have an HMO or PPO? (I am assuming HMO based on your story?)"

PPO. What would you recommend?

[zaozari]

Ask Dr. Giotikas to contact a US colleague explaining the situation and asking for professional cooperation in the benefit of the patient, since after the surgery, RX are a real clinical need. But maybe the insurance doesn't cover it, that's natural.

[SpeedDialer]

So in this setup:
- you are from USA
- You got LL done outside the USA, you finished lengthening, and you came back to the USA
- you now need to get x-rays done in the USA and send those x-rays to the foreign LL doctor who is outside the USA

1. When you got the x-rays done in the USA, what did you tell to your doctor to convince him prescribe do the xrays? Every doctor I've talked to in the USA refused/didn't want to get involved

2. What would you avoid saying? when trying to get the xrays in the USA and you want to avoid getting rejected by the USA doctor

[lessthanavg8300]

The conversation with your local doctor is going to be quite a bit different when you already have the nails in you and your legs are broken.  Hes going to prescribe the x-ray at that point because your health is at risk at the current moment.

[SpeedDialer]

The conversation with your local doctor is going to be quite a bit different when you already have the nails in you and your legs are broken.  Hes going to prescribe the x-ray at that point because your health is at risk at the current moment.

ty!!! How would you ask him? Just say "I did leg lengthening in X country, can you look at the legs?" or should I specifically ask for x-rays?

[lessthanavg8300]

Just tell him the truth. You have height neurosis, you got the surgery, you need a current x-ray to see whats going on.  Without it your health could be at risk.  At that point he should prescribe it.

[femurs2022]

I don't really have a kind way to say this I'm afraid but you are really overthinking this. You have 2 options:

1. Contact the office of a local orthopedic surgeon who takes your insurance once you actually have a flight scheduled back to the US and say "Hi, I'm calling to make an appointment. I'll be a new patient. I had femur surgery overseas and need to establish care for follow up in the US." I would be surprised if they ask for more details but if they do you can say you had intramedullary nails placed. Once you see the doctor if he is unable to provide the appropriate care I would expect he would refer you to someone who can (he has at least an ethical if not legal obligation to do so). Obviously, he will obtain x rays which you can get on a disc to send to your doctor in Greece. But you can't just ask a doctor to order x rays for another doctor and have no other involvement in your care. A physician who orders a study is responsible for following up the results of that study so no reasonable physician will just order x rays for a patient who is not following up with them.

2. Follow up with one of the multiple limb lengthening surgeon in the US. If you live within the US within a reasonable distance of an airport you should be able to travel to see a limb lengthening surgeon once a month for follow up. After you stop lengthening I wouldn't think you would need follow up more frequently than that.

[SpeedDialer]

Right but like-- What do you feel is the most likely reason why like 7 doctors I've asked all refused to get involved whereas I've never heard of other patients having this problem? So it sounds like I should say "follow up care" instead of "x-rays"?

[femurs2022]

Right but like-- What do you feel is the most likely reason why like 7 doctors I've asked all refused to get involved whereas I've never heard of other patients having this problem? So it sounds like I should say "follow up care" instead of "x-rays"?

I'm not really sure why you are even mentioning x-rays when you call a doctor's office. Just make an appointment. You can literally say exactly what I wrote above. Again, you are not going to find (or at least hopefully won't be able to) a physician willing to just write you an order for x rays at your request for a physician overseas to review.

[SpeedDialer]

Alright I guess I'll come back to the USA and ask them for 'followup' you mentioned in your quote.

I guess what's still bugging me is this: in the responses I got from all the doctors who said no, they also said they wouldn't do followup for another doctor. I wonder why they added this in their message and if things would have been different if I just strolled in on a wheelchair