My Current Situation
Hello Everyone,
I last posted over a year ago. I underwent my surgery on August 25, 2015 and finally underwent the removal surgery on February 21, 2018—this means I left the Fitbone nails in my femurs for 2.5 years.
In that time, my bones had healed completely. My spring, dexterity, agility, flexibility, etc. had resumed as if the surgery had not occurred, although I have needed to account for the new proportions of my legs. It has factually altered my gate as my femurs require a longer stride. This took time to reconcile.
Due to personal affairs I could not fly back to Barcelona for over two years however Dr. Monegal and I chatted a month ago and agreed to complete this experience with a removal surgery on February 21st.
I departed on February 19 from USA to London overnight and landed in Barcelona on February 20th. I then resided at Hotel Abba Garden overnight. On February 21st I shuttled to Clinica Diagonal, underwent a battery of blood, radiology, and respiratory exams, at which point a pair or nurses shaved my entire legs and laid me in my hospital bed. Dr. Monegal and Claudio hung out in my room for a half hour to chat and then nurses wheeled me to a staging room where they inserted a catheter in my hand and placed me under anesthesia so I fell asleep. I awoke in three hours and they wheeled me to my hospital room. Honestly, the whole experienced occurred without any disruption or error. The nurses cared for me for two days and I left back for the USA on February 23rd. In other words, as of today I experienced the surgery just three days ago. LOL
I can walk almost normally but with aches in the removal locations on my thighs. I am also currently on one Diazepam 5mg and Paracetamol 1g that Dr. Monegal gave to me in dispensable packets so that I can enter back into my normal day without any pain or awkwardness.
Helpful Links For An Itinerary
• Hotel abba Garden - Reside here for a temporary lodge
https://www.abbagardenhotel.com/en/home.html
The hotel front desk provided me a shuttle to the hospital for free. It sits less than one mile from the hospital.
• Clinica Diagonal - Undergo surgery here
http://www.clinicadiagonal.com/
The admissions desk and nurse crew accommodated me phenomenally. I cannot give a single complaint. Every person there can talk to you in half-English so almost no confusion occurs.
• MIC Sant Jordi - Reside here long-term for recovery
http://www.barcelonadisability.org/en/
The team at this disability apartment center remain on standby 24 hours. I cannot over-emphasize the help and support they gave to me. It also features an in-house gym and pool where you can stretch, stationary cycle, and walk in water every day. Moreover, the in-house restaurant cooks authentic Catalonian dishes and will bring them to your door upon request or you can hang out in their cafe and drink fruit smoothies while on free WIFI. If you come to Barcelona, then reside here long-term. No other apartment center will compare. I personally guarantee that.
Sample Itinerary
• Fly to Barcelona–El Prat Airport
• Taxi to Hotel abba Garden for a night
• Shuttle to Clinica Diagonal in the morning
• Undergo surgery for a day and immediate recovery for five days in hospital room
• Taxi to MIC Sant Jordi
• Reside at MIC Sant Jordi and undergo therapy in-house for two months to stretch, walk, bike, and live
Dr. Monegal & Claudio
I love these two men. They have revolutionized my psychology and become brothers to me. Dr. Monegal installed and removed the Fitbone nails, and Claudio oversaw radiology and massaged and stretched my legs every day for two months. I consider myself very lucky to have discovered them. I cried when I looked back at this photo of us on my hospital bed a few days ago. These two men care for their patients.
Disabled Traveler
You will need to come to terms with the fact you will life as a disabled person for a while. For example, when you travel by airplane, you will need to tell the airport crew that you need disabled assistance. They will provide a wheelchair, wheel you from terminal through security and customs to the gate, and possibly carry you on a little shuttle four-wheeler down corridors of the airport. Moreover, they will wheel you down the plank from the gate to the door of the airplane. Then the stewards & stewardesses will accommodate you as a disabled person.
This opens a can of worms to a certain extent and will provide you a completely alternate experience as a traveler. One one hand, it seemed to abbreviate the airport logistics and allowed me access to a back-stage security protocol and terminal-to-gate priority on my travel in Barcelona. However, on my second travel it seemed to elongate and burden my logistics. It required a number of instances where flight crews accommodated me last and even caused me to miss a connecting flight due to their negligence at which point they booked me for another flight. In this sense, I consider the whole concept of a 'disabled traveler experience' to be a mixed bag.
As I said, with a disabled-friendly airport crew it can abbreviate the travel experience, however with a disabled-unfriendly airport crew it elongates and disrupts your travel experience. I now sympathize with disabled people and recognize their struggles. People care for you but also treat you like an alien at the same time.
For now I will leave you with this post, take a look at my inbox, and if anyone would like to share any comments or concerns, I will see if I can answer them.
Good luck,
Bohemia
P.S. To nip a common concern in the bud: Yes, if I were in your shoes, I would do this again. It has helped me to become a much better person. That said it comes with a cost: it feels like my body has aged ten years because of this.
