I've taken the first irrevocable step to do this now and not later. As I paid down the debt from the previous venture in the first week of January and the rehabilitation of my walking form did not miss a beat during the holiday season, I started to look into the logistics of a second procedure by the femurs that would bring me from 5'9 to 6'0 thereabouts. Another procedure would bring me into the rare club of those who've lengthened both sections of their legs or gone beyond 10cm total.
And last night I cast the dice. I paid a stranger $340 for her $608 unused credit with Air Asia which will get me across the Indian Ocean and mostly back .. if the bookings are made within 3 months. I also emailed Dr Shah with a request for him to authorise the hospital's letter which will underly my application for a 12 months medical visa (up to 3 entries) to the Government of India. I've also prepared the visa application as far as that can be done at this stage.
So this means that if the letter comes and the visa issues in the normal course and the PRECICE nails are available and the flight at the right price comes up then I can be back on the torture rack and growing taller again by the stroke of my birthday #44 toward the end of next month. That's a few 'if's but this is going to happen one way or another. I've seen Sydney-Hyderabad promotional fares for $AUD354.
If anyone would like to help me out, India veterans particularly, let me know which other documents are required to support the application for medical visa; and also how should I get the whole way from where I am to where I'm going. Mumbai appears as an Air Asia destination acknowledged at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirAsia_Group_destinations but not at all by their online booking engine. What's a recommended way to get from Hyderabad to Mumbai, including train.
SPACE THIS WATCH
The Double Down - Dr Suhas Shah, Mumbai - Femurs by PRECICE II, Oct 2015
I briefly considered or favoured going back to Beijing for thigh externals due to my strong faith in Drs Zhao and Peng. I decided against it or rather in favour of Mumbai for a few short reasons. Mainly, they stop at 4-5cm and I'd like to see myself handle 7+. Further, those monorails mean that you can't swim or shower and can't lay on your side and they're a lesser technology overall. Finally I see the struggles and complications of those going that way as documented in places like this forum and the observation of Beijing patient LittleLiam(tm) that the femur patients who were there when he arrived were still there when he left.
http://www.limblengtheningforum.com/index.php?topic=178.0
There's the link to the predecessor of this, my Beijing adventure from November 2013 through June 2014 & followup.
I've had it suggested to me that if I start next month I'll be the -first- foreign patient taking PRECICE in India. Could that be truly true??
I just measured my wingspan at 176cm+. Just before going into surgery was the first time I even discovered that my wingspan overshot my height by a substantial amount. So, yeh, didn't even concern me in the slightest. I'd even estimated measurements that way (eg. 3 x me = 5m, when its actually 1/3 of a metre more) & never ever measured myself in that dimension. I'd have to make it to 185.5cm to rate as overproportioned as I was underproportioned at the kickoff. So I'm good.
In all practical senses your arms are never too short unless you had to contort yourself to reach to the bottom of a hip pocket. That wouldn't seem to happen in our consideration (longer jeans, deeper pockets I s'pose, but only by a smidge).
In that sense I've never bought into the agonising over 'proportions' that we don't have to go too far to see around here. I can't think of an actress or an athlete whose image was killed for me by having short arms.
Well I've already done it with ('third world' country) China & been satisfied with the results, so that doesn't dispose me to writing a whole country off the map.
Well Uppland,
1. I've got the means & the time & would like to have the most of that tall privilege I've already begun to sample
2. See my Beijing thread for the report on my December Xrays. Link in my signature below.
3. The doc will ultimately determine this. For sure I won't be like Leechlet who went for 10cm after his doc said 'Stop NOW. I know what I'm talking about'.
Just don't go to India to hook up with some doc marketed to you by Captain fukknuckle running the old forum. Otherwise this forum might not even exist.
I may have confirmed elsewhere that $USD30000 is the price for the kit of PRECISE nail, and that is a worldwide rule.
The answer for India is a little different. It will be $US30k for the kits and there will also be another 10% for 'customs and taxes' and then also "5000 US dollars is deposit for magnetic device you will be using for 90 days and then you return to them they will return the deposit". This from Dr Shah directly.
So I'm currently arranging the method to make an up to $38k payment to Ellipse to have the hardware made available to the surgeon. When that's done I can count off 5 to 6 weeks for when I should plan to arrive in India.
I asked Dr Shah another question to which I'm surprised by the answer. I enquired the "maximum extenstion and weightbearing capacity of the nail" to which he replied "Approximately you can take 25 kg if you use the 10.7 mm Precice 2 nail". I think this must be the answer for one nail/leg, because I swear some other LLers have said that it is 150lb for the pair. But 25kg for one is just 110lb for the pair: 20lb per wrist more being borne by arms on a walking frame. Does it sound accurate or way too conservative?
Well you can ask him yourself at [email protected] from which he'll personally reply from his iphone.
But I'm sure the answer will be that only when Ellipse receives payment can the process of importing the hardware commence, for which should be allowed 5-6 weeks. My only query is whether the deposit for the external magnetic unit would need to be paid at the outset or closer to when I take possession of it.
The payment will be to the manufacturer (Ellipse Technologies in the USA), not to the hospital.
I've been copied through with the list of documents requiring completion for importation of the device. A lot of red tape but the good news is that I don't have get any signoffs from any doctor in Australia. All that is done by the surgeon in India and I may have to come up with an address in India and perhaps sign as patient on the application.
The supplier has now quoted Rs 11.34 as the importation price inclusive of taxes. I don't now whether it is for 1 or 2 nails. That amount is equivalent to $US18350
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