Before considering Monegal take a look a Cooper's diary. Consider Musicmaker 3 years under his care and not yet healed. Other patients had different complications (nail failure, poor osteotomies, permament nerve damage). Save a little more and choose a different doctor. His hospital is good but the PT is a fake criminal PT also.
Doing it in your own country?
Not so sure. This surgery puts the quality of your life at risk, so I would go to the best doctor, not the one that happens to live in your country. So if you life in Sudan for example and you have a lot of money I would rather go abroad.
Think about the full costs! Monetary is the smallest part. The biggest cost is related to the risk of not regaining 100% functionality.
For me the decision process as follows: 1. Internal femur
2. in developed part of the world (as I had always been very ill all of my 3 stays in India, I thought I better avoid it). Though the facilty of the hospital was not important to me as I knew that only 1/10 of my lengthening and recovery process would we in the hospital.
3. read diaries to gain confidence in doctor and talk to doctor
It just so happened that one of the best options was also the cheapest: Dr. Monegal, Barcelona, Fitbone. And on top of that I owned a company with HQ in Barcelona. I and any of his 13 patient on this forum except Cooper would recommend him.
But I think you should not entrust your life based on what you hear from other people. Write to all the doctors you consider, and then have a consultation with the doctor and visit Clinic and talk to patients before making final decisions. This is also what I did. In the consultation the doctor presented me with a patient and later he told me to come to the hospital again and talk to Yagan (from this forum). Both patients very happy. But I thought: "The doctor could cherry pick the patients I talk to!" So I went to the residency for the patients without informing the doctor and talked to all patients.
you left out the last part of what I wrote
It's very important to be near your Dr. If you won't go to a Dr in your country, you need to be sure you will be able to live near your Dr for a year or more. Supervision is very important
Quote from: helloworld on March 05, 2017, 07:12:02 AMDoing it in your own country?
Not so sure. This surgery puts the quality of your life at risk, so I would go to the best doctor, not the one that happens to live in your country. So if you life in Sudan for example and you have a lot of money I would rather go abroad.
Think about the full costs! Monetary is the smallest part. The biggest cost is related to the risk of not regaining 100% functionality.
For me the decision process as follows: 1. Internal femur
2. in developed part of the world (as I had always been very ill all of my 3 stays in India, I thought I better avoid it). Though the facilty of the hospital was not important to me as I knew that only 1/10 of my lengthening and recovery process would we in the hospital.
3. read diaries to gain confidence in doctor and talk to doctor
It just so happened that one of the best options was also the cheapest: Dr. Monegal, Barcelona, Fitbone. And on top of that I owned a company with HQ in Barcelona. I and any of his 13 patient on this forum except Cooper would recommend him.
But I think you should not entrust your life based on what you hear from other people. Write to all the doctors you consider, and then have a consultation with the doctor and visit Clinic and talk to patients before making final decisions. This is also what I did. In the consultation the doctor presented me with a patient and later he told me to come to the hospital again and talk to Yagan (from this forum). Both patients very happy. But I thought: "The doctor could cherry pick the patients I talk to!" So I went to the residency for the patients without informing the doctor and talked to all patients.
Crimsontide: Sorry! I agree with your statement.
It is better to be close to Dr. for time of lengthening.
So, even though I am not from Spain, Barcelona was ideal, as I have an office here.
I have to remain as close to my time zone as possible, and as I'm in the US, I will go with Dr. Paley. My deposit has been made and a surgery date already reserved.
That said, were I not constrained by time zone restrictions, it would be Dr. Birkholtz and it's not even a close decision. World-renowned clinician, very ethical, state of the art hospital and five star accommodations minutes from the hospital. All for a price of close to two thirds less than what I will spend with Dr. Paley (I anticipate spending about $130K total).
What really seals this: the 7 day step-down program, where you gently get eased out of the hospital into your guest house or secondary accommodations. No other Dr. does this and I have to believe this makes the transition to "assisted living", so to speak, so much easier for the patient during the most trying part of the procedure.
I have a multi-country business to run, and our base of operations is the US, so I have no choice. Dr. Paley is the gold standard for this procedure so I cannot really complain. Were my circumstances different, however, I wouldn't even blink before choosing Dr. Birkholtz.
I do not share the same concerns as many about safety in SA. I know people who live there, and gated, guarded communities are quite safe.
Good luck, jbc
Quote from: jbc on March 05, 2017, 09:18:17 PMI have to remain as close to my time zone as possible, and as I'm in the US, I will go with Dr. Paley. My deposit has been made and a surgery date already reserved.
That said, were I not constrained by time zone restrictions, it would be Dr. Birkholtz and it's not even a close decision. World-renowned clinician, very ethical, state of the art hospital and five star accommodations minutes from the hospital. All for a price of close to two thirds less than what I will spend with Dr. Paley (I anticipate spending about $130K total).
What really seals this: the 7 day step-down program, where you gently get eased out of the hospital into your guest house or secondary accommodations. No other Dr. does this and I have to believe this makes the transition to "assisted living", so to speak, so much easier for the patient during the most trying part of the procedure.
I have a multi-country business to run, and our base of operations is the US, so I have no choice. Dr. Paley is the gold standard for this procedure so I cannot really complain. Were my circumstances different, however, I wouldn't even blink before choosing Dr. Birkholtz.
I do not share the same concerns as many about safety in SA. I know people who live there, and gated, guarded communities are quite safe.
Wow good luck.
Quote from: bander72 on March 06, 2017, 04:12:27 AM
Wow good luck.
bander72, not sure about the meaning of your post. Not implying ill intent - not really implying anything 
, just having a hard time parsing it I guess. Are you saying "Wow good luck" because I'm going to have surgery with Dr. Paley? Or because you think SA is unsafe? (I'm not having surgery in SA, but I do think their gated, guarded communities are safe). Or - just wishing me good luck? .
I meant that it is a impressive feat to afford those doctors especially paley. If I had the money id do qaudlatireal 5 cm at a time with paley.
Just takes hard work, anyone can do it. No magic formula other than that. Thanks for the well wishes!!
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