Surgery in Australia

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Hello all,

I have my first in person consult with the dr (previously had a phone consult with the nurse) who would be doing my sugery next week.

The consult alone is $500 so I would love to get some advice prior to going.

I am based in Australia and would be looking at doing the procedure here.

I am currently 5 foot 4 (just).

I would be hoping to add 5cm to each leg bone making me 5 foot 8 or so which would be a massive deal for someone so short.

Being this short as a male has made my life a lot harder than it need be.

I would love to hear from others this height as well as those also from Australia.

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Hello,

Thank you so so much for replying!

I was worried there would not be anyone to help me out.

Yes, it is with O' Carrigan.

Please do tell me more about your consult.

I am very much not keen on a non-weight bearing nail but with COVID I cannot see me being able to go overseas anytime soon.

May I ask why you did not do both bones?

Most importantly, could you please share how the surgery changed your life? Do you find you are treated better?

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I suppose cost was a big factor?

I know Dr O'Carrigans nurse was pretty sure I could get insurance to pay for it but I am not so sure.

I cannot see this being the case since you went overseas where insurance would have not covered you?

Can I ask how much it costed you?

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Many thanks for your reply.

I did see that but I am not entirely sure of it.

She said it with a lot of confidence and it seems so wrong to lie about that.

 I am just investigating further.

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Thank you so much for putting effort into your reply. I appreciate it a lot.

Do you wear tall shoes or did you?

I often wear boots that give me just over 3 inches (7cm) in height which I find helps. That plus the 7cm from your surgery would be amazing!

What reason did you use to travel? Maybe I could do the same

I will surely ask about the insurance as the nurse sounded very sure of it being possible, in fact, she said that most patients get it.

Further, there is no information online re insurance for LL in Australia so I am not sure how I would even go about it beyond asking my health fund and ringing medicare.

May I ask where you went and how much it was?

Any tips re the questions they ask? That does sound quite scary!

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One other question, did you try to go ahead with Dr Tim with the insurance? If not why not? What made you decide to go overseas over trying?

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Thank you again for your efforts in replying. I appreciate it very much.

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Quote from: killdeps on August 08, 2021, 04:55:16 AMDr Carrigan is considerably more expensive than going to the states, staying there and flying back. 150K AUD IIRC

What makes you say that?

I suppose one must consider all the accommodation costs and medical costs in the US?