Tibia Lengthening with Dr. Solomin and Dr. Kulesh in Saint Petersburg

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How is the food in muncipal hospital?

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shortygirl,
I wish u speed recovery, and i want to add that dr kulesh personaly is a great dr and can't leave the patients in troubles, he is very gentle and its not only because he paid for ur new flight, which reflects how responsible he is and he is not a money seeker like some LL drs. I was in ur situation luckily my visa extension from the MEDEM clinic went well but when dr kulesh went with me to the airport we forgot my walker, i told him its ok no problem he siad he will give me the walker money because now i don't have it. Unfortunately we faced a problem in the airport. The flight company didn't alow me to check in because if i'm only using a wheelchair and can't go to the bathroom they can't accept me on the plane. Dr kulesh talked with them and they agreed to accept me if i only have walker or crutches, he went to the pharmacy to buy me crutches but he didn't find. So he told me to wait 1 hr and went back to the clinic to bring my walker, this is a surgeon who has some assistants to help patients but he himself will do anything to help his patients. I respect him.

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Quote from: csherpard on August 27, 2018, 02:10:55 AMHi shortygirl, thanks so much for updating your diary - i am currently going through lengthening and its very encouraging/inspiring to read updates like the one you've just written. Quick questions if you have the time:

I was amazed to read that you walked 1/2 a mile unassisted a month after nailing surgery! I am having the nailing surgery done in a month and (as you say) there seems to be a wide range of opinions on how long it takes to walk after nailing. It was my understanding that you couldn't fully weight bear on the nail till the bone was pretty much fully consolidated. Is there not a risk of the nail bending ? Is the point where you are given the green light to weight bear pretty much straight after nailing or is a certain level of bone consolidation required ?

I was surprised too, especially considering how weak I was after the nailing surgery but I just felt stronger every day that passed. As fas as I was told the nails I have are fully weight bearing (up to a certain weight I suppose but I only weight about 100 pounds) I think certain internal only nails like ISKD are not fully weight bearing maybe this is what you are thinking of? Dr. Kulesh didn't warn me about a risk of nail bending and he was generally very informative so I think he would have told me if it would be a potential concern.

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Quote from: Bob on August 27, 2018, 12:29:14 PMHow is the food in muncipal hospital?

It is really the worst food ever lol. It seems like food that they would feed prisoners in a Russian jail. Not only is it bad tasting and bland, it just wasn't enough calories to sustain a healthy body weight, I lost at least 20 pounds while I was in Russia. Even the orderlies that brought the meals looked so skinny and sickly with dark circles under their eyes. No fruits and vegetables. If you are staying there for an extended period you could ask one of Dr. Kulesh's assistants to go grocery shopping for you though as the rooms have a kitchenette.

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Quote from: AR on August 28, 2018, 05:03:47 AMshortygirl,
I wish u speed recovery, and i want to add that dr kulesh personaly is a great dr and can't leave the patients in troubles, he is very gentle and its not only because he paid for ur new flight, which reflects how responsible he is and he is not a money seeker like some LL drs. I was in ur situation luckily my visa extension from the MEDEM clinic went well but when dr kulesh went with me to the airport we forgot my walker, i told him its ok no problem he siad he will give me the walker money because now i don't have it. Unfortunately we faced a problem in the airport. The flight company didn't alow me to check in because if i'm only using a wheelchair and can't go to the bathroom they can't accept me on the plane. Dr kulesh talked with them and they agreed to accept me if i only have walker or crutches, he went to the pharmacy to buy me crutches but he didn't find. So he told me to wait 1 hr and went back to the clinic to bring my walker, this is a surgeon who has some assistants to help patients but he himself will do anything to help his patients. I respect him.

Thanks, yes I agree Dr. Kulesh is a very caring doctor and 100% agree that profiting from patients is not his interest at all. For example he told me that he turned away a potential patient while I was there because he didn't think she was a good candidate for the surgery when he could have just taken her money and done the surgery.

That's so odd the airline treated you this way, did you make prearrangements for special assistance? With my airline there was no requirement to have crutches or a walker on the flight, if I needed to use the bathroom they would have taken me on the small wheelchair that they used to get me to my seat. Sorry that happened to you.

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hello no more ShortyGirl haha
You should move to Tallergirl now that you're taller
 hope you're happy it's a great achievement
 
 I hope you are well speak more as this your recovery, already walking? Was it 5cm?You're with 170cm now   ?

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Haha she wasn't short even with 5'5 at all, average of USA :p
Can I ask u about one thing? How much u spent total in Russia

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Quote from: 6'2_dream on August 28, 2018, 03:40:47 PMhello no more ShortyGirl haha
You should move to Tallergirl now that you're taller
 hope you're happy it's a great achievement
 
 I hope you are well speak more as this your recovery, already walking? Was it 5cm?You're with 170cm now   ?

hahaha thanks!! I will definitely keep updating about my recovery, progress is sloooow lol. Today I walked up and down a flight of stairs in my house (15 steps) unassisted (but holding the railing for safety) so thats some progress.

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Quote from: 177cmm on August 28, 2018, 04:38:37 PMHaha she wasn't short even with 5'5 at all, average of USA :p
Can I ask u about one thing? How much u spent total in Russia

lol true. To be honest I'm not sure of the exact amount I ended up spending (just that it was more than originally planned but within my max budget so I didn't stress about it too much) Dr. Solomin really itemizes every cost ie. bandage change 1,500 rubles, adjustment to frames, 2,000 rubles, taxi service 1,000 rubles (unlike many doctors who seem to just charge one amount inclusive of everything) so to calculate out the exact amount would probably take an entire day of accounting. I would estimate around $15,000 USD including everything flight and accommodations.

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I will try to close everything in 10000$. I think it's possible.