My lengthening journey with Dr Hoondong Lee

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Quote from: kusop on June 18, 2014, 08:21:43 AMare you male or a female

I am female

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Quote from: ShortyMcShort on June 18, 2014, 03:17:56 PMDont mean to sound rude but can you tell us about one of the most important aspects in CLL, the price. We all know Dr Lee's prices has gone through the roof since he moved to the new hospital. Simply unaffordable now, actually I think unaffordable is an understatement, its a rip off now. Add to that the internal Precise dilemmas he's had with two previous patients and you can see why there hasnt been any more Dr Lee diaries lately, that is again only my opinion so its a subjective thing.

I pretty much put pen on paper that I would do my first LL with Dr Lee, that was until he raised his prices exponentially. So could you please outline your cost for the surgery itself, the apartment you are at and how did you find it, do they help you look for an apartment? I heard looking for an apartment in South Korea is quite hard. And everything else in between.
Thanks for the diary, been looking forward to some more Dr Lee diaries but for obvious reasons there hasnt been anymore since his price hike. Seems to cost more than Dr Paley, Guichet and co now

Of course! I understand your concern. In fact, it was such a big concern for me that I almost aborted the idea of doing with Dr Lee after the price raise. However, after I had my in person consultation with Dr. Lee, I realized that it's not as bad as I thought. I decided to do the LON method because of less scars, and I want to avoid the 2nd traumatic surgery like the LATN method. The price for the surgery including 7 days of hospital staying is 33,500,000 Korean Won, which is roughly about $33,500 USD. Originally Dr Lee offered this hotel that's close to the hospital for $80 per day during the distraction period, but i found it to be still quite expensive for 3-4 months of staying. I then found this Korean version of Craigslist, and was able to rent a studio online that is high-rise with elevator for about $1200 per month including wifi and utilities. After I am discharged from the hospital, Dr. Lee also requires patients to visit him every two weeks. Each time, it is about $300 for X-ray, two weeks of meds, and doctor's visit. The good thing is right now, Dr. Lee is offering the Stem Cell Therapy for free, which costs $5000. All in all, everything together including food, rent, surgery, doctor's visit is about $40,000 USD for the LON method. I know it is still more expensive than going to China or India, especially considering my native language is Chinese. However, growing up in China, I know how the hygienes can be in those develop countries. I read many dairies of LL veterans getting their pins infected, getting horrible complications in India. To me personally, I would prefer to pay $10,000 more to get a world class surgeon in a world class hospital. Lengthening surgery is no joke, I would rather be safe than sorry.

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Quote from: Gichelu on June 18, 2014, 04:25:35 PMGood luck, Classical! Sorry about all the pain you are in. Are you in touch with other patients of Dr Lee that you can hang out with so you are not lonely over there at least?

Thank you! Unfortunately, since this price raise, there is no international patients here. Sometimes I envy those who are doing the surgery in India and China. It is always nice to have others whom are going through the same thing to hang out and exchange experiences. 

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These are the pictures of my legs right now. In the first picture, you can see that I am wearing those specially shoes 24/7 to avoid ballerina foot. The 2nd and 3rd picture shows my incision. Dr. Lee is such an artist, I am very happy with my scars so far (3 weeks post-op).

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Wow.  I really envy those osteotomy cuts.  Mine were so sloppy.  I got plastic surgery (an extra expense BTW) but they're still not nice like yours.

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I like how Dr.Lee does the incision with meticulous care. I reckon it's very important for females to have minimum scarring.

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Agreed, one of the reasons why I wanted to do tibias with Dr Lee first was because he actually cares about aesthetics and tries to keep scarring to a minimal. Still remember reading Walk6's diary and all the praises he had for Dr Lee.

Is physio still included in the new prices? Or is that an extra you'd you have to pay on top? If so, how is the physio going?
And what do you do regarding food? Who buys and makes them for you? With the old price it was already included and the nurses would bring you food, now we're all on our own it seems. Does Dr Lee provide some kind of made/assistant service like Dr Jamal in the Ukraine?

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Yes, I consider myself very lucky to have Dr Lee to operate on me

In terms of PT, there isn't any available. Dr Lee and his assistant gave me a set of exercises such has lifting my legs, towel pulling the back of the feet, standing... He said as long as I do these exercises religiously, I don't need PT. I only stayed in the hospital for seven days after my surgery. The hospital food for my standard is quite bad (but don't listen to me, I am just spoiled. My dad is a chef, and he is the only person who's cooking satisfies me . One thing that is super important is that you have to either bring somebody to take care of you or you would have to hire a caretaker. I am very lucky that my mom came with me, and took care of me since the beginning of the surgery. To be honest, I can't imagine how I would live without her. Going to the bathroom is a big problem, not to mention cooking, cleaning, etc...  Korea is not a cheap country, I imagine to hire a caretaker would be very expensive. The good thing here is takeouts seem to be quite cheap. You can probably have people deliver food to you for $6 per meal.

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Classical once you reach 5 cm , can you take a pic and put it on the forum ?

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Yes, I will take a picture once I reach 5cm, however that's going to be in at least 1.5 months.

Everybody, I need help! I am almost 4 weeks post-op, just started standing about five days ago. Right now, when I straighten my knees, I can only stand about 1 minute each time, otherwise my shin starts to hurt. I think if I let my knees curve a bit I can stand more, but Dr Lee is big on keeping the knees straight. I read many other dairies, and it seems at this point of lengthening, people are already walking 1-2 hours a day. Am I super behind? Should I just let my leg hurt and keep on standing for longer anyway?