I did Limb Lengthening last month and I decided to create a diary because I did 5 weeks in Athens and came back to USA. This is for those who cannot stay 3-4 months in Athens so they will know the experience of someone who did not stay. I am in University and just finished midterms so my posting time is behind schedule.
I had surgery 14 Sept 2021. I am 20. I started at 176 cm and will go 8 cm and maybe 9. I will wait until I reach 8 until I decide.
I started with a free 15 minute consultation with Giotikas before he had GNail. I found out through this forum (V21) that he had GNail. I then paid for an hour consultation once he had GNail. One of my concerns was the pain control. He told me that U.S. doctors don't want to lose business and they want us to think they have better pain control but the European doctors have the same medicine the U.S. has. Another concern was I could not stay 3 months in Greece. He said I could stay 5 weeks which was the minimum, although his preference was for all to stay 3 months. I think Dr. G is pretty business savvy to come up with this idea to a nonexclusive license for use of GNail. Too bad this wasn't done in the U.S. but probably due to the FDA and all sorts of medical device clearing procedures that might take years (this is just speculation).
Prior to this it was my plan to do Precise with Dr. Assayag in the U.S. My family was very impressed with his standard of care, reputation and abilities. One of my parents is paying for the surgery. Something happened that the surgery did not occur in early July in Maryland and all future dates before school started were booked. So with my school schedule I would have to wait until December or January to have a schedule that would allow me to be non-weight-bearing again. So I decided I wanted a weight bearing nail. I still highly recommend Dr. A.
I tried Betz but he had no availability until January. I was concerned about weather and possible changes in January due to COVID and Delta Variant that could cause a cancellation. I paid for a consult with him as well. I did not want Guichet because of the requirement of a 3-4 month stay in Italy or the UK (also at the time no real positive reviews to speak of).
Due to the late change of plans - finding out about GNail in August and trying to get there in 4 weeks, many airbnbs were booked. We could not find an acceptable one in Peristeri. We wanted 3 br, 2ba. We found one in Athina that we sent to Giotikas office and they said it was close enough. It was about 12 minutes by taxi and 4-6 euros. Definitely close enough. We would eventually move from that place due to the size of the elevator, neighborhood and other things.
The hospital is in Glyfada so maybe if you have family spend the first week in Glyfada. Because we didn't know this, my family paid for another place to be close to me during my hospital stay. The anesthesiologist asked me if I am prone to get seasick. She said if not, I should get an epidural/general anesthesia combination because it would be better for pain. She made me feel more comfortable about surviving the surgery, so I agreed. The surgery was scheduled for 1:30 pm. The day before I had xrays, filled out paper work and took a COVID test. On surgery day, I got there early - about 11:30 and they put you in this ultrathin see thru hospital gown made of blue paper. Another nice older gentleman who had back surgery was in the room. I was nervous but my family being there helped me out. The anesthesiologist gave me pills for my nerves so that I would sleep. They rolled me to the operating room at 2:30. My family said Dr. Giotikas called them at 10:00pm to tell them I was okay. They were near panic. He said he put the nail in one of my legs but it wouldn't click so he had to take it out, make sure it would click and then put it back in.
I appeared back in the hotel room at about 11:00 pm. I asked my family if the surgery was almost over. My family went to check in to the Bomo Palace Hotel to be close to me although we had the airbnb in Athina it was 30 minutes away. By then I was vomiting. No one told me how to call the nurse. I think the person next to me called the nurse. She put some kind of pad on the floor and told me to turn over and vomit on the floor. She didn't return and I vomited nonstop with stuff going everywhere.
My family returned about 1:00 am and cleaned up the floor and the bedrails. They asked the nurse for a garbage bag or bucket for me to vomit in. The picture is right after my family cleaned up and I threw up again (didn't attach I will get an imgur acct). Eventually the nurse came back with a small bed pan for me to vomit in. This was much more sanitary. Otherwise vomit particles were spewing throughout the room. Most nurses were annoyed at any request. There was no machine monitoring my blood pressure or to see if I flatlined and the nurses didn't come in unless you called for them. Certainly even when you called, they usually didn't come. Family was not allowed to be present if they injected me with anything. It was like they wanted to eliminate any evidence if they committed malpractice. While Dr. G was good, the majority of the nurses I encountered were without compassion or care, including the hospital head nurse (different from the homecare head nurse). Perhaps they are overworked and very underpaid. Either way it was a factor that I had not properly considered when I decided to have surgery overseas. I could not imagine I would not have flatline monitoring. I would not go back to that hospital to be treated by those nurses. Because it was so late, no walking that night. The next day, Dr. G came with a hospital therapist and tried to get me to walk. I nearly passed out so he said he would come again.
After a day of vomiting without leg pain, the nausea stopped and excruciating pain came. This was the 16th and I ate a little for lunch. I was being given paracetamol (tylenol) by IV and it wasn't doing the trick. I could not sleep more than 30 minutes due to the pain. My family was timing it. My family had to go get the nurses after sufficient time passed to get me more medicine. No one came otherwise. More pain than I ever experienced. The doctor came again for me to walk. I was out of bed but I was so weak. The Dr said I needed to be stronger and I wasn't trying hard enough. My family said I spent a day throwing up, I haven't eaten much and I was in pain. The dr said maybe it was jetlag. Either way, I threw up again about 5 minutes after Dr. G left.
By the third day, I was able to eat and able to get out of bed and walk. I still had a lot of pain but Dr. G showed me how to go up and down the stairs and use the walker. I walked up and down the hall and did the stairs. They followed me with the wheelchair because they were afraid I would pass out but I didn't. I believe it was this day that Dr. G showed me how to click. It didn't seem too bad. I couldn't wait to get out of the hospital. One family member slept in the room with me on the chair or floor every night.
On the fourth day, Dr. G showed my family how to help me click. The left leg seemed easier. Still it didn't seem too bad at this point. The first click is loud and kind of a shocker at first. On the right leg, the loud click first and then the light reset click. On the left side the light click first and then the loud click is the reset click. The anticipation for the loud click caused some anxiety. When it was time to check out, I met the homecare head nurse and she had a nurse working with her, with a car big enough to take my family and I along with the shower, chair, walker, crutches and wheelchair provided by Dr. G's program, to the airbnb. That was a relief because having to take a taxi would have been hard. More to come.
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Topic: GNail with Giotikas 5 Weeks in Athens (Read 8831 times)