Quote from: Purushrottam on July 28, 2018, 09:22:53 PMHey man, I appreciate the research, but I think the prices are way off.
Indeed. The largest cost increase you've factored in is complications. Sure, you never know, but I haven't heard of any Paley patients who had to pay for fixing complications. I met two patients who did have complications and Paley treated them for free.
Quote from: Purushrottam on July 28, 2018, 09:22:53 PMI had my LL in Sept 2017 and heres what I paid:
[...]
Accomodations: I booked a handicapped accessible room with shuttles to the Paley Center last minute during the busiest season at Homewood Suites. The cost was about $90/night inclusive of taxes.
September is not the busiest season. That would be Nov - March/April. I booked March through June, and March/April prices were a lot higher, around $200/night. From March 11 to March 19 I was charged $1951.68 (!). At some point in April, the prices dropped closer to the $90/night Puru mentioned. I don't have exact prices because Homewood's bill was confusing AF, changing rates every 2 days or so.
Anyway, if you do STRYDE (which you should), I don't recommend staying at Homewood for more than two weeks or so, until you can use crutches. Then, get an Airbnb near a gym and use Uber. The reason is that with STRYDE, you'll be able to walk, so you don't need a pool. For me, pool PT was far less effective than walking (not hopping) with a walker, and later with a cane. You'll benefit most from a gym where you can work your upper body and prevent muscle atrophy in your chest and arms. I stayed at Homewood, which does not have a wheelchair accessible gym, nor much equipment beside one bench, and lost ~20% of my bench press 1RM due to not working out for ~3 months.
All in all, it's good to have a quarter mil for doing quadrilateral, but if you don't have complications, you'll be left with about $30k of that $250.
Also, I would absolutely not pay for extra PT (unless you have some particular problem I supposed). It's ridiculously expensive and surprisingly ineffective compared to rest and plain walking using the walker. While still getting PT from Mike (Paley Institute's strongest PT) I was making little progress. A couple weeks after I got home and started walking (not hopping!) with the walker, strength started to come back much more quickly, my dorsiflexion improved rapidly, and now (2 months later) I can walk unassisted (albeit with the expected hip sway). In retrospect, walking was by far the most effective PT, and often I would wake up feeling better and stronger without killing myself in the gym (on the contrary, too much biking led to extra pain the next day), as long as I got decent sleep.
Also, I don't know about this Dr. Jamal. And that says a lot. If you want safety, go with a center that does a high number of these surgeries, and with the most experience surgeon you can find. Is that Dr. Jamal with this proprietary nail that very few people have heard of? Popularity may be a weak criterion in general, but in the case of surgeries, the more experience the doctor has with a particular tool, the safer you'll be.
