Hi,
I'm looking at LL in Russia - external tibia. I don't have the money for femurs, and Russia has some very experienced doctors that my budget will stretch to.
The issue is that as a UK citizen, I can only get a visa to stay in Russia for 90 days at a time. After that, I have to leave for another 90 days before I'm permitted to return.
Is it possible to have the initial surgery + lengthening + removal of frames/nailing (I'm doing LON) within that 90 day period. I'm going for 5cm in Tibia.
In theory it seems possible. Let's say 5 days to get everything set up, such as finding an apartment, doing initial consultation, then having the initial surgery. Then 0.66mm a day, would mean 76 days of lengthening (76*0.66mm is 5cm). That gives 9 days to do the nailing and depart the country, which allowing for a few days recovery post-surgery, seems reasonable enough.
I'd then consolidate outside Russia, and return after the 3 month period (or however long consolidation took) for removal of the nails.
Is this sort of timescale realistic in practice, or is it one of those things that only works on paper? I don't really have many other options, since like I say, UK citizens can only stay 90 days at a time in Russia.