I took off to Mumbai on March 14th. Felt a bit emotional when I was leaving my parents. I used AirBnb to find an accommodation, when I went to the apartment, it was on 3rd floor, and no lift. I had 2 big Bags; I had to carry them upstairs. That was when I realized, how crowded Mumbai is, and how small the apartments are. Apartment was good though.
As it was not really planned ahead, I did not take Dr. Parihar’s appointment. So, next day early morning, I went to the hospital directly. I came to know he comes only in the evening, and the next day he is going out of country for a week. It happens to me all the time, I am generally lazy, so I am used to such last minute surprises. I did what I do best, knocked all the possible doors and managed to get an appointment same day evening.
Evening, I waited outside, and initially I was called into Dr. Divya’s cabin. He was a nice guy. I told him about my bow leg, and why I need CLL. He tried to correct me saying bow leg correction and CLL are two different things. I said I know, and I came here to know the extent of my defect and if surgery is the only alternative. If so, I am ready for it, If not, I am OK to think about the alternatives too.
He checked my legs, tapped them on the knees and around, to see extent of existing damage, then asked me to walk across the room, to see if it is crooked, then requested me to take few X-Rays.
I went downstairs to get the X-Rays, this is the first time in my life I ever got an X-Ray, and he took not one, but in 5 or 6 different positions (My legs and knees in multiple positions). After that, I waited, they called me in again, but this time into DR. Parihar’s cabin. Dr. Parihar was sitting in the chair, and he offered me a patient chair. Sitting before him, I realized, he was towering over me, he should be really tall. He again asked me everything and I repeated what ever I told Dr. Divya. Dr. Parihar had a soft copy of my X-Rays on his computer. He looked at them, and confirmed I have Bowlegs, but he was pointing to the fact that both my legs are not equally deformed. My left leg has 8 degree curvature, and my right leg has 5 degrees. That explains the fact that I have more pain in right leg than the left, may be because I tend to put all my weight on my right leg when I stand, due to its lesser deformity.
Ultimately, he suggested me to go through the surgery, but he didn’t give me a deadline. He asked me to do it when I am ready, and only after I tell my parents about it, as he explained, LL is not a very easy journey, and we need loved ones through ups and downs.
I was already decided not to tell my parents or any others about my LL, and want to do it alone, so I didn’t ask him if he will allow me to still do it without my parents. If it comes to that, I just wanted to keep that option open to just lie to him that I informed my parents, but they cannot come here during my surgery dates due to some blah blah reason..
After that I went back to the apartment. Next day I wanted to meet LowerVilliers from this forum. He was in Mumbai at that time, and we had a chat before, and I told him I will meet him when I come to Mumbai. But as we all want to be anonymous, we didn’t really exchange names or contact numbers. He informed me before that he is in a hotel nearby the hospital.
But, I couldn’t contact him from the time I came to Mumbai, he didn’t respond to my messages, so I thought of giving it a try. I went to his hotel, and tried to talk to the hotel staff, to find me a foreigner… LOL. I explained them how I am Dr. Parihar’s patient, and I am here to meet another patient, and I don’t know his name or contact number or his room number. As expected, it was a flop. . I couldn’t meet him.
Next day, I started figuring out what to do. I was determined to do the surgery. I had confidence in Dr. Parihar, he was going above my budget, but I was still ok to do my surgery with him, especially after reading kilokhan’s diary. But, I was somehow not so comfortable in a very big city like Mumbai. I wanted to do it together with some other LLer, and LowerVilliers was the only one planning to do his surgery in Mumbai then, but he was not responding to my messages, and I was not comfortable doing it all alone.
I started checking for Hotels or apartments for stay during LL and the cost of living is too much, as I wanted to stay near doctor for the whole lengthening and consolidation.
Because of these multiple issues, my own undecided mind, and on itzRammi’s suggestion, I decided to meet someother doctor too, before taking a decision. I ruled out Dr. Shah, So I decided to go to Delhi to meet Dr. Dhawan.
Author
Topic: Phoenix.. Rising !! External Tibias with TSF Frames @ Dr. Dhawan, New Delhi (Read 42173 times)