I will get to see this other hospital which is an hour's drive away about Beijing. I will leave the Fengtai site on Tuesday or Wednesday and be there only 3 or 4 days. The American patient who has been there recently gave a bad report of it: that he resorted to buying his own meals, that he woke up screaming from the wearing off of his anaesthesia, and that the living conditions were cramped and stuffy. It also has no internet service.
I'm told that I will be given an epidural. Whether that's anaesthesia or analgesia, it means blocking the transmission of signals through nerve fibers in or near the spinal cord.
It's now more than 20 days post lengthening and therefore time to strip these leg cages away and give the legs a chance at a greater range of motion. It been the experience of feeling both of my legs pierced by arrows which has been done in a controlled, surgical way.
Dr Xia Beijing - Surgeon Peng Aimin - External Tibias - November 2013 to 2014
Congratulations on being so close to finishing your journey.
This other hospital, do you know what its purpose is? Is there overflow from Guang Ji?
The Guangji Hospital will not exist much longer as a venue for limb lengthening and correction. It is all going to be done at the new centre somewhere in a medical city that is a place I have never been to. My surgery to remove the leg cages was a little over a week ago at a public hospital that is associated with Qinghua University. Casts have been made of my legs and I now have custom fitted moulds which, though added weight, aid the stability of the knees. 5 June I will leave for home with a new wheelchair and whatever other aids (crutches, walking stalks, walking frame) that will suit me.
Congrats Thegosis!
When did you have the initial surgery? How much did you gain? Is the new facility close to Beijing?
My original planned departure of 5 June had to be put off for treatment of infection and removal of one of the fixing screws below the right knee. Now that has all been dealt with and the screw replaced in surgery on Wednesday at an upmarket hospital on the other side of Beijing. I don't know the name. Tonight is my last sleep at the Guangji Hospital in Fengtai District of Beijing very close now to 7 months since I first arrive here. I depart the country in the early hours of 22 June with an intramedullary rod in either tibia.
It will be a while till I stand and walk because practising either has been forbidden as a strategy of the infection treatment. I may be the last foreign patient ever to be accommodated at the Guangji Hospital for this cosmetic procedure because my two remaining buddies left me yesterday and the day before.
I won't see this place again even if I am coming back in more than a year for the same surgeons to remove what they put in.
Hi Thegosis,
How are you doing now? Any updates regarding walking fitness and regaining range of motion in your knees?
Hey Thegosis,
I'll be arriving into Beijing on 24 August from OZ for my OP :-)
Wonder which hospital as the invite letter say Guang Ji.
BTW well done hero!
I still get about with crutches. I've been reconnecting with job agencies and employers I worked for previously and been climbing some ladders to clear things off the roof of my house. I walk half normal pace and balance on either foot only awkwardly. I can squat down all the way to the ground with heels touching the floor and do six or ten of those in a row.
My father died on Saturday in Arizona USA while I'm in Australia. I renewed my US passport because I wanted to go across to see him but now, well, there's my uncle who came down with a heart attack in the last two weeks.
I met my father the first time when I was 19 in 1990 and the last time in 2004. I heard his voice for the final time when I called him from my own rehabilitation hospital bed the week before last. Losing a parent. Empty feeling. Everyone will go through this eventually. Even the Prophet of Islam had to deal with being an orphan at the age of six. He died with all those friends and supporters and a few enemies too.
I am saddened to hear about your loss, Thegosis. These times are never easy, and I admire your strength to talk about it. My sincere condolences to you an all others who will miss him.
You never officially stated how many cms you gained, I think you said over 8cms. So how many cms did you actually gain? Im assuming 8cm?
Do you have any knee pain or discomfort atm?
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