Quote from: puing5555 on September 05, 2023, 09:43:26 PMWow brother . Thank you so much for your diary.
I am considering Dr. Doan right now.. I think I will see him next week.
1. What do you think of dr.doan? Is it trustworthy? How many surgeries has he had so far?
2. I think I will visit once next week and have surgery next month... I saw on Facebook that there are many patients who have gained 8cm or 9cm... I am worried that there will be side effects if I do that. What does the doctor say about this? (I will probably have surgery with the goal of 7cm, and if the progress goes well, I may be able to try to reach 8cm.)
3. Overall, what is your current level of satisfaction?
4. I understand that there is a gym in the off-campus accommodation. Is it also possible to use the gym?
No Problem.
1. Dr. Doan is a very experienced surgeon in limb lengthening and have done many surgeries, so yes, he is trustworthy. I do not know the number of surgeries he had done, but I know that he is one of the top doctors in Hanoi doing LL. However, the problem with him is his aftercare. Which is extremely important for this surgery, you need to have someone who can help you 24/7, bath, cook, massage etc. This type of services Dr. Doan does not provide. It is also difficult for a foreigner to find people who are offering this type of services because we do not speak Vietnamese. I had a particularly difficult time trying to communicate my needs and had to communicate using google translate which sometimes the meaning i tried to convey is lost in translation.
2. Personally, I think that how much you lengthen depends on many factors, such as time, money and pain tolerance. If you have plenty of time to spare you should do 0.66mm a day instead of 1mm a day. Because, based on personal experience and another patient that i know, when we lengthen 0.66mm per day, we do not feel much pain and it is tolerable. But the tradeoff is wearing the frames longer, because you are lengthening slower. I know a guy that did 8cm and he can walk w/o support in 3 months but his walking is slow. I know another guy that did 7.5cm and after 6 months he was back to normal. As for the money aspect, the longer time you spend wearing the frames the more money you burn. Lastly, for the pain tolerance aspect, the first week after the surgery will probably be the worse pain you felt throughout the whole journey assuming you did not get into any accident. I just want to reiterate that you should lengthen 0.66mm to have a smooth journey.
3. I did not lengthen as much as the other patients that did 7 or 8cm but I am average for a male, and would not be considered short anymore. Clothes also fit nicer as the leg proportion is now better, because i previously had a longer torso as my tibia is short. So doing this surgery kind of balanced out my proportions. Personally, looking back I might have stopped at 6.5cm but due to lack of time i had to stop and return to my country. However, because I lengthened only 5cm, i recovered quickly and was able to walk on my own with crutches to the airport. The longer you lengthen the longer your recovery time and the higher the risk of complications. Overall, I would say I am satisfied.
4. Trust me, you would not have the energy to go to the gym. So don't bother. And going to the gym, you are risking injury, so try not to.
