Sharing My Story, Looking for advice.

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Hello everyone,

I am brand new to this forum..I hope this post can become a place where people who have had the surgery successfully can share info and give advice to those of us who are struggling to find the right doctors and are perhaps apprehensive to move forward with the surgery.

I am from the US and the LL surgery is entirely too expensive here, my price range is 30-40k USD. This is for the surgery and accommodations. I've worked very hard saving up for this, and attempting to prepare myself mentally and physically for the surgery as much I can the past couple years or so. I am 22 years old, and I've essentially put my life on hold so that I might have this surgery. I've had a lot of trouble contacting surgeons from other countries, for example, India, Russia, Italy and so on. I feel like I've done everything I can up to this point to prepare myself, I just now need to have real contact with a reliable doctor to actually make this happen.

Not sure if anyone can relate to this, but since I was 13/14 years old I've steadily added more insoles/filling to my shoes (high top sneaker and boots only) to fake the appearance of a growth spurt, none of my friends or family have seen me without shoes on in approximately 8 years. I know this sounds crazy..They all believe me to be about 3 inches taller than I really am. It has held me back in life a lot, my feet nearly always hurt..I quit playing basketball because of back pain with the insoles.. I miss swimming, feeling sand on my toes, comfortably walking around barefoot around other people. This surgery will change my life. It will truly offer me freedom.

 Anyone who reads this will be the first people I have ever told this story too.. Please offer advice about where to locate the names and contact information of reliable, affordable surgeons who will actually read my emails and welcome me to there country (lol). Thank you all for reading, sorry this was so long!!
-Jimmy

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Hey guys, thanks for offering support and advice. It means a lot to even be able to talk to people going through the same thing. I will keep you all posted as I continue to search out the best options for me. Cheers.