Greetings fellow lengtheners,
Originally, I had flown to West Palm Beach, Florida, and underwent consultation with Dr. Paley. Despite his excellence, I declined on the $110,000 total rate, and instead contacted Dr. Alejandro Monegal, and selected him for less than half that of Dr. Paley.
ESSENTIALS
Who: Dr. Monegal
What: Bilateral femur surgery
When: August 25th
Where: Barcelona, Spain
Why: Lengthen 8cm
Me: 29 years, 165cm
RATE TABLE
Procedure:$40,100Residence:$1,467 per month / $4,401 for 3 monthsPhysiotherapy:$34 per hour / $3,060 for 3 monthsSummary:$47,561
Note: the doctor has required me to give him his share of the rate (20k-ish) in cash in person to avoid the 20% tax fees on sizable bank transfers. I consider this a hassle, because I will need to carry an absurd amount of cash, and declare it to customs. However, I blame the Spanish government for that, not him. Regardless, everything else has transpired very seamlessly, and friendly. Both he and the residency have answered every question courteously and timely.
LINKS
Hospital: http://www.clinicadiagonal.com/en/
Residency: http://www.barcelonadisability.org/en/
Interview: Click here
The residency, MCI Sant Jordi, specializes in disabled care, and every room and feature of the facility supports handicapped folks, which lends itself to our situation.
INQUIRIES
What type of pants can I wear over my healing legs for the 3 months? i.e. sweat pants, shorts, leggings, etc.
What type of shoes can I wear? I literally only wear leather boots; I do not own a pair of sneakers (not athletic).
Will I need to order food in every night for dinner?
How will I occupy my time, rather than lie on my back for 16 hours per day?
I do not currently feel very social about it; I almost prefer no one to interact with me in person while I exist in such a poor state. But then again, many insist that socializing helped their lengthening. According to Dr. Monegal an individual will also undergo the same surgery on the same day! I believe he utilizes the name "glenn" on here, or similar.
I vow to myself that I will enact the full 8 cm, barring an unexpected medical emergency. However, I do not wish to remain in Spain for a full 90 days, so I may do 60-75 days instead, although I would prefer the doctor locally if a health issue arises.
Be Well,
Bohemia
Dr. Monegal / Spain / Bilateral Femurs / Fitbone / August 25, 2015
RECORD LOW EXCHANGE RATE
The doctor gave me the exact fees and bank specifics to wire the funds. If you would like this procedure, then I strongly encourage you to book it now, or soon, because the Euro to Dollar exchange rate has fallen to record lows. For example, today, it hit 1.1 Dollar to 1 Euro, as opposed to last year it reached 1.4 Dollar to 1 Euro. To calculate, the whole surgery costs 35,510 Euros (26,010 to hospital, and 9,500 to Doctor personally), thus today it equates to about $39,000 only, whereas last year it would have costed $49,700.
In other words, you will save over $10,000 if you schedule now at the bottom, in comparison to the average rate.
AIRFARE
Route: Philadelphia-Barcelona nonstop round trip
Schedule: August 23 - November 3 (72 days)
Rate: $1,250
QuoteI think I will just bring some shorts/swimming trunks. MAYBE I will bring one pair of jeans, but I'm not sure how that will make my life easier.
I will fly to Barcelona in my flip flops and just wear those the whole time I'm there. Again, I don't see how bringing a pair of running shoes will make my life any easier. (Does anybody else know if Physiotherapy requires running shoes? Or can I do it bare feet?)
Dr. Monegal sent me an email that said verbatim:
---
Bring training clothes:
- running shoes
-shorts
-t shirts
- swimsuit
PT protocol includes:
- stretching
- Knee function recovery
- cycling/elyptic
-pool work
- parallel bar walk
---
I suppose the physiotherapy will include a degree of athletics.
I underwent all the physical measurements (blood, chest, xrays, etc.) and also the procedure all in the same day, on Tuesday August 25th. I remained utterly resolute to do this, and never once considered otherwise.
Dr. Monegal surprised me at how down to earth and and ordinary he is, yet very devout and sober toward his craft. He explained that he does surgery every single day of the week, and specializes in careful, precise treatment.
I awoke in the post-surgery area, and felt very alive and happy, albeit a tad kooky due to sedation. They wheeled me in my bed back to my room, and I texted friends about my condition. You retain decent lucidity once you awake. The epidural eliminates all pain whatsoever, and instead a bone-level pressure ensues, like if a person squeezed your thighs in their hands at half-strength.
Every day at 8:45am a food personnel enters the room and asks what you you like to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As a matter of judgement, I consider the meals below average, regrettably. For example, the first day they gave me a 5-inch green and black banana. I literally laughed at it, took photos, and showed my friends. LOL I explained to the food person that I would not accept that, and she apologized but seemed confused, because apparently they eat green bananas. Besides this, the meals consist of staples and will suffice for the 7 day duration at the hospital.
At 9am, two nurses come in, sponge bathe your whole body with soap, and give new sheets and pillows. You will need to become content with letting staffers gently wash your genitals, because they will each day.
Then at about 12pm and 7pm they give you additional meals.
If you elect for the epidural, which I recommend, you need to acknowledge that three cords will enter your body:
- Epidural in spine—which you forget exists
- Catheter in penis or vagina—which you do not forget, but spares you from urinating manually
- IV in arm—for nourishment, analgesia, and anticoagulation
It does seem a little artificial and disconcerting once you realize the number of wires in your flesh, but you remain moderately mobile in bed, despite their placement.
Today, day 4, Friday, they removed my epidural, and now employ only an IV analgesic. In fact, at the moment I type this, the bag has become empty, and I sit here on a chair next to my bed without any chemical support and feel pretty normal.
As encouragement, not a single time have I considered this an unwise procedure, and have not once suffered in any pain. I would grade the discomfort level at under 5 the entire time so far. In other words, you can do this.
As others have echoed, I suspect the crux of any dislike would be the boredom of lying in a bed for 16 hours straight, days upon days. However, watch your laptop, chat on your phone, do whatever, and it will pass.
All in all, the nurses have treated me extremely kindly and carefully, and Dr. Monegal is a truly world class surgeon.
I can safely recommend this to people so far!
I need to revise a previous item. However I could not modify my post, so I will do it here:
I said falsely:
QuoteNote: the doctor has required me to give him his share of the rate (20k-ish) in cash in person to avoid the 20% tax fees on sizable bank transfers. I consider this a hassle, because I will need to carry an absurd amount of cash, and declare it to customs. However, I blame the Spanish government for that, not him. Regardless, everything else has transpired very seamlessly, and friendly. Both he and the residency have answered every question courteously and timely.
I wired 26,010 Euros to the hospital, and gave 9000-ish in cash to the doctor personally for he and his staff—not 20k.
In other words, I safely carried the cash in my carry on, and passed customs without any declaration.
I clarify this to avoid any confusion.
I have hit Day 6 now, and would like to update about my condition.
Frankly, the experience has underwhelmed me. In fact, my legs have remained under a 5 in pain level at all times. I had hardened my resolve to the reality that I may need to bear a 7-9 at certain points, but it never materialized—however I have not commenced stretching yet. I attribute this to two factors: my preexisting leg muscle strength, and Doctor Alejandro.
1. I played ice hockey from childhood through college, and my legs became utterly impervious to pain. Perhaps this caused my tolerance for discomfort in my lower appendages to rise.
2. The doctor explained that he utilizes a particularly gentle and careful procedure, as opposed to other doctors who may hammer harder or less tenderly on vulnerable areas, which exacerbates trauma.
So I will rate the factors so far:
Surgeon: 9.5 / 10 — very available, down to earth, and caring; the opposite of Dror Paley in terms of personality
Nurses: 7 / 10 — consistent in their duties, friendly, but a bit clumsy and scattershot at times
Food: 5 / 10 — boring and strange, i.e., they gave me two chicken wings for dinner one night WTF?; that said, I did not expect fine dining
Thus, as an average, I give a total of 7.1 / 10.
As a matter of a severe criticism though, the urologist required me to remain on a catheter for six full days; that is, three days beyond the epidural. Honestly, it became almost nightmarish by day 6 (today). Yesterday, I shat for the first time on the toilet, whereby I attained the trifecta: (1) my penis bled (2) my pee sprayed outside the catheter tube all over my thighs (3) tears dripped off my eyes—blood, piss, and tears in one moment.
If the cruel and unusual catheter requirement never occurred, then I would have considered this a nearly flawless experience.
So in fairness, I possess both a love and hate of what has taken place here. On one hand, I wholeheartedly recommend the procedure so far due to the seamlessness. On the other hand, sadly I cannot recommend it if you would need six days of catheterization.
(They had difficulty inserting the catheter tube into my penis at the time of surgery, and called in a urologist who implemented a special one for me. All the while I had no idea I have a particularly thin pee hole.)
Anyway, the doctor and Claudio the physiotherapist, helped me to stand up on my feet upright and unaided for the first time!
Day 8: I reside at MIC Sant Jordi until November 3rd.
The physiotherapist, Claudio—who also acts as a radiologist at Clinica Diagonal—stretched me this morning. I followed up and stretched in my bed too several hours later.
A restaurant and cafe sits on the ground floor of the apartment facility, and carries food to the rooms of patients, or anyone including the general public can enter and eat. I commend the dining! They serve it on fine plates, with metal dome lids to preserve the hot food.
Furthermore, the 24-hour nurses of this place will voluntarily pick up essentials and medications at the pharmacy for you upon request; so for example I needed ice packs, bandages, prescriptions, etc. and they retrieved them all for me, and declined my tip!
At the moment, due to the alternate factors of this, I will update my previous rating:
- Dr. Monegal: 9.5
- Physiotherapist: 9.5
- Food: 9
- Nurses: 8
Total = 9 / 10
Fairly impressed so far. Not a single person in Barcelona has ever been rude to me in any way; quite the opposite.
Also, I stood unaided for the second time today (under monitor of Claudio), and also rode the bicycle machine!
View of stitches on left leg
View of black and blue on left thigh
View of three-course meal the restaurant gives
- Spaghetti in mushroom sauce
- Chicken leg
- Chocolate cake
- Side of bread
- Bottle of water
View of me seated in wheelchair (covered for discretion)
QuoteHow are you doing now? How is the pain level and scars?
I feel content. Pain remains low, although a bit annoying when lying down for extended periods of time. I have no real idea about the scars as of yet.
Extremely impressive meal today:
- Rice with tomato sauce and a fried egg
- Sausage and beans
- Bread
- Cheesecake
I literally eat better dishes here than in the US.
QuoteMan, you are in fking BARCELONA !!! This is like the best and most amazing city in Europe. The food is amazing, I guess, just google some stuff on tripadvisor, from time to time, like once in 3 days, order some nice meals from outside, the food is really good... Do not miss a chance to visit a game of F.C. Barcelona and witness the best player in history of soccer - Leo Messi, who is, ironically, only 169
Authentic Catalonian food has no comparison. The restaurant in this facility has genuine chefs—not generic cooks—and they whip up very cool dishes. To be honest, I eat better meals here than when back in the U.S.
I hit 1cm today, and I can both feel and see the mutation in the composition of my legs. My knees appear further away according to my eyes.
I can stand by myself once stretched, and walk about 40 foot with hand support on the parallel bars. I ride the stationary bike for at least 10 minutes each day now, and my degree of flex hits 90 degrees.
No complaints, although I will confirm that I wake up in the middle of the night, and need to re-configure my legs in multiple ways to finally fall asleep again.
I would like to commend both Claudio and Dr. Monegal, who both reply to text messages within 15 minutes any time of day or night.
One other thing, for those of you who consider Spain a location for your procedure, or for those of you who do *not* consider it so—I will say that virtually every person here speaks English to a certain extent, they play American music in cabs, on radio, on television, the hospital clinic seemed cutting edge and modern, etc., furthermore, they possess almost the exact same goods and services that you would find in a normal American city. In other words, undergoing the treatment in Spain sort of mirrors undergoing it in the United States, and in many ways it becomes indistinguishable. Besides England, Spain may be the nearest locale for an experience tantamount to the U.S.—if that matters to you!
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