Sheryl

It sounds like you will not enter on a tourist visa (which has to be gotten in advance) but rather visa exempt. Two very different things. If you actually get a Tourist visa you will be stamped in for 60 days and csn extend another 30 for 90 in total. If you enter visa exempt in October you will get 45 days and can extend another 30 for 75 days total. Note that coming without a visa, the airline may require proof of onward ticket within 45 days of arrival. They won't if you have a visa. How long on total do you want to stay?

Certainly not considered a narcotic. It is technically considered a pharmaceutical product so technically the amount you can bring in with you is limited but this is seldom enforced. I bring back supplements like this with me all the time. Though it has gotten increasingly easy to buy them locally.

She can get this done for free under the universal (AKA "30 baht") scheme. ALL Thais have access to free health care. That she hasn't worked for 10 years simply means she is not longer covered by Social Security but rather by the "universal" scheme which automatically covers any Thai citizen not covered under another scheme. While there are some few things that require extra payment (for example new drugs not on the Ministry list etc), hysterectomy is not one of them. If she wants a private room, have to pay extra for that. Sometimes people prefer to go through a private channel at a public hospital in order to avoid a wait list, if doing that there is payment. But it does not sound like there is an compelling reason to do this in this case. The other thing that often happens is that people are living in one province but registered in another. If it is not an emergency, they need to either (1) travel back to the province where they are registered and have the procedure done there or (2) change their registration - this often requires a change in house registration but I have heard of people in Pattaya apparently being able to register under the universal scheme based on rental agreement etc. And, lastly yes, it is not unusual for Thai women to take advantage of situations like this to get extra cash from a foreign partner. (Actually not unusual to make up the entire thing, but if living together there is obviously no way she can fake a hysterectomy that isn't actually done). Your friend should ask her to ask the hospital what she needs to do to register under the 30 baht scheme. If necessary can call the NHSO hotline for further help - tel 1330 or 02-141-4000 If it turns out to be not readily possible to get registered at Bang Lamung she still has the option of having this done in her home province - get all the records from Bng Lamung and bring there. But going forward, try to resolve the registration.

Some do, some don't. I don't know which ones do.

Hardly need to be poor to not qualify for the LTR. Retirees with incomes of say US 40-60K, even 70k, are not only not poor, they are comparatively well off as retirees go (and certainly have enough to live extremely well in Thailand) but they still do not qualify for this visa.

Orthopedic doctors often have sub-specialties and there are some who spcialize in foot & ankle. For ankle problem I suggest: https://www.bumrungrad.com/en/doctors/Bavornrit-Chuckpaiwong https://www.siphhospital.com/en/medical-services/doctor-biography?id=202 (same doctor, different hospitals, second will cost a bit less) or https://www.bumrungrad.com/en/doctors/Marut-Arunakul https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/doctor/assoc-prof-dr-marut-arunakul

Thai mattresses (hotel and otherwise) are way beyond firm. They tend to be rock hard. A memory foam topper (or latex if you prefer, but memory foam lasts longer) over a standard rock hard Thai mattress is probably your best bet. unless your current mattress is sagging, you can just put topper on that. The sort of mattresses found in the west,m that provide good support but are not rock hard, just don't seem to exist here.

https://www.bumrungrad.com/en/doctors/Panya-Wongpatimachai

Dr. Umaporn Nuanthaisong (female) – Sukhumvit Hospital https://www.sukumvithospital.com/doctorprofile.php?id=188&lang=en Bangkok Hospital https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/doctor/dr-umaphorn-nuanthaisong (same doctor, different hospitals. Sukhumvit Hospital will probably cost a bit less) https://www.bnhhospital.com/search-doctor/entry/4100

I suggest Cigna Global (not Cigna Thaland or Cigna US). You can get quote online https://www.cignaglobal.com/ They offer deductible and copay options that will reduce premiums. They insure people up to age 99 or so. As I recall, the $750 deductible is a no brainer as it will pay for itself in reduced premiums in you average less than 1 claim every year. You can experiment on the site with the deductible ad copay options. When using the online quote function I recommend you not out your real phone number (just enter 9's for example) or you will be inundated with salespeople calling you. I also recommend that, while you may go to their site to see premium costs and decide on deductible and copay options, you do nto buy direct from them but rather through a broker who can help you afterwards if there are any issues with clams. when going through a broker make sure to specify Cigna Global not Cigna Thailand. Cigna is an insurer, not a broker, and does their own underwriting. Cigna Global is based in the UK and comes under UK insurance regulations Cigna has direct pay arranegemnts with virtualy every Thai hospital.

You can get English language on the Thai iherb site. At the very top right side there is like a picture of a globe and then it says TH. Click on the TH (not on the globe) and you will get a menu with site preferences, the second line is language and set that to English. On this same menu you can also select the currency you want.

Sounds good. I have full confidence in Dr. Jun's advice and in any surgeon she recommends. So I think you are in very good hands.

Ah, well being vegetarian you may well be B12 defecient even if it is not the cause of your hearing issues. The test is called serum Cobalamin but often just listed as B12. Totally different from cholesterol tests. Any lab can do it and you do not need to fast first. But if you have already started taking the supplement this will throw the results off

If you have not yet started the B12 it would be advantageous to get blood level first, simple blood test and any lab can do it. Note that B12 deficiency while common in older people is less so at your age (40) unless you are vegetarian. Not impossible, but less likely. Given your young age and the sudden onset of hearing loss , it is worth getting a second opinion.

Do you still have burning on urination? Either see a doctor now, or get a chlamydia test (antigen and blood tests) first and then see a doctor with the result. Do the antigen test with uretahral swab, more accurate than on urine. If these tests are negative, getting a urine sample after prostate massage for culture will sometimes identify organisms not found on regular urine sample, so ask doctor about this. If you have prostatitis, PSA will be elevated and the elevation doesn't tell much. If doctor, after examination, does not think it is prostatitis then yes PSA is useful. Otherwise wait until the inflammation resolves (unless doctor advises otherwise). If he thinks it is prostatitis odds are doctor will prescribe a course of a quinolone like levofloxacin. CEA has no utility in diagnosis of either prostatitis, BPH or prostate cancer.

Are you having endoscopic or open approach? You will be asleep for the whole procedure. They will bring you into the operating room, put in an IV in and inject something, that will be the last thing you know before you wake up in the recovery room. Sometimes they start the IV before you enter the operating room, but the anesthetic injection will be after you are in there. Before they inject, they will put prepare you for monitoring during the surgery by putting on a blood pressure cuff and heart monitoring etc. There will be a tube put in your throat for breathing during the surgery but it will be put in after you are asleep already and taken out as soon as you begin to wake up. There will be soreness at the incision site for about a week, they will give you pain medication. You might also feel some soreness inside your throat from the tube that was used during surgery (like a sore throat that you get with a cold), this usually goes away in a day or two. About 10% of people have temporary effects like hoarse voice, redness at the incision site, usually goes away in a couple of weeks. They will take blood samples after the surgery to see if your thyroid hormone levels are in normal range and if necessary prescribe medication A couple of days after the surgery you will get full biopsy report of the specimen, this will give definitive answer on whether it was cancer or not. If it was cancer, this report will indicate if they probably got the whole thing.

You wish you did nto have this condition, that is natural. But you do have it, so need to deal with that. This is not a vital organ. You can live without it altogether and certainly live with part of it removed.

Living with just 1 lobe of the thyroid is not a problem. In fact you can live a perfectly normal life with no thyroid at all, and many people do. If the thyroid is removed completely, you have to take hormone replacement. 1 small pill a day. If just half is removed, often hormone replacement is not needed but sometimes it still is, usually at a lower dose. Many people who still have their thyroid gland also have to take thyroid hormone every day, for example if their thyroid gland is underactive. I do, for example. The medication is very inexpensive and easy to fine. 1 very small pill a day in the morning. I am not sure why this worries you? And how does not having surgery prevent the development (or growth) of nodules on the remaining lobe? I am having trouble following your reasoning. Are you saying you have nodules on both lobes already? What exactly does the ultrasound show on the other lobe?

No. Neither herbal teas nor creams will make any difference. If the nodule is cancerous then waiting a month is a bad idea. If it is benign (non-cancerous) it still needs to come out due to its size but a one month delay won't do any harm. Problem is we don't know which it is. This surgery has a very, very low mortality rate (less than 1 in 10,000). Less than 10% of patients experience any complications and these are usually mild and temporary (like ioarseness for a week or two). What exactly are you concerns/fears?

No, I was responding to your post. You posted a quote from a site stating toothpaste is a fungicide. It is not and should nto be used for that purpose.

There is certainly no ban on either Cetrimide or Chlorhexidine, which are what Savlon contains. Registered brands here include: Chlorhex C Septol-C You can easily buy Savlon brand itself in Thailand through Lazada and Shoppee https://shopee.co.th/Savlon-Antiseptic-Cream-75gr-i.439044713.10929321085 https://www.lazada.co.th/catalog/?q=Savlon&_keyori=ss&from=input&spm=a2o4m.home.search.go.11257f6dhz5HyJ

Toothpaste is not a fungicide, and the sugar it usually contains is nto a wise thing to apply to a fungal infection.

OP was referring only to a specific insurer (he says AIS, but I can't find any insurer by that name except for a US company that insures within the US, and the link he gives does not open so maybe there is a typo.) and while this is stated to be the "main" insurer WRLife uses it is presumably not the only one. Note that the ages which a company will insure and the age at which they will newly insure, are not the same thing. A company might newly enroll people only up to age 65 or 70 but continue to cover them for life. What is the case with the stated insurer ("AIS") I can't say as I don't know who can't find a health insurance company by that name (other than in the US) and the link does nto open. @Chris Setchell have you typed this link correctly? Doesn't open for me.

And does it state anywhere who the insurance company/underwriter is? Prior poster seemed to say he had no idea who (which insurance company) his policy was with.

They need to address the unnecessarily cumbersome and difficult new evisa process. It is completely absurd to require tourists from first world countries to submit proof of having $1,000 in the bank (most are paying that much or more just for the air ticket) to get a tourist visa. And unreasonable to expect would be tourists to upload bank statements and similar sensitive documents to an insecure government website. Most of the information demanded in the tourist visa application is unnecessary, can be hard to provide (people often want to select their hotel on arrival, for example) and it discourages people or leads them to instead come for a shorter time visa exempt. Easy to increase tourists: (1) Extend the duration of visa exempt enter from 30 to 45 days as has been proposed. (2) Change the evisa for tourist visas to a simple process like that used by Cambodia (nothing needed but name,. address, passport data).