In the next six Journal update, I will try to provide the best advice I can give to prospective limb lengthening patients. Most of the advice is not related to any Doctors, so please try not to ask me advice about doctors. I used Dr. Dhawan, but it doesn't really matter what I have to say about a doctor or not or about a specific type of limb lengthening method because I assure you I am unqualified to give any kind of advanced or scholarly researched advice on best doctors or best methodologies. What I can offer is advice from my personal experience. These posts are aimed to offer advice in a logical order that follows my time line on my limb lengthening journey thus far, as well as be peppered with personal stories, where I have learned the hard way, or found the easy way before the hard way. I only want to help people, so in your replies, I would appreciate non-critical, polite, and non political responses. Thank you, and if you have any more questions please feel free to message me.
Limb Lengthening on my 28th Birthday with Manish Dhawan in Delhi
The most crucial thing for me was meeting up with Phoenix from the forum once I got here. I do not speak Hindi, so that has been a tremendous help having a person help me when needing it, which was a bunch. Phoenix also spent 5 years, in the US, so that has helped to understand one another. When my cell phone would run out of minutes, and I was out partying, he would just call and have it refilled. When I needed a uber or Ola cab driver, he would literally talk to the Taxi driver, to give him directions, every time I took a ride. When I would want to negotiate the price of weed from a tuk tuk driver, I simply called Phoenix, and he talked the driver down from 1000 INR to 600 INR. I have a lot of advice I would like a share, but for me the most crucial was finding someone off the forum, who is doing the surgery in the same city, meeting up with them, and using their research and living experiences to guide your actions is key. NOT NECESSARILY the same doctor either.
If you can not find someone, from the forum, in the city in which you want to lengthen in. Get on couchsurfing.com, create a profile and ask people to host you in the same city the doctor is in before you go to the country. You can travel cheap this way, and people will bend over back wards to help you out, and will greatly enhance your travel experience vs. staying in a Hotel room by yourself. And sometimes, the people hosting you, will also help to guide you in longer term living situation. Ask your couch surfing hosts, if they are apart of any Facebook groups that has housing for expats, because not every country has, roomster, or craiglist to find roomies. Staying in a hotel is boring, depressing, and expensive. Reaching out to people on couch surfing before hand will be a good thing for your quality of life. Who says limb lengthening had to be boring...
I said this a little bit in my first journal entry, so I won't touch on it much here. This is more useful to those that want to do consolidation in India or whatever country they choose to lengthen. Getting on Tinder Plus was crucial for me, not only as a way to meet women, but also as a way to meet people. My Tinder dates would bring me to parties (3 parties in total initially), and/or invite me to go to the clubs (2 times) Once at the party or the club, I immediately start talking and being friendly to other girls, and guys. This had two effects, it broadened my networks of people, of women and men, and showed the Tinder dates, that I know how to talk to people. Grab Facebooks while there! I planned on doing LON, so I won't be stuck in frames for a year, once I am out of frames and done growing I plan on being social again, so these friendships I am forming will be beneficial for me long term, during consolidation. Also, you don't need to stress about getting the surgery done right away, if you can afford the time, go have fun, and get the most out of your $1000 one way plane ticket lol Cost of living is cheap, so go live it up. I spent 1000 usd just on entertainment the first month, and that 1000 went a lot farther than it ever would have in the US.
Pollution is terrible in Delhi, you don't want a weaken immune system before a surgery like this, when you can easily do something about it. Seriously, buy an air purifier off amazon.in once you get more settled (I can send you the model number, it is good and works good) as well has 3M protective masks for riding in taxi, Ubers, and Tuk Tuks. At the very least buy those protective masks. You can get 20 disposable masks for 8.00usd on amazon.in Pack one in your carry on if you plan on coming to Delhi. I don't advocate packing much before you come, except the 3M pollution mask.
I won't advocate for any specific doctors, but I will advocate for where to Lengthen and do consolidation. Phoenix, from the forum, and I have found an awesome house to lengthen and consolidate in. My goal is to get this place as a common lengthening spot of CLL patients for different doctors around Delhi. I consulted with different doctors in Delhi; now I am reaching out to them, and explaining the benefits of lengthening where I am staying, and giving them my land lord's information to them. The reason is so foreigners will have a cheap, fully serviced apartment, with a lift, to do Limb Lengthening in, as well as meet fellow limb lengthening patients, and share the experience of limb lengthening together. If you ever plan on coming to Delhi to Lengthen, just let me know, and I will put you in contact with the land lord even if it is more than 5 or more years from the day of this post.
The benefits for Limb Lengthening patients living here:
1) The landlord of the apartment complex, ironically for LL patients, is a doctor and lives on the ground floor.
The benefits of him being a doctor is that if you need a prescription filled he can fill them, and don't even need to go to the pharmacy, they just get delivered to your door. When you need your pin sites cleaned, and new bandages put on he can do that, because the apartment complex is also conveniently a family medicine hospital. So he has a nurse, and physio therapists who can do that kind of stuff. As well as having the ability to order medical equipment. I asked him to order me a piece of equipment that would make keeping my legs straight, and elevated at night more comfortable.
2) The land lord rents out individual rooms, and has 3 floors with 4 rooms per flat, so that is 12 people, which are mostly foreigners and travelers, so I am literally meeting people from all over their world. And definitely having a way better experience than if I was stuck in an expensive hotel room all by myself for the entire limb lengthening process. 8 people from south Korea just moved in to the Flat below mine, (5 of which are girls... WOOHOO) lol My current room mate is a doctor from Spain, and an economist from Australia. And a really tall girl from some country next to Russia that I can never pronounce, and that no one has ever heard of, so it would be pointless even saying it here haha.
3) When I need x-ray's done the apartment complex is conveniently located less than 1KM away, from a place that does x-rays, so I don't even have to go see the doctor at the hospital much during consolidation . I can just send him x-rays, and if he needs to see me after he sees the x-rays then I will go to the hospital. During my lengthening phase, however, I will probably go every time he wants to see me. Phoenix didn't even go see his doctor for 2 ½ months during consolidation. Just did it this way.
4)Their is a small gym at the place. It is not a good gym by American standards, but its a place to get some sort of work out, and a place to do physical therapy. All exercise equipment works, you just have to do it.
5)The place has a lift, so it is fully wheel chair accessible. 6) All of the services: A maid, a cook is available for breakfast (cost extra $2.00 usd lol), a 5 layer water filtration system, which is a better system than tap water in the US. The place is ran like a hotel, so it has employees working here, so if there is ever any little small tasks, that need to be done, you can just ask. Also, a laundry service, and the best part, is you don't even have to do your own dishes. Actually, the best part is the cultural exchange probably.
7) The location is pretty close to the hospital. Roughly 30 minutes. I initially wanted a place right next to the hospital, but phoenix said, he initially wanted that to, but that after living in both super close apartments, and medium close apartments he came to the conclusion that it didn't matter. A thirty minute tax ride is not a problem. 
There is a security guard; this guy isn't Mike Tyson in his prime, but at least you will always have someone to come unlock the 12 foot gate when you come home late after partying or something. Also peace of mind.
The place is called Grand Sunset Condo's, and the total monthly cost in USD is around $363.00 which is a good deal even for indian standards, considering the services, and safety that is provided. That is roughly the total cost, depending on which room you take, not including meal services.
For me, finding my doctor was simple; I saw how phoenix's experience was with Dr. Dhawan, and that was good enough for me, but curiosity killed the cat, and this is what I learned consulting with other doctors. Most doctors, ANY doctors from ANY country are salesman, and practice deception quite often, even if its self deception. The doctors here will seem very salesy, but that is just because they are not good at sales. If it is obvious that you are trying to push me into a direction, then you suck at sales. Hence why there are posts on the forum that say that they have a hard time trusting indian doctors. American doctors know how to do subtle sales where they explain things in great detail in the areas they want to lead you towards. Its not like US doctors, don't lie. They do but are just better at it. So not trusting a doctors ability to treat you because he sucks at sales is not a good idea. Indian doctors are technical, but do not show people how technical they are. They just say: no problem, we can do it, and will say anything to not get you to worry, its part of the culture. Don't let them control the dynamic. Be assertive, ask why do you say that, or what from your experience is making you say X. Why am I not believing you? This last one will throw them off balance. The point is to get them to talk. And let them give you their standard pitch, which is why aggressive questioning is key. To practice your consultation skill with doctors, on your first consultation, go see a doctor you have no interest in. You will learn what to do better for the doctor you actually want to go see.
Just know what you want to do in terms of what procedure, and don't expect to get accurate information on what is or what is not the best procedure because every doctor says one style is better over another, except precise fit-bone, a lot of doctors seem to like that style, but don't use as much because patients are being priced out. Have a list of questions to be able to pin the doctor down with them. All of the doctors will seem busy thats because they are. If you don't get the most out of each 15 minute consultation, then you are wasting your time; trust me, I know. I wasted my time on the first two consultations. In America Hospitals give out pamphlets of information, so I was relying on that. In Delhi it is not the case. I don't care because it makes me more self reliant. You have to do your own research, and come prepared for each consultation. Doctors will also give you a price, just consider them like Verizon in the states, or any of the other major service providers world wide. Service providers lead with a price but you should always expect to pay a little more; it is the same with doctors price quotes, because they don't add in the add ons, but I didn't care because I didn't expect any less, nor do I care about, paying a little more than what was advertised, because it is still super cheap. One of my add ons was a 'pain pack' so I was chilling out fentanyl iv's for the entire stay of the hospital, was pretty fun lol I still only payed 10,500 USD for CLL LON. The extra $500 was because I, stupidly and knowingly transferred money through the banks. The best way to transfer money is through bitcoin. Total cost will be 5 cents. Google how.
First thing I did was have them change my bed mattress. Mine was hard, and I wanted soft. I didn't think they would do it but they did, and they put a small air mattress on top of it, so once I started to get bed sores, I just pressed a button and boom no more bed sores. Phoenix, from this forum, was my medical attendant for me while at the hospital, which made my experience awesome because sometimes it was hard to get workers or nurses to do things for me, but then phoenix would just translate for me, and boom it was done. That's why I can't stress enough for foreigners to partner up with Indians to do limb lengthening together, and you make a good friend from a country that is a huge emerging market. Lol Could be a business partner one day. The service at the hospital is outstanding. My previous hospital was Stanford Medical Hospital, one of the top rated hospitals in the world, and the services in the hospital I used in Delhi was better; I can't speak for every hospital in Delhi, just my experience.
Side Note: Why is the service so good? Since India has such a massive labor force, that work for low wages, businesses just have so many more employee than businesses in the US. I have received far better service than the "luxury united states" so the hospitals services was amazing for an Americans standards, and expectations.
Food recommendations, while at the hospital, is to schedule a consultation with the dietician, and you guys will go over what you want to eat every day. This is huge. I told them to make soft food for the first two days. Smoothie in the morning, blended vegetables bone broth stew for lunch. Just take me on my word with this: when healing after a surgery drink raw juice, and it was only $1.50 usd for a 12 ounce freshly made raw juice. I was drinking like 5 of them per day. Another tip: is to set up your room to your liking. I set up my ps4, moved around furniture, had them remove items that took up to much space, and set up all my electronics just how I wanted them so everything was charged, and easily accessible, remember you won't be able to move around much few days after surgery. I turned it into my own little man cave. DO THE SAME. And remember to ask for forgiveness not permission. Just do it. You will probably be admitted to the hospital 1 or 2 days before surgery date. You will not want to get up out of bed to take a crap, so my recommendation is the day before take laxatives early in the day, and at the same time have the doctor prescribe an enema during evening time. This sounds funny, but it will be better to flush everything out, so you don't have to take the most painful crap of your life, the same or next day after your surgery.
Also, you are stuck in a hospital for 5 to 10 days, so take full advantage. I did two consultations with eye doctors to get Lasek done in the future, bought a pair of glasses for the mean time, because the LCD tv was only a 37 inch, and I wanted to see the words on the TV screen, when I was playing my Ps4. Total cost for prescription eye glasses, was only 26.00. Check hospital information packet, and see what services the hospital provides. Some people believe in alternative medications and some don't. I can tell you that ayurvedic medicine gets somethings right. Gas, bloating, and constipation medicines are 3 of them. Schedule a consultations with a ayuverdic doctor, if you can, and have him prescribe those for you. I had him schedule me something for my immune system, and Pain/swelling as well. But at least get the stuff for gas, bloating, and constipation. These will help combat the stomach problems from the antibiotics. Take once you leave the hospital. CRUCIAL INFORMATION: Bring the air purifier you bought when you first got to Delhi, and have it in the room while you are recovering post surgery. Its a hospital, infections are prevalent. This may seem like overkill, but not doing it is not worth the risks, especially for foreigners in a foreign hospital. Also, when in the hospital, where your 3M protective air mask. This is the most crucial time to wear those. The last thing you want to do is get sick pre/post surgery, so being smart, and taking precautions is a good thing.
Doctors in India are stingy with opioids, and I am actually glad that they are because they are not super necessary. While your at the hospital they will give you IV Fentanyl and India's version of IV ibuprofen. Basically, the hospital thinks that Fentanyl has less side affects. My personal experience agrees because I haven't experienced any that I can tell. Stay away from morphine. With Fentanyl when you take a bunch you don't get high, just sleepy, or nauseous, which is what makes it less addictive. You don't get the euphoric feeling just sleepy if you take to much. Since they are stingy however, before you leave the hospital you will have to negotiate with the doctors to get them to prescribe fentanyl (opioids) to you. Since they don't have much of a vested interest in the outcome, they will prescribe them to you, just be persistent, and don't quit asking until you get it. Don't get the pill form, get it in the form of a patch. Why? For two reasons: one is that taking any medications orally, depending on what it is can have a damaging effects to your stomachs small intestinal lining, as well as throw off the P.H. Levels in the stomach, and pain killers kills good bacteria. Avoiding pills when necessary is a good idea. Two= you get micro-doses over the course of 72 hours instead of all at once, which is good because can't abuse it or take to much or to little. Also, they will prescribe something similar to tylenol. Get this in the patch form as well. Having a strong immune system, by having your stomach functioning properly because of using patches instead of pills is a good idea. Especially, after a major surgery. Next, find some hashish, which is India's version of Chronic. My strategy is to use it for physical therapy, and for sleep, since smoking anything right after a surgery is probably not the best. BUT Once I start growing, I plan on switching from Hashish to melting regular weed down into coconut oil. I say use coconut oil because it is surprisingly amazing for making hash oil with. Once you are done you can just put the oil in the fridge, and then when you need medicine, it is easy just to cut off a chunk because the oil gets hard when cold. Marijuana goes quite well with the fentanyl, so I have been getting great sleep, and low pain at least in terms of expectations.
My pain killers, while at the hospital:
IV fentanyl (opiods)
IV anti inflammatory
IV non opioid acute pain killer
My pain killers post surgery but before growing are:
fentanyl patches every three days.
A regular anti inflammatory patch.
3 to 4 small hits before physical therapy and sleep.
Pain killers once I start to grow.
A regular anti inflammatory patch every 24 hours as needed.
Coconut oil hash oil as needed. Or at night to secure restful sleep
Natural Ayurvedic pain killers+ anti inflammatory, as prescribed by Ayurvedic doctor.
I am choosing to stop the use of hashish, and Fentanyl once I start to grow.
I uploaded the images on the site you recommended, Turboimagehost.com, I will post the links shortly.
Dr. Dhawan does your typical setup. 4 wires at the knee with one rod, and 4 wires at the ankle with the rod. The middle ring is a dummy ring, as he called it, just to be able to lengthen. I feel alright about the set up except that the two rods on the bottom rings bump into one another, and I really don't feel like that is good. They are so long that they protrude, almost two inches past the frames, which makes it super annoying because they are constantly getting tangled with each other, and the opposites leg frames. Anyone reading this post look at my pictures, and when you go to consult with a doctor makes sure that they use the appropriate sized rods. I feel like this rod isn't the correct rod for my frames because I really don't see any benefit for having them so much longer than the frames. So why would an engineer design it like that? I was looking at phoenix's frames, and it seems like they have cut his bottom rods so that they are flush with the frames. I am thinking about cutting it myself with some bolt cutters, but something tells me that will be super painful lol I told Dr. Dhawan about it and he said to "deal with it, please." Well since you said "please," I thought to myself, then sure. lol Do you know, KiloKhan, if this is common. Having your rods stick out far past your frames?
Quote from: KiloKAHN on February 25, 2016, 10:52:27 PMThis is good info. Any chance you can take a pic of your frames later? Curious about Dr Dhawan's frame set up when doing LON.
Quote from: OregonMade on March 14, 2016, 07:13:03 AMDo you know, KiloKhan, if this is common. Having your rods stick out far past your frames?
I'm not sure how common that is, although he's probably got a good reason for it. My rods stuck out far through the middle ring but only stuck out enough through the bottoms to be able to fit a single nut around it: http://www.turboimagehost.com/p/19317212/osteotomy_2.jpg.html
I appreciate this informative diary. I am in the process of finalizing a doctor for cosmetic surgery this summer. Dr. Dhawan and Dr. Parihar are my two potential candidates. If I choose Dr. Dhawan, I hope to stay in touch with you to help me on my journey. I am aiming for 8 cm, but I know he recommends 6 cm only. We will see how things go.
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