Making a post-surgery update + rant (02/02/2024).
The Paley Institute itself is amazing, I have zero concerns with them. The surgery went better than expected as I hardly bled (around 5-10x less than average).
In terms of physiotherapy, it has been amazing. The machines really do help and the physiotherapist is really helpful and goes the extra mile to help.
Now, for clarification my concerns that you’ll see next are about a select few bad hospital staff. Most were amazing, but I’ve had 3 extremely bad experiences in my 3-day stay.
For those who don’t know, you don’t stay at the Paley Institute during your hospitalisation (in Europe anyway). You stay at the MediCare Hospital which is their partner hospital.
My first bad interaction was when the anaesthesiologist came into the room to remove the epidural pain killers. The way he took it off felt like he was waxing my back (and as I had a needle attached to my spine, let’s just say that I still have back pain from it). It should go away in a few days hopefully, will update you all on this matter.
The second somewhat unpleasant experience was removing the catheter. I don’t think the nurse did a bad job, but she kind of yanked it and it caused some bleeding. Apparently this is normal, I’m no catheter expert. Thought I’d mention it regardless, just felt like it could’ve been a lot gentler and smoother.
I’ve had some really awesome nurses who went the extra mile. As I want to keep updates brief, I’ll mention the negatives.
One of the really cool nurses who made a big difference mentioned that my IV was too big which causes a bit of unnecessary pain. I don’t think this is a surgeon issue, but more an issue with whoever made the decision to put a huge IV when a smaller one would’ve done the same job with less pain. Something minor but I thought that I’d highlight issues that even nurses brought up.
And the final bad experience was with a nurse who was injecting painkillers in the most painful way (ironic). For the first time ever, the liquid splashed everywhere. It felt like she was pressure washing my veins. Really bad and extremely painful experience, felt like I would’ve been treated better by a zoo. Later I was able to wash myself with the IV on. Now the catch is that the nurses were just sitting there waiting for me to clean myself with only 1 hand (using the hand with the IV is painful). I was given zero help despite only being able to use 1 hand. When the surgeon came in, they started to pretend like they were doing work and started helping. This help was momentarily, as soon as the surgeon left they basically said “Yeah good luck cleaning yourself, call us when you’re done”.
This then died down once he left, and they basically said “Yh so wash yourself, good luck, call us when you’re done”. On the first day the other set of nurses really helped me with cleaning, so this mediocre half-arsed “help” was disappointing.
I had some really positive experiences with nurses too. However, I thought I’d bring these up as I’m sure that Paley does read this diaries. Awesome surgeons and physiotherapists. A good half of the nurses at the hospital were amazing too. However the bad experiences were bad enough that they caused pain and as per the most recent one had nurses who were trying to cut corners which increased pain.
As always, I am posting disc (d) updates here with pictures: https://-/P7eyY47C
Paley Institute | Bilateral Femur Surgery | Dr Dr Deszczyński & Dr Albrewczyński
For some reason d1sc0rd is censored lol.
Dont you think that it would be better to go with Becker in Germany? It's even cheaper than in Poland and quality and outcomes are better known here.
I decided to make this update (04/02/2024) because my previous posts were mostly complaints. I now want to show people my recovery and my experiences. Just because I only mentioned the bad stuff doesn’t mean that it was all bad. I decided to include the negative angles; however; I will do them some justice by posting the good parts too.
My surgery itself was better than average according to the surgeons. Usually you bleed a lot (500mL from each femur, so 1L in total) which at times requires a blood transplant. I bled hardly anything. Less than 50mL. The skill of the surgeons really shined here. It’s as close as it gets to a perfect surgery. The incisions are very small and not visible at all too.
I have been discharged from the hospital. The trip was pretty rough as I had the cannula taken off so I was in a bit of pain. My carer helped me a lot around the apartment and I was very comfortable.
I’ve been taking a lot of supplements and healthy food. It all tastes crap, but the nutrition that I am getting is superb. I get the food delivered to my apartment. It’s fresh and very healthy.
I seem to get a fever and inflammation when I do exercises. This became apparent when I had a really high fever and was in excruciating pain. The opioids that the Paley Institute made no difference. This was probably because fevers increase your pain sensitivity and the swelling puts more pressure on your broken bones.
I had a high fever at midnight and called the Paley Institute. After explaining that I didn’t feel well, the doctor asked to see pictures of my leg. Once he saw them, he sent someone from the Institute to my apartment at 1am (literally less than an hour of me calling, I had someone coming to my apartment) to deliver the medication. My fever dropped immediately and I slept really well and the pain was gone. The patient care at Paley is truly exceptional, they went the extra mile at 1am to my own apartment, it was really awesome.
While I was at the hospital, I had a physiotherapy session (you have one daily). Everything went well, but I wasn’t able to get into the wheelchair yet as I was weak and not very flexible. They left a machine with me to improve my leg mobility by bending it. Unfortunately the nurses at the hospital didn’t set it up properly and because of that it was hurting my legs. I messaged the patient manager at the Paley Institute, and they sent the physiotherapist after the institute was closed (he had normal clothes on, clearly left work). He was awesome, he helped me stretching and encouraged me to get to the wheelchair. After some stretches I was able to get onto the wheelchair with his help. I’m really thankful, not only he helped boost my recovery and speed it up, but they did this when they had no obligation to do so. I also didn’t bring spare clothes so they gave me some breathable shorts from the Institute. They’re so comfortable and I’m using them to reduce the buildup of bacteria, reducing the risk of infections.
My patient manager is incredibly useful. She called the care company as they didn’t speak English and she helped me get the carer arranged as I needed one to get discharged. She replies incredibly quickly and checks up on me often. She gets things done very quickly too and she’s a really nice person too.
I did my surgery this week and I am now able to walk with a walker without any help. I can bend my leg at least 45 degrees independently (70-80 degrees with help from a machine) and can lift my legs without any issues. My ROM is excellent too, very close to pre-surgery despite me having done the surgery earlier this week.
I would argue that I am recovering a lot faster than your average limb lengthening forum user. I’d attribute this to the fantastic team at the Paley Institute.
My bad experiences were with the hospital. I am yet to have any bad experiences with the Paley Institute itself. I am recovering very quickly and they go the extra mile to make sure you’re healthy. You really get what you pay for. Better physio, better machines, less patients so they can give you more attention, and really rapid support.
Quote from: lucindaris on February 02, 2024, 01:06:39 PMDont you think that it would be better to go with Becker in Germany? It's even cheaper than in Poland and quality and outcomes are better known here.
I don’t think so. The quality in Germany is debatable. See my latest update. The quality is really awesome. Unfortunately there aren’t many patients so as you correctly said the outcomes are unknown. Hence why I’ve made this diary. The physio is definitely superior, and I personally trust surgeons who were trained by Paley more.
Torso how do you handle the apartment and food? Is the apartment connected to the Paley Institute in any way or is it just a private apartment you rent and then you order delivery food?
Quote from: TheDream on February 04, 2024, 01:58:12 AMTorso how do you handle the apartment and food? Is the apartment connected to the Paley Institute in any way or is it just a private apartment you rent and then you order delivery food?
Paley has some apartments available but I personally found them really bad. One of them had a double bed and a normal bathroom (bath tub). The second had an appropriate disabled bathroom but it didn’t have a bed (?), only a sofa bed. I thought both options were moronic so I booked an apartment which has a big comfortable double bed, kitchen, and handles on the toilet seat + seat in the wet room.
In terms of the food, I didn’t want to cook and didn’t want to eat unhealthy. I found this healthy food delivery service which delivers it to my apartment daily. The food is fresh, healthy, and nutritious. Sadly it doesn’t take that good but that’s with all healthy foods, the low sodium and low sugars are felt especially if you’re used to eating unhealthy foods like kebabs, fast food, etc.
How do I access your updated address https://.gg/P7eyY47C
wish you recover soon
Quote from: godvzzz on February 04, 2024, 06:10:45 AMHow do I access your updated address https://.gg/P7eyY47C
wish you recover soon
The link is 𝕙𝕥𝕥𝕡𝕤://𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕔𝕠𝕣𝕕.𝕘𝕘/ℙ𝟟𝕖𝕪𝕐𝟜𝟟ℂ
Replace it with normal characters.
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