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[Android]

Hey James, I recommend sending a Private Message (PM) to the authors of these diaries, since they'll get an email notification that you messaged them. Find the person you want to talk to and click on the little icon of a chat buttle under their name.

If it's not personal info, feel free to come back and share that with us later.

[Tiger9898]

It seems like one more diary will come from Vietnam.  I hope everything will be good for you, please keep us updated.  Are u thinking about tibia or femur lengthening?  Because I heard that they have developed new stable monorail for femur lengthening and first surgery will be on april with that

[lucindaris]

It seems like one more diary will come from Vietnam.  I hope everything will be good for you, please keep us updated.  Are u thinking about tibia or femur lengthening?  Because I heard that they have developed new stable monorail for femur lengthening and first surgery will be on april with that

Woah, from where you get this information. As i mentioned before i plan to go Vietnam aswell this in the end of june.

[Tiger9898]

Woah, from where you get this information. As i mentioned before i plan to go Vietnam aswell this in the end of june.

Doctor's assistant, Thao knew that i am interested in femur lengthening, but there previous monorail device doesn't let you lengthen more than 6 cm because of safety.  Just 1_2 weeks ago,  I got a message from Thao, he said that we are developing new monorail. And first surgery is scheduled for April

[lucindaris]

I was speaking with him aswell, but about Tibial. That's nice, because i want to make 2 segments in decent price which Vietnam really is. You can get good outcome living there for lengthening process, bcs you are close to doctors and assistants, even better than with expensive nails but w/o often inspection.

[Tiger9898]

I was speaking with him aswell, but about Tibial. That's nice, because i want to make 2 segments in decent price which Vietnam really is. You can get good outcome living there for lengthening process, bcs you are close to doctors and assistants, even better than with expensive nails but w/o often inspection.

He said they will also use internal nail method in 2019(January).  I am still waiting for the outcome of femur lengthening on april with new monorail.  I hope it will be successful

[iwanttobeabillionaire]

Happy to see you guys have posted. I am also considering getting LON here in the coming months. I am a Vietnamese-American living in Vietnam already so its up to my discretion on exact timing. I have visited the institute recently and met up with Normy. He's a good guy and was really helpful in explaining the day-to-day.

I was worried I would be the only English speaking patient there and I think it will be nice to have company while recovering at the institute. Apparently they have had an influx of Chinese patients recently and they were doing lots of construction while I was there to create more individual rooms.

PM me if you guys want to start a Whatsapp group and I can invite Normy.

[lucindaris]

We might create one. I'am  finishing my belechor degree this semester and take a year off for 1/2 segements in Vietnam(we will see how it goes, but i start for tiabia w/o ATL lengthening).

[normythebear]

My first post. I am having surgery with Dr. Quynh within the coming months. I went there to check out everything about a year ago. I was already OK with their old hospital. Having changed the hospital to a new one, I like to believe it will not be anything less than the old one. I was privileged enough to get to talk to the many patients they had at that time, as a result I got to see their patients with different progress stages. A majority of them were doing OK, some of them were already walking like every other everyday person you would see in the street, some of them were there for IM nails removal, some of them were still on crutches and of course with some of them were developing different levels of Equinus which should be an inevitable short-term complication of limb lengthening and can be dealt with. The only thing I'm concerned with is the temperature because I'm so used to colder weather. It was so damn hot and humid when I visited and honestly I couldn't see myself doing this whole thing soaked in sweat all day and all night long..but if the result is good, so be it. fk it and I will stand the weather. I learned the institute got revamped not long ago and allegedly they have better facilities now. Can someone verify this ? Sorry for the rambling. Hopefully I will have a pleasant stay there.

Hey, each room has air conditioning so you don't have to worry about the temperature very much. I never really went outside, except for short trips to get an x-ray. Some patients like to have open windows and enjoy the breeze. Being from the snowy north, I appreciate a constant, cold, artificial wind on me from the A/C.  I'll start leaving the building more frequently in the upcoming weeks once my frames are off.

I also visited here when they were still using the old hospital and was still willing to do the surgery back then. The new hospital is even better, so it was a pleasant surprise for me when I came here for the surgery. Additionally, it makes it much more convenient for x-rays because it is so near to the Institute.

[RETRO]

Price went up to 18000 usd now.

[lucindaris]

For real? I was talking with them like one month ago and it was still 12.600 ...

[mehmetcanan]

normythebear, what kind of external fixator does your doctor use for LON method?
I'm sorry if you answered this question before.

[mehmetcanan]

I wish my healthy days

[Android]

normythebear, what kind of external fixator does your doctor use for LON method?
I'm sorry if you answered this question before.

Here are photos by normy a couple pages back.

[normythebear]

As far as I can tell, they are just "normal" half-circle external fixators. I got them removed yesterday and had my nails locked. I'm so glad to have them off. I can't imagine doing purely external and having them on for so many months. Getting the nails locked caused more pain than I was expecting, but the pain went away in less than 24 hours. It is nice to be able to sleep on my side and not deal with the pin-site tearing. I greatly underestimated how painful pin-site tearing would be. I haven't uncovered any of the bandages yet, but apparently, the doctor is using cosmetic techniques to minimize the appearance of any scars, to include pin sites. I can't wait to be fully functional again.

[Android]

Good stuff normy, glad to hear that you got the frames off. How much did you end up lengthening?

[normythebear]

I'd rather not say because then all the haters are going to come and say things like "oh, you're so stupid, you'll be in a wheelchair the rest of your life" blah blah blah. It was more than 5.5 cm or whatever everyone always says is the absolute maximum anyone must ever lengthen no matter what. If, in a year's time I'm fully functional, I'll reveal how much I lengthened. I was moderately tall to begin with, so I don't feel it was an extreme length, but I don't want to hear it from all the naysayers, especially the ones who haven't done LL themselves, who always seem to be the most vocal. It was about 20% of my tibial length. I slight ballerina foot, slight knee contracture, and muscle atrophy, but I anticipated that and foresee it going away over time. I could have been more proactive in preventing the ballerina foot and especially the knee contracture, but the pin site tearing was causing so much pain that the only way I could sleep was to have my knees bent. I can actually straighten my legs out fairly with effort and was flexible prior to LL, so I am fairly confident this is a short-term problem. I was also decently powerful prior to LL, so I can correct the muscle atrophy. There is relatively little pain at this moment, but I get the occasional bone pain, which is actually the type of pain I was expecting this entire journey. Now, I just need to heal.

[EricR]

I'd rather not say because then all the haters are going to come and say things like "oh, you're so stupid, you'll be in a wheelchair the rest of your life" blah blah blah. It was more than 5.5 cm or whatever everyone always says is the absolute maximum anyone must ever lengthen no matter what. If, in a year's time I'm fully functional, I'll reveal how much I lengthened. I was moderately tall to begin with, so I don't feel it was an extreme length, but I don't want to hear it from all the naysayers, especially the ones who haven't done LL themselves, who always seem to be the most vocal. It was about 20% of my tibial length. I slight ballerina foot, slight knee contracture, and muscle atrophy, but I anticipated that and foresee it going away over time. I could have been more proactive in preventing the ballerina foot and especially the knee contracture, but the pin site tearing was causing so much pain that the only way I could sleep was to have my knees bent. I can actually straighten my legs out fairly with effort and was flexible prior to LL, so I am fairly confident this is a short-term problem. I was also decently powerful prior to LL, so I can correct the muscle atrophy. There is relatively little pain at this moment, but I get the occasional bone pain, which is actually the type of pain I was expecting this entire journey. Now, I just need to heal.

Friend why do you not share the amount. I am sure if it is a normal amount lengthened that no one would make fun of you. Are you planning on doing external femurs later on?

[doomsday]

ok so tell us how tall you are

[Android]

Understood about the haters, hoping for a smooth consolidation.

[myloginacct]

Price went up to 18000 usd now.

So not much point in considering Vietnam now. You can do it with Pili in Italy for 20k euros, or Russia, the birthplace of the Ilizarov technique. Russia is still risky, but like Vietnam, a cheaper risky.

[lucindaris]

So not much point in considering Vietnam now. You can do it with Pili in Italy for 20k euros, or Russia, the birthplace of the Ilizarov technique. Russia is still risky, but like Vietnam, a cheaper risky.

Yea but this is all in with accommodation for 4 months and meals. Add other costs for Pili, if you want ofc stay around doctor during lengthening. Italy is not that cheap, especially north.

[James]

So not much point in considering Vietnam now. You can do it with Pili in Italy for 20k euros, or Russia, the birthplace of the Ilizarov technique. Russia is still risky, but like Vietnam, a cheaper risky.

Russians are not good at LON if LON is what we all are looking into here. However, they are quite decent with "fully external" because that's what "Illizarov" is all about. LON is not at all "fully external". It involves a great deal of skills completely different added to what an "Illizarov" already requires. Just saying.

[lucindaris]

Any updates bro after removal bro?

[normythebear]

Frames came off about one month ago now. I just returned to the US as of yesterday. I can walk with crutches, albeit slowly, but it is getting better day by day, and not having the convenience of a wheelchair forces me to walk more. When you're being lazy, it's much simpler to just hop in the wheelchair and be able to move as quickly as people can walk. But on crutches, moving around is a hassle, especially if you have to carry something, which you can't. In a wheelchair, I can put just as much weight in my lap as I could carry on my back before the surgery. Anyway, it's been good to be home. As with before, even if I could afford someone much more expensive, I'd still have gone to Vietnam. It had been a mostly positive experience. I still have ballerina foot and some knee contractures that I'm working on. I'm going to see a physical therapist soon to work these out. The ballerina foot seems to get better pretty quickly, but forcing my knee to straighten out has been more difficult. I've also lost a ton of muscle mass since I had the surgery. That makes sense just due to lack of use.

[Android]

Glad that you're doing well, normy! Thanks for the update, really appreciate it since I know you got a lot of flack in the past. Best of luck with your recovery.

[Petite888]

Hi Normy,

Have been reading your journal with great interest as I myself am originally Vietnamese and would love to do CLL but a bit too scared to at the moment. I am glad that your surgery thus far has gone pretty smoothly and I wish you an easy (as poss) consolidation phase.

I would love to know more about your scars, you mentioned your doctor was doing a cosmetic procedure to reduce the appearance at one point? Would love to know how that worked out as being female that would be really important to me.

Thanks.

[lucindaris]

He got quite offended on this forum so probably its better for hom to not write there. Write to him priv. He responds often.

[normythebear]

I'll probably be responding less often now as I have less free-time now that I'm back in the US. Just a brief update, I walk up and down stairs now, not necessarily with ease, but I do it several times per day. I also just completed a set of 10 body weight squats - kind of. I'm afraid to go too far down yet, and look ridiculous doing them since I'm on my tiptoes. Luckily, I'm in my house. I will start seeing a physical therapist on Tuesday and I hope to hear that everything looks good and I'll recover quickly. Everything seems okay to me, but it is reassuring to hear it from multiple sources. My scars aren't that bad. I'll maybe post them sometime. I just have scars where there was pin site tearing along the inside of my knees. As for the surgery scars, they are almost invisible. However, my scar healing ability has always been good, so your results may vary.

[myloginacct]

I'd rather not say because then all the haters are going to come and say things like "oh, you're so stupid, you'll be in a wheelchair the rest of your life" blah blah blah. It was more than 5.5 cm or whatever everyone always says is the absolute maximum anyone must ever lengthen no matter what. If, in a year's time I'm fully functional, I'll reveal how much I lengthened. I was moderately tall to begin with, so I don't feel it was an extreme length, but I don't want to hear it from all the naysayers, especially the ones who haven't done LL themselves, who always seem to be the most vocal. It was about 20% of my tibial length. I slight ballerina foot, slight knee contracture, and muscle atrophy, but I anticipated that and foresee it going away over time. I could have been more proactive in preventing the ballerina foot and especially the knee contracture, but the pin site tearing was causing so much pain that the only way I could sleep was to have my knees bent. I can actually straighten my legs out fairly with effort and was flexible prior to LL, so I am fairly confident this is a short-term problem. I was also decently powerful prior to LL, so I can correct the muscle atrophy. There is relatively little pain at this moment, but I get the occasional bone pain, which is actually the type of pain I was expecting this entire journey. Now, I just need to heal.

We talk about hard numbers here, but it really is about the relative increase of your previous total bone length. ~20% is the "safe limit", so you're fine there.

I'll probably be responding less often now as I have less free-time now that I'm back in the US. Just a brief update, I walk up and down stairs now, not necessarily with ease, but I do it several times per day. I also just completed a set of 10 body weight squats - kind of. I'm afraid to go too far down yet, and look ridiculous doing them since I'm on my tiptoes. Luckily, I'm in my house. I will start seeing a physical therapist on Tuesday and I hope to hear that everything looks good and I'll recover quickly. Everything seems okay to me, but it is reassuring to hear it from multiple sources. My scars aren't that bad. I'll maybe post them sometime. I just have scars where there was pin site tearing along the inside of my knees. As for the surgery scars, they are almost invisible. However, my scar healing ability has always been good, so your results may vary.

Glad to hear you seem to be doing well.

[lucindaris]

For interested people, message from them.

We has increased our price due to these following reasons:

1. We switched the hospital from the beginning of December 2017 onwards. Thanks to its advanced facilities and attentive care service, it's easily one of the best available and most expensive in all of the Ho Chi Minh city, thus the raise in the package fee. On top of that, from the beginning of December 2017 onwards, the government has imposed a new restriction that hospitals need to go through a series of accreditation and obtain a specific license if they want to operate a foreigner, which means foreign patients can not receive the surgery in an ordinary hospital anymore. They need to have the surgery done in hospitals that comply with the new restriction. As a result, they charge the foreign patients 40% higher than they charge the locals.

2. We invested a great deal of money to revamp the whole guesthouse and all rooms to make sure the patients have a pleasant stay here. All rooms are specifically designed to be wheelchair-friendly and easily accessible. Many subtle changes have been made to bring about a carefree recovery experience for the patients.

3. Salary raise for our staff. Cost increase in meals and ingredients.

4. Costs for the lawyer and notarisation of contracts for the maximum protection of patients' interest and peace of mind. Risk funds for potential complications as a result of surgery is also established to ensure potential complications would be treayed in a timely fashion.

5. We also improve with cosmetic sewing technique for your scars and your pinsite as well as reduce the pinsite size.

6. We have developed an anti-ballenrine shoes for patients to wear during their lengthening period so that they will have second to none ballenrine feet.


Along with a new form of contract.
Which state:
1. If you have any kind of complication, we will fix it for free until healed with charging any fee (Including accommodation, meals, surgery fee etc)
2. If we cannot fix it, you can go to another doctor and we will cover 100% of the cost
3. We will give you warranty 10 years after the first surgery.


For the internal nail, we are working on it. As soon as we ready to release it, we will let you know.