My journey to become taller with Indian Spinal Injuries Centre

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Hey Chris,

Its good to hear that they finally operated on you. Your journey begins now. 

Looking forward to your updates.

TS

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good luck , all my best you are smart 

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Good luck, be sure to keep us updated!

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January 30th, 2017

My flight to New Delhi got delayed, but when I arrived, I still had about 1 hour left to make it to the ISIC in time.
I left the airport and everything was there again: grey sky, smelly air and foul taxi fares for white men in India.
The first driver had the balls to ask me for 1800 Rs   I instantly felt like I was back again.
Finally, I got to my appointment about 15 mintes late, but who cares, I just travelled around half the world to see dr. Deepak and his team.
They already expected me and said that I could have my first surgery tomorrw and be admitted into the hospital immediately. 
So I got myself admitted and later canceled my hotel booking (remember: better stay away from hotels having "NH-8" in their address).
There was no single room available at the time, so I got a deluxe single room for the same price

This is a picture of the deluxe single room:

Single rooms are basically the same, they are just smaller and do not have a sofe where your attendant could sleep on.

And here is a picture of the bathroom:


There is nothing to complain about the food. You get tea, breakfast, lunch, soup and dinner.
The doctors told me that I could have my nutrition changed if I don't like Indian food or if I was allergic to anything.


The Sisters and the Ward Boys are professional and always kind and helpful. They have been looking after me regularly.
The doctors look after me once a day.
Everyone speaks English except for some Ward Boys.
Internet (Wifi) could be set up at an additional cost of 250Rs per day and per device (mobile + notebook = 500Rs). 
TV is for free and mostly in English. Untill now, I haven't used my notebook for watching movies even once.
When your cables/wires aren't long enough, you can ask the Ward Boys to bring an extention.

I spent the rest of the day having examinations.
I was glad and especially relieved that I could finally have my first surgery. But I also was a bit nervous... 

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January 31th, 2017 - The Day of Surgery - Part 1

It’s about 06:30 in the morning. I’ve just managed to fall asleep somehow when the door of my room opens and the lights turn on.
Two sisters (nurses) and one of the ward boys come in telling me that my surgery is now scheduled for 08:00 AM and that I should be ready for transportation by 07:30 AM.
I’m given a blue patient gown and disposable underwear from the ward boy.
The underwear is made of plastic and reminds me of diaper.
One sister approaches me for checking my blood pressure, while the other sister is handing me the agreement form to sign which will allow the doctors to perform the surgery.
As quickly as they have raided my room, the sisters leave again.
The ward boy stays to assist me with taking a shower and getting dressed.
I decline his offer telling him that I still can shower and dress myself and kindly ask him to return sometime later.
Being alone again, I calmly get up, take a shower and get dressed.
I still have 25 minutes left after that and take a seat on my bed again.
The shower has made me feel awake for now and have time to think.
Most of my thoughts are too personal to share, but things that I’m comfortable to share are the following:
“So this is it.”
“Am I really doing this right now?”
“So much hard work for this very moment.”
“I didn’t imagine it to be like this.”
“So much trouble until now, I hope that everything will be fine from here on.”
“I hope I didn’t forget about anything important.”
“I wish I wouldn’t have to do this.”
“I need this surgery, no matter what, and there is no way for me to turn back now.”
“I’m feeling sleepy again, but oh well, they will knock me out later anyway ”
My mind and my body are calm now and I’m accepting the situation.
I’m thirsty and a little hungry but I’m not allowed to eat or drink anything. The disposable underwear feels uncomfortable.
The door of my room opens and a sister comes in again.
She has a syringe with her and says that she has to test my skin for traces of LSD
I tell her that I have not taken any drugs secretly, but she keeps on insisting.
They had a case with another patient lately who had taken that drug before their surgery which is why the sisters are now ordered to “skin-test” everyone.
At around 07:30 AM the door opens once more and two ward boys come in bringing a wheeled stretcher with them.
I’m told to lay on it.
They provide me with a pillow and a blanket and fasten belts around my legs and my upper body. Finally, let’s roll…!
…or not yet, because suddenly, one of the sisters rushes into my room informing us that I will have to wait for the surgery a little longer due to technical difficulties.
Oh my God, this is not happening!
I ask the sister to specify “technical difficulties” but she doesn’t know.
Becoming a little frustrated I get off the stretcher and sit on my bed again.
It takes about 40 minutes until I can finally lay on the stretcher again.
But it’s for real this time.
I’m carried to the area where the surgeries are being performed and put in some kind of waiting room.
More waiting and even more unwanted time for me to think, yay! 
There is a group of doctors and nurses standing at the entrance.
I can hear them having parts of their conversation in English.
One of the men’s father has just passed away and he thinks about quitting his medical carrier so he could help his family and follow in his father’s footsteps.
There is crying involved and I’m watching.
There is another wheeled stretcher to my left side. A middle-aged Indian lady is lying on it, constantly whispering her prayers.
Too much depression and anxiety around me. It makes me think about my own not so happy life.
I’m feeling depressed now.
Then the group dissolves and they take the praying woman with them.
The guy who is about to end his carrier comes to my bed, I can clearly see in his eyes that he was crying too.
He asks me about my condition, and explains to me what is going to happen next.
He then disappears like everyone else.
I’m alone now. I’m a little depressed, and all this waiting has finally made me nervous 
About 15 minutes later, Dr. Deepak and his team and the anesthetist appear on the scene.
They come to me and we talk about what is going to happen from the doctors’ perspective.
After that, and like it should have been from the very beginning, it all happens very quickly.
I’m finally carried to the operating theater where I put myself from the stretcher on the operation table.
I lie on a hard surface.
Everything I touch is cold and the air in this room is like in a freezer. I’m freezing.
The staff covers my body with a blanket, but it doesn’t really help.
My arms get repositioned to the sides of the table.
Someone checks my blood pressure while someone else is putting a catheter into my right hand. It hurts too much; he has to find another spot.
I can see the sad guy over me again. He has tears in his eyes while doing his job.
The anesthetist starts to ask me how I feel and if I could tell him my name.
By the time, his questions become more and more ridiculous.
Suddenly, my body starts feel relaxed and the cold is gone.
I say to anesthetist that I know why he is asking me all these silly questions.
He laughs and asks me why.
No reply from me

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January 31th, 2017 - The Day of Surgery - Part 2

I leap trough time and wake up from a weird dream.
I can't remember falling asleep.
For a brief moment I'm without thoughts, just lying and looking at some faces above me.
Suddenly, my memories return and hit me like a flash.
I'm on an operation table, I have had a surgery.
As soon as my memories have returned, so returned that cold feeling I had when I entered this room.
I'm freezing and for some reason my body starts to shake. I can't control it. Everything is shaking.
The faces above me which I now recognize as staff lift me over to a wheeled stretcher.
They put pillows under my head and my legs.
I notice that my legs are quite heavy.
But I can't see them, because they are wrapped in thick layers of bandage.
I get covered with a blanket and someone fastens belts around my body like when they have brought me to this place.
I'm carried back to the waiting room.
It's getting warmer around me, but my legs stay cold and the shaking doesn't stop.
I don't know for how long I've been in this room. I have completely lost track of time.
A nurse keeps looking after me regularly. She checks my blood pressure and some other stuff which I don't know what it is.
I tell her about my cold legs and that I'm still trembling.
I'm offered more blankets and get assured, that the trembling would go away soon.
After some time, my legs start to feel more and more uncomfortable.
Suddenly I realize that it's not the cold that I still feel in my legs, but pain!
I call the nurse and ask her for painkillers, but she says that I'm already getting painkillers through my arm and points with her finger to some bottle hanging above my stretcher.
I ask for a higher dosage and she agrees to seek a doctor for permission.
I'm then given a higher dosage, but for some reason, the pain in my legs persists and it even becomes more painful over time.
I have no choice but to ask the nurse for even more painkillers which she clearly is not fond of this time.
But not even the next higher dosage can stop my pain from growing.
I’m crying from pain now.
I’m sweaty, shaking and all I can think about is pain.
I yell at the nurses; I just want the pain to stop no matter how they do it.
The nurses call a doctor for help.
I don’t know what’s going on anymore.
All I know is that they change my medication and that they plug me to some small mobile device which is connected to my right hand’s catheter.
After some time, which feels like eternity, the pain finally goes down again.
There is still some pain left in the end, but it’s bearable now and feels like tender kisses compared to the pain I felt before.
I didn’t know that my legs could possibly hurt so much and it’s save to say that this has been the most painful experience I’ve ever had.
I think without these painkillers I would have passed out.
Personal pain level shortly after surgery: 9/10
The “special” medication has brought it down to 4/10
The doctor says that I’m getting permanent painkillers now via infusion and that I can press the button of my small device if I need additional relieve of pain.
But the device is set to only work 4 times per hour, because any more than this could lead to an overdose.
I’m carried back to my room. Everything is still as I left it.
I can see the clock on the wall, it’s 05:35 PM.
I’m getting tired again, but the 4/10 pain keeps me awake.
I press the button for the first time.
The device makes a strange mechanical noise and pumps an additional amount of painkillers into my vein.
The pain goes down to approx. 2/10 which is fine for me.
But the affect only lasts for about 10 minutes, then it goes up to 4/10 again.
So this is me after surgery, I’m tiered but I can’t sleep and have to press a button every 15 minutes to keep the pain down which would allow me to sleep if I didn’t have to press the damn button.
At about 10:00 PM someone brings me late dinner, I’m supposed to eat but I have lost my appetite.
I’m like a zombie for the rest of the night.
Neither awake nor asleep.

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So how is your pain threshold right know?

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Thanks for sharing this with us Chris, it was a very thrilling tale and I'm curious what happened next.

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The first Two weeks are hell, after is not that difficult.

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Quote from: bander72 on February 08, 2017, 03:02:57 PMSo how is your pain threshold right know?
Four days after surgery the pain went down to like 3/10 when lying around and 4/10 after walking.
So I agreed to switch to oral painkillers.
Now I'm 12 days post-op. My pain is 1-2/10 when lying around and 2-3 the moment I start walking.
I put ice packs on my legs and take 600mg Ibuprofen twice to three times a day.

Quote from: IwannaBeTaller on February 08, 2017, 03:26:54 PMThanks for sharing this with us Chris, it was a very thrilling tale and I'm curious what happened next.
Welcome, but I think I'll have to write a short summary for the remaining days to catch up with time.
I've been busy since I'm home again, which probably is a good thing

Quote from: onemorefoot on February 11, 2017, 09:13:04 PMThe first Two weeks are hell, after is not that difficult.
Mostly agree, but it's rather three weeks for me, because my body really didn't like the surgery.