Current domestic patient here. The operating surgeon is a man named Dr. Ma. Haven't seen Dr. Xia or Wang Bei in more than a month. All future cosmetic LL patients will be in the new hospital, YanDa International Hospital City (called a city because there are many large hospital buildings here) in Hebei, 1.5 hours from Beijing. Foreign patients pay more than 2 times as much as domestic patients. Less than 5 foreign patients here and not many domestic patients for cosmetic LL.
Internal methods is not and will not be a treatment option here. China is a country that values tradition, so don't expect modern treatment reflecting new research. Look up intramedullary nail and knee pain incidence rates (meta-analysis shows >50% knee pain for some time after rods are inserted).
The new hospital looks nicer, but isn't. The "beds" lack mattresses, causing serious problems for almost every patient here. Just 3 inch pad on a very hard, metal surface. Bed/pressure sores are a big problem. Many patients can't sleep because of this. The bathrooms smell like sewage every day and small flies are everywhere. The water has a very bad, strong smell. Food is not included in the price. Budget 70 yuan a day for food. There are few food options here since the hospital is located in a rural area (6 restaurants here). If you don't have family here to bring you food, your options are: KFC, Pizza Hut, only 4 local restaurants that will deliver here and the hospital cafeteria. KFC, Pizza Hut, and the hospital cafeteria are expensive. The local restaurants don't offer much variety. One is a noodle place, the other is a rice place, and two offer some meat, but very little for the price. Their menus are small too, so food gets boring after 4 months. Guang Ji is in Beijing, so it's easy to get good food there. There are also many small, hidden fees at the new hospital. They said we have to pay for any medicine we use. Very strange. Also, Wang Bei has no authority over the new hospital. The nurses here have different management, so there have been some awkward situations where Wang Bei gives directions to the Guang Ji maids here, but the hospital nurses don't let the maids comply with her instructions.
Physical therapy is very important, but not included in the price. Your suggested physiotherapy routine will be to stand and walk. Not very good, compared to other countries. Google the importance of physiotherapy or research it at
http://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Should be easy to find reputatable research -- you can also check out Dr. Dror Paley's 600+ page textbook on LL where he talks about how bad physio can ruin a good surgery.
Freedom is limited. You aren't allowed to leave the hospital floor unless you are in very good condition and beg. Even then, you will rarely be let outside. Be willing to spend least 4 months on only one floor of a hospital.
Communication is hard for foreigners. If you can't speak Chinese...it is very hard for you. Internet is unreliable, sometimes 10kb/sec for several days (worse with VPN...), so don't expect Google Translate to help when the doctor comes in once a week for his 30 second visit. Wang Bei visits once every 4-5 weeks, so she can't help you much for the small conversations.
After the surgery, it's up to you to make sure you get good results through lots of walking, standing, stretching. If you don't want to exercise, you don't have to. Many domestic patients do not, so they take a long time to recover and suffer more pain during lengthening.
Not sure why foreigners would come here. For your price, I would go somewhere else.
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Topic: Dr Xia & Dr Li (Beijing China) Institute of External Fixation Technology (Read 91951 times)