Pre-Surgery Thoughts
Went to the hospital and I am now waiting for the surgery. What can I say?
I keep asking myself: What have I got myself into?
Is this really happening?
What have I done?
Then I remember why I got LL and that’s what’s keeping me going. I’m scared of the pain that’ll come and the risk of complications, but you just have to face them head-on.
I trust that the Paley European Institute will look after me well. I picked the Paley European Institute because they are a clinic which focuses on deformities (most of their patients appear to be children with congenital deformities). This means that lengthening is a relatively standard procedure for them and pretty simple. If any complications arise they are more than ready to deal with them. The proximity to the UK was a big plus too. The reason why I decided to do my surgery with Dr Deszczyński was that he is a surgeon in what I would argue to be in their golden years. Dr Paley is an old man, I don't understand why people insist on going to him. This is especially true if they take up his offer in Europe. Who in their right mind would want an old surgeon who is jet-lagged to do their surgery? I think that there is some arrogance from his part for doing this in the first place. So he does the operation then leaves the patients at the care of the local doctors and physiotherapists? I have a medical background; to me, Dr Paley doing this is terrible because he is doing things his own way (which might not be at the best standard due to the conditions above) but also he does things his way then if something goes wrong it falls back on the local clinic. If I were to do my surgery in the USA, Dr Robbins would be my surgeon as Dr Paley no longer does the surgery (unless it's on one leg, but not always). I don't think that Dr Robbins has the reputation to charge that much, especially when his clinic has worse physiotherapists (Polish physiotherapists spend 5 years in focused training, the US hardly has specialised training for them as 4 years in college are broad).
I planned this surgery thoroughly. I bought Vitamin A,B,C,D, and E in addition to Omega 3,6, and 9, zinc, copper, magnesium, selenium, iodine, manganese, and calcium supplements. I bought gym weights to keep myself fit and healthy. I booked a carer for 31 days for 12 hours a day. I ordered healthy meals from a catering company, 5 meals a day (3000 kcal in total in addition to a protein shake).
I picked the best place in my mind so I have full trust in them. I trust that they’ll help me get back to my pre-surgery form in due course. Sure, I don’t expect to go into pro-sports. As long as I can walk, run, and live my life normally I’ll be happy.
Sure, you can argue that X doctor in a part of America is better. However, I see no evidence to suggest this. The American PT teams in the "best" clinics are inferior to European ones. You see a different PT every time. The new PT won't know your condition so you'll receive a worse, generic treatment.
This whole thing right now feels surreal as it’s what I’ve worked towards for the past couple of years. Now I have to overcome this hurdle as I’m sure that reaching 180-183 will be a game changer to me.