Dr. Monegal / Spain / Bilateral Femurs / Fitbone / August 25, 2015

Edit Post

I will do that .

I am interested in doing 5 cm Femur and 3 cm tibia with him and would be curious how much time after the Femur he can to the tibia .. I have relatives living in a french village just 30 miles from Barcelona, so I wouldnt have to pay for accomodation and food and stuff

Edit Post

QuoteI am interested in doing 5 cm Femur and 3 cm tibia with him and would be curious how much time after the Femur he can to the tibia
He does not like to discuss a second round until the first has completely fully. I already grilled him about that. But shoot him an email and he will probably give his counsel.

I am currently suffering insane cabin fever, and cannot pass over this experience soon enough. Days have blended into each other and I have lost orientation to day of the week.

Edit Post

In a weird mood, created this...

Photo in the gym where I stretch three times a day. The black and blue appears strong, but looks less in person.

Edit Post

Edit Post

Keep it up Bohemia, you re doing great! Soon you will no longer be a Hobbit!;)....How fast are you distracting?

Edit Post

Great diary so far!
I have a question and perhaps you can help me out on this one. So far I have saved up slightly more than 30 000€, I'd love to get this done for not more than 40 000€ in total. Do you think this is possible If I wanted to get something 5-7cm's with Dr. Monegal and a 2 months stay.
Greetings!
Edit: In a shared appartement to save money, which is about 800-900€ per month If I remember correctly.

Edit Post

Quote from: Alittletooshort on September 13, 2015, 02:44:09 PMGreat diary so far!
I have a question and perhaps you can help me out on this one. So far I have saved up slightly more than 30 000€, I'd love to get this done for not more than 40 000€ in total. Do you think this is possible If I wanted to get something 5-7cm's with Dr. Monegal and a 2 months stay.
Greetings!
Edit: In a shared appartement to save money, which is about 800-900€ per month If I remember correctly.

With that budget you have lots of options in Europe.
Do you want to do internals? Did you consider externals too?
5-7 cm are an easy target I guess.

Edit Post

I don't have the time and will to endure externals and Dr. Monegal seems like a highly skilled surgeon so he'd be my favorite choice.

Edit Post

I created a generic Youtube account, and posted this video of Dr. Monegal removing my stitches last week:



QuoteKeep it up Bohemia, you re doing great! Soon you will no longer be a Hobbit!;)....How fast are you distracting?
Haha! I extend the Fitbone between .81 to 1.08 cm per day, according to how I feel.

Dr. Monegal emphasizes that the week of lengthening between 1.5 - 2 cm acts as a tipping point—he calls it the snap—where the tension culminates, and once you pass it the soft tissue finally gives in to the extension and tension diminishes greatly. I currently am at 17.6 cm at exactly Week 3, so I wake up in the middle of the night in utter discomfort, punch my bed in frustration, curse the world, and rearrange my legs to fall back asleep.

Both Dr. Paley and Dr. Monegal referred to a tipping point—Paley said 2 weeks, Monegal said 3 weeks. I side with Monegal on this, as I can feel a climax of aching tension at the moment, but also feel it passing.

QuoteGreat diary so far!
I have a question and perhaps you can help me out on this one. So far I have saved up slightly more than 30 000€, I'd love to get this done for not more than 40 000€ in total. Do you think this is possible If I wanted to get something 5-7cm's with Dr. Monegal and a 2 months stay.
Greetings!
Edit: In a shared appartement to save money, which is about 800-900€ per month If I remember correctly.
Snapshot of my receipt


Procedure/Hospital/Fitbones: 35,510 Euros = 40,148 USD.
MICs Sant Jordi: 1,450 Euros = 1,639 USD per month, or 3,278 USD for 2 months (for a double room, not a single)
Total: 43,426 UD

This does not include food for your apartment. The restaurant in MIC cooks quite amazing authentic Spanish dishes, and will roll it to your room in silver dome lids, like a room service in a hotel. That costs about 15 bucks for a three-course meal.

To reduce those figures, you could select a "single" room whereby you receive one bed in a lesser-sized apartment. I elected for the double, and they pushed the two beds together for a king size.

I would like to compare Dr. Monegal and Dr. Paley:

- Dr. Monegal: 40,000 USD
- Dr. Paley: 80,000 USD

Paley costs about twice the rate of Monegal. As you witness in the receipt, Monegal takes 7,000 Euros for this treatment. I can only imagine that Paley takes about 30,000 at least. I recognize that Paley sort of innovated the field of internal lengthening, but I cannot conceive of any reason why I would accept that rate, when Monegal can do it for a fraction—they both know each other, have met at conferences, and reside in the same league in terms of talent.

Another thing—very few folks on this forum discuss Fitbone in comparison to Precice. But, little does everyone know, that Fitbone has quite a community of surgeons in Europe and the United States. These doctors all convene yearly to discuss their experiences, resolve complications, share counsel, and define best practices. I personally consider Fitbone an equal alternative to Precice in almost every day. They only differ in that Precice utilizes magnets, and Fitbone uses electricity. In regards to weight-bearing, my physiotherapist (who also does radiology at the hospital) has me standing, walking in the pool and with the parallel bars. Weight-bearing has not given me any hassle at all, in my estimation.

Me typing this post in the cafe:


QuoteWith that budget you have lots of options in Europe.
Do you want to do internals? Did you consider externals too?
5-7 cm are an easy target I guess.
I wished to do femurs, so I could only do internals. I am not opposed to externals on tibias, but holy crap I cannot imagine how annoying that would become—I literally have no idea how a person could do the very long 5-12 month program. I could not stand it myself.

QuoteI don't have the time and will to endure externals and Dr. Monegal seems like a highly skilled surgeon so he'd be my favorite choice.
Me neither. I can confirm he does extremely careful and gentle surgery. I will have very little scars.

Edit Post

Walking between parallel bars