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[Sean Connery]

I may have confirmed elsewhere that $USD30000 is the price for the kit of PRECISE nail, and that is a worldwide rule.

The answer for India is a little different. It will be $US30k for the kits and there will also be another 10% for 'customs and taxes' and then also "5000 US dollars is deposit for magnetic device you will be using for 90 days and then you return to them they will return the deposit". This from Dr Shah directly.

So I'm currently arranging the method to make an up to $38k payment to Ellipse to have the hardware made available to the surgeon. When that's done I can count off 5 to 6 weeks for when I should plan to arrive in India.

I asked Dr Shah another question to which I'm surprised by the answer. I enquired the "maximum extenstion and weightbearing capacity of the nail" to which he replied "Approximately you can take 25 kg if you use the 10.7 mm Precice 2 nail". I think this must be the answer for one nail/leg, because I swear some other LLers have said that it is 150lb for the pair. But 25kg for one is just 110lb for the pair: 20lb per wrist more being borne by arms on a walking frame. Does it sound accurate or way too conservative?

India has high import taxes for absolutely everything. It's why you end up actually spending more on buying something like a high def tv over there than you would elsewhere like in the USA. Might I ask how you came to the decision of choosing Dr. Shah over other doctors in India like Parihar or someone else?

[Thegosis]

I've had the operation as scheduled on 14 October and now capable of standing unsupported on my two feet (not walking). I'm still admitted at the Ashwinii Hospital of Mumbai.

In the coming days I can be discharged in a wheelchair, begin lengthening and continue physiotheraphy to get strength and flexibility back. It will be back at my hotel in Bandra Court or at an apartment in Mahim if I can find one. The latter would be better as it is closer to the Hospital.

The day before the operation I met representatives of the importers of the PRECICE nails at the hospital: Maxi who is the rep in Mumbai and Chris who has come over from the headquarters of PRECICE in the USA. Dr Shah prepared me that the limit of my lengthening may be 5cm due to my prehistory of a lengthening on the tibias. 8cm will be the maximum and judgment of where to  stop will be the matter of forestalling subluxation of the knee. Chris was at the operation, and I heard him giving some advice about positioning the nails. It was 5 hours.

The costs have been $USD15000 for the surgery including inpatient care and INR50000 for postsurgical consumables (injections, medicines, IV infusions, tests and xrays and measurements). 1USD = 64.70INR. Outpatient visits from a physiotherapist will be 500INR each. Meals at the hospital are not covered in the aforesaid.

The doctors working for Dr Shah speak, read and understand English capably although the maids and ward staff do not. They converse in Hindi and Marathi, the dialect of Mumbai. There is plenty of advertising in the street presented in English and there are local English language TV channels.

Trivia:
* the hospital is small takes up the ground floor of an apartment building. Nurse(s) are onsite 24hrs/day when patients are admitted. The doctors attend at other locations, one of which is Shivaji Park.
* Dr Shah's wife (Monica) is an MD radiologist who works at the hospital and other locations. I hadn't detected that from his website. There are signs up in his waiting room reminding that requesting sex determination of the foetus (by sonogram, ultrasound) is prohibited
* Nonvegetarian meals will not be brought into the hospital. Dr Shah is Jain.
* Across the street is a Hindu temple to  aladevi that has been sited there for 500 years. One or two cows are always tied up outside. Dr Shah has talked to me about the special and therapeutic qualities of the cow.
* Dr attends to his patients very well dress and completely barefoot!

[Thegosis]

Is there some way for me to adjust the title of this thread to October 2015 rather than February 2015.

[KiloKAHN]

Look like you made CLL history by being the first to do internal femur lengthening in India. It took me a while to find Dr Shah's clinic since it was so hidden, and for some reason a lot of the auto rickshaw drivers don't know where a ton of places are, so I had to have Dr Parihar find someone to drive me to Shah's clinic when I was still deciding. Hopefully your whole journey there is smooth (as it can be for leg lengthening anyway).

[LittleLiam]

For those of you wondering how Thegosis is progressing I'm happy to report that he is doing really well and is almost 5cm now.

[Alu]

Are you in contact with him at the moment? I'm just wondering here for credibility purposes.

[LittleLiam]

Yes, we're friends outside of this forum. I followed him to Beijing to do Tibias and may also follow him to India next year.

[Tallexpectations]

News?

[Thegosis]

I arrived back in Australia on 22 December and I'm spending the Xmas/New Year break with family before I go back to India in late January. I've stopped lengthening having reached +5cm/180cm height.

Unbeknownst to me the PRECICE controller was programmed to raise an error and refuse function once the overall lengthening got to 10cm (both legs combined). This occurred on Sunday 13 December. Because of my own feeling of not making much flexibility gain and the doctor's initial opinion that 5cm would be the appropriate overall goal for lengthening I prepared myself for his recommendation that I should be finished at that point. Rather to my surprise, however, he viewed my xrays on the 14th and authorised me to continue lengthening week-to-week at the same pace (0.75mm/leg/day). The alignment and bone callus development are healthy and good.

Now he also gave me the option that I could go home and come back in 6 weeks (or less) and resume where I finished off, or if I came back (say) November 2016 I would require an operation (quoted $USD2000) to reopen the osteotomies before resuming lengthening if that was what I really desired. So I am doing the former and it is as much to prepare my body to find out if it is willing to go that last 3cm as it is to relieve the tedium of spending all day every day in a hotel bed in a foreign country without some respite. From 15-22 December I lengthened my left leg at 1.75mm/day to make up a 1cm difference which had occurred at the earliest stage of my outpatient selftreatment.

On the subject of cost, if I haven't previously stated, outpatient xrays and physiotherapist visits are charged at 1000INR per visit or per image above what I already outlaid as an inpatient. The physio recommends up to thrice weekly visits and there's usually 3 xrays at the Hospital each fortnight to assess progress.

I've already had more flexibility to return in this last week at home which has included driving, using a walking frames and ambulating with elbow crutch calipers none of which I had in Mumbai. The muscles get tight at the front (quads), inside and outside of the thighs for me but not the buns of the buttocks and not particularly the hamstrings.

I heard from the physio, Dr Brinelle, that Dr Shah's other current foreign patient who is male, 50yo+, and from the USA had just reached 6'0 and still going via external tibia Ilizarov frames. I met the guy when we were both inpatient in October & I think he started off as 5'9-5'10.

One last thing: the actual name of the Hindu temple opposite the Hospital is "Shi[]taladevi" which I faithfully reported in one of the earlier posts. The software autocensored that to "Crapaladevi". Isn't that cute.

[alps]

Hey,

great to see you update!

how was your overall experience? and pain?

if you were to stop right now, how far away do you think full recovery is?

[Europa]

Seems interesting… Do you have any pics of the facilities? I think a lot of people would be interested.

Is there any reason why the Precise nails were programmed to lock in at 500 mm? I'm wondering why the settings weren't overridden by the surgeon, knowing your goal.

[Thegosis]

I think the termination was set for 5cm because the surgeon stated that as his goal at the first consultation.

I'm going back to resume my lengthening, arriving on 28 January. I'm getting around on calipers and dont need my wheelchair now. Actually I can put all my weight on my right leg and take small steps but the left leg's not there yet. I've been driving my car around Sydney NSW since after Christmas which I get in and out of unassisted.

Won't have my car when I'm in India. Damn.

[Thegosis]

I've been back home in Australia since the start of March. I came out through Kochi which I think is in Kerala state.

Given the time since my last post then this will probably be my final communication on this forum.

Last week I re-entered the workforce where I was allowed to go about on my crutches and this week I've been leaving them in my car.

My weakness is at the left hip which I work on with time at the gym and in hydrotherapy and of course the physical activity of testing myself in the workplace, which I feel is most important.

My last measurement of height was 180cm, and that of course varies with the measurer or the measuring equipment or even the time of day: just as measurements of my 2013 beginning height varied from 165cm to 167cm. Thus it is my claim to fame to have added 15cm (6 inch) of stature as an adult. It's not a world record though it is extreme, unusual and out of the ordinary.

I again express my recommendation of Dr Suhas Shah, his wife Dr Monika Shah, the Ashwinii Hospital practice manager Ravi Nancy, the physiotherapist Brinelle Braganza, and the other good people at the place who preserved me over that season of my life in a small corner of India: a country that goes by various other names .. Bharat, Hindustan, and "the subcontinent". The good Dr can legitimately claim to have had a successful surgery and to have supervised the use of the PRECISE 2 for its full extent also successfully. It's over to me for the remaining part.

For those who would follow in my footsteps be aware that when you have made the decision for surgery a lot of research and consideration and action is required beforehand. The surgeon's fee was $USD15000 but there was also the cost and import application for the PRECISE 2 and there was 50000 Indian rupee for aftercare at the hospital. I was going back for fortnightly xrays that were INR2000-3000 and the physiotherapist would visit each time for INR1000. Visas, accommodation, travel insurance, food, taxis, tourism are all part of the budget.

My mind throws back to October of last year when I visited the Sitaladevi Temple across the street from the hospital where I would be admitted soon after and receive the surgery on the 14th. I look into the eye of the living cow as I did that day when I resolved to live as a vegetarian out of respect and with the Mark of Respect put between my eyes by one of the Hindu believers, which itself was a first for a man in the 45th year of being. This was when the mantra came to me that will be my last words to some of you.

A Good Patient Makes A Good Doctor

[thelegend]

Why is there no pictures on this diary? It could easily be fake just saying

[appgain]

Unfortunately this person's xrays with his full name have been published on social media. I will not reveal where in order to protect privacy. This is one reason to never do this surgery in India if you care about privacy.

Thegosis, message me if you want to know the details, but I doubt you will come back to the site ever again.

[appgain]

If anyone knows this patient, please feel free to email him about this and PM me if he is concerned.