John49

Dummy flight bookings are bookings that a travel agent will make for you with the airline, for a cost of say 1,000 baht per head. This will detail your proposed flight itinerary in and out of EU. I think the bookings are only valid for 24 hours then drop out of system. Copy of this dummy booking must be included within your Schengen application. I did not bother with hotel bookings thinking I would have to give card details and could be charged. The lady receiving my application (VSF?) told me to go outside and use a shops computer and printer nearby (for a small fee) and make hotel bookings on Agoda for hotels not requiring credit card details. Can be done. I brought back the dummy hotel bookings and the lady attached them to our application. Looks like they scan the total package and send to embassy. Later, I cancelled all hotel bookings. Take care to apply for visa at embassy of country where you will spend most of your stay in EU, not the country of first arrival. I believe you can completely change your itinerary after you have the Schengen visa issued. Beware of small time window given on your entry and exit dates on the issued visa. I forget - something like week or so. This can tie you down when you come to make your actual flight bookings and travel plans. On reflection, I wish that I had 'dummy booked' a longer EU stay period, the only actual extra cost is the extended health insurance - not so much compared with the total cost of the trip; gives some flexibility later on in/out dates of your actual trip.

Sounds like the “MRI of Prostate Gland” that I had done at “PC Imaging Center” in Bangkok a few months ago. It cost 15,500 baht and included a contrast injection. The machine was a 1.5 Tesla. Someone commented earlier that this machine is not sufficiently advanced (or something like that) and a Tesla 3.0 machine (with coil?) should be used for a more reliable result. I did a ‘copy and paste’ from my report – "Assessment Categories" shown below. I was RADS-3 (in bold print below). Some weasel wording here - “Equivocal”, meaning cancer may be present, or cancer may not be present. PI‐RADS v2.1 Assessment Categories PI-RADS 1 – Very low (clinically significant cancer is highly unlikely to be present) PI-RADS 2 – Low (clinically significant cancer is unlikely to be present) PI-RADS 3 – Intermediate (the presence of clinically significant cancer is equivocal) PI-RADS 4 – High (clinically significant cancer is likely to be present) PI-RADS 5 – Very high (clinically significant cancer is highly likely to be present)

I stepped down from a bus with a heavy suitcase and twisted my knee. So painful that night that I could not sleep. I had an MRI at a well known private hospital in Pattaya, it indicated both meniscus (front and back) torn or worn. The doctor said a repair would cost about 230,000 baht for a one hour repair operation using laparoscopy. I asked why so expensive, he said each stitch cost about 12,000 baht? I asked how they would do it – he made the motion of one arm lapping over the other arm. Does not seem valid for a soft rubbery material in a tight smooth joint. I mean does it coalesce into one homogenous piece? I lost confidence with those two replies. Further loss of confidence, when I received the MRI report later, there was no classification of the tears, as should be provided. There are 3 Grades of tear. Grades 1 and 2 are not considered serious. Fortunately, for me over a period of some months, the knee is no longer painful, maybe the tear was on the outside where a blood supply can heal. Further in, limited blood supply and limited healing. I researched this issue about a year ago. For me, it came across that laparoscopy is only worth it if you have some sort of debris in the joint that needs removal. I met someone who has had two repairs of tear; he said they only lasted about six months.

OK – “our application” was about her being retired at 46 years old and being entirely dependent on me. We did include a copy of her bank passbook with about 200,000 baht. I worked up this amount sufficient for one month stay as UK tourists (applying for visa) are considered to need x pounds per day (according to Google) when staying in UK. (May apply only to those not sponsored but I wanted to play safe.) Copies of my bank account statement that did include a few money transfers to her, but really showing my declared funds available for our UK stay. Then, there was proof of our long-term relationship. In our case, easy for us as we have visa stamps ‘in/out’ for our several overseas trips over several years. So, our visit to UK was just another 'in/out’ trip, like those. My case could be different in another way, this was my second visit to UK in 40 years, and I have no assets in the UK. I stated this in our application – I think they knew we would not stay long. PS I am UK born and hold a UK passport.

I have only scanned quickly through the posts… I am not the expert… We successfully got a UK visitor's visa about one year ago with a detailed history of 10 years together, fortunately that included several trips together around Asia. What I see is that they have capitalised on “You state you are unemployed and spend 12,000 THB (£270.42) per month on living expenses.” Don’t say you are unemployed – tick the box that says ‘retired’. Also, are they twisting your payment of 12,000 baht a month to mean you manage to live on that amount for a month? Then deducing that you are saying you can live on same in UK? I would not talk about how much I pay my partner or how much I spend each month in Thailand. For me, that’s kind of irrelevant; I said nothing like that. They want solid evidence of your assets, especially money/pension, to fund your stay in UK. Also, looks like they need more evidence of reasons to return to Thailand? BTW, the UK visa is 'easier' than the Schengen visa. For Schengen you have to go through the farce of dummy hotel and dummy flight bookings, plus buy health insurance, on top of requirements similar to UK.

I’ve seen two lipomas. A girlfriend had one on her back, looked like a large gobstopper under the skin. She told me that it was just a lump of fat that she would get cut out one day. A few years later, it was my turn. A lump started growing on my forehead. I noticed that when I talked to people, their eyes would wander and would end up staring at my round shiny lump. When it got to be a large gobstopper size, I decided to get it removed. A plastic surgeon (he was actually known as a ‘hand surgeon’) removed it for me in his ‘rooms', cost about AUD 800. Did a fantastic job with no visible scar (and with no hole/depression). There was one dramatic moment as there was nerve running through the base of the lipoma, and he carefully moved the nerve sideways. At this stage for just a few minutes, I felt a strange profound 'pain' for the first time, felt faint and started to sweat. The feeling quickly passed. A lesser surgeon may have cut through the nerve and left me with mild facial disfigurement or loss of feeling? BTW nothing to do with cancer, but surgeon does have to remove all as it can grow back again.

After my recent medical procedure (see my post “Prolapsed Rectum”) and my 3 miserable days in an expensive private hospital in Bangkok, I would also consider a medical trip to India as an option, as suggested above. I did not have a Thai speaker with me in the Bangkok hospital and experienced almost nil communication with 9 out of 10 nursing staff during my stay. On the evening after my operation, I had a BP of 200/142 for up to 2 hours with only a nurse aide (no hat) available, who spoke no English and had no authority or ability to respond other than going to look for a real nurse (with hat). (Quote: A blood pressure reading of 200/142 indicates Hypertension Stage 3. It is the most severe case of high blood pressure and usually needs immediate attention by a doctor or health care professional. It is also referred to as Hypertensive Crisis.) Also, I had 3 days and 3 nights of diarrhoea, that could have been avoided and better managed. I have worked twice in India and found it a difficult place to live, especially with overcrowded roads and footpaths. The standout aspect of working in India were the several people I worked with – intelligent, hardworking and morally sound, despite it being ‘corrupt’ within the political classes, etc. Assuming you can find the right hospital and doctor, the thought of being able to communicate in English easily, including the nursing staff, would be a big positive. I had long chat with an Indian tourist recently, he told me that the best hospital chain in India were Apollo.

When we first arrived in Thailand about 6 years ago, we decided to take a 6 month ED visa. We only managed about 3 months and then we had to leave because of commitments outside Thailand. When we arrived back in Thailand, I met up with an old workmate for a coffee. Still wanting to practise my Thai, I asked for a “hot Americano sai nom ron nit noy” (with a little hot milk). My old workmate immediately chipped in – “mate, you’re wasting your f’ing time trying to talk Thai; my girlfriend (of 20 years) who was born here and is Thai/European, but when she speaks Thai she gets ignored because her face is European”. I thought that sounds 'much too much' over the top. I always regretted that we did not do an additional month when we would have covered the first one third of the Thai alphabet (for me always mysterious, or looking like a "load of worms" as described by one friend, depending on your perception). So, when we came back a second time, we took another 6 month ED visa, mainly to cover some of the alphabet. Again, terminated early due to overseas commitments. In retrospect, my experience in speaking Thai with Thai people is that mostly, there is 'a communication failure'. I know understand my old workmate’s comment about “wasting your f’ing time”. Today, I have given up trying to learn or speak Thai. However, I do fall back on “ao” and “mai ao” (want, not want) that is always understood. Also, about 10 other words – like “glai, glaaai, glap baan, tinai hong nam", etc. (near, far, go home, where is the bathroom, etc.). Recently, I did learn “tilang” (later), that is a good one, just remember to high tone at the end. Little bit sad, that our time, hard work and success in class for about 5 months, has been reduced to about 20 words max. I should add that by choice, we lead a very quiet life, presumably if we were more active socially, it could be better. As for my 3 nights hospitalisation for a one hour medical procedure that is not considered high risk or major surgery, and yet having to experience a high risk episode (very high BP 200/142) for over 1.5 hours under the sole care of a nurse aide, I blame the hospital (nursing) management. I paid the hospital over 300,000 baht and expected a high degree of care; care that they purported to offer. I made a verbal complaint to my surgeon on my last day (where were the supervisory nursing staff, those qualified with the ability to take lifesaving actions, in the absence of a doctor, etc.). He apologised and said he would pass on my concerns to his board. That’s it, end of story, move on, but I am definitely not a ‘repeat customer’.

I made an appointment with Dr Chucheep at Bangkok Christian Hospital. It was a busy session with about 40 people listed. He’s obviously a much sort after doctor. I made it clear that I was looking for the perineal solution, and not via abdomen. Firstly, he wanted an MRI to show extent of bowel prolapse. On my second visit, he recommended a laparoscopy procedure with mesh. I said I’d think it over. He did not mention the risks of abdominal laparoscopy with potentially severing some important nerves, or the potential for mesh to penetrate other organs in time. These being amongst the reasons why I did not want laparoscopy. Plus, being in my late seventies, I did not want to be on the operating table for 4 hours with increased blood clot risk. Perineal is only 1 hour on the table, and the cost of abdominal is say twice the cost of perineal. I visited a private hospital near where I stay, via a recommendation. That turned out badly as the doctor could not see my prolapse and bizarrely had us both squatting on the floor looking for my prolapse. When I came out looking for directions, the staff at Reception had not one word of English between them. I decided that was not the right place. I decided to try a well-known private hospital in Bangkok, again via recommendation. Subsequently, I had an ‘excision of rectal prolapse’ last week with 3 nights in the private hospital. It did not go well. Firstly, I opted for an enema, but it was not like the kind where they squeeze a small tube of gel up your backside and ask you to sit on chair as tight as you can for 5 or 10 minutes, and then run to the toilet. On this occasion, the nurse had long tube and fed liquid internally. In my case, the liquid just ran out (‘hole too big/tube too small’). This was abandoned. Time was lost while nurse got permission to give me two glasses of laxative. I did not poo on time, operation delayed, with photos of latest stool being sent to surgeon for assessment. I went for the operation. After the operation, just when I woke up, the missing poo then materialised all over my freshly prepared bed. About 10pm, a nurse took my blood pressure, it came in at 200/142 i.e. seriously high. I asked the nurse to get a doctor. The nurse said “doctor coming”, repeatedly. (BTW, the nurse was without a cap. I was told later this means she was a nurse aide). One hour later, a nurse (with cap) from another floor came and saw the series of high readings. She left the room and came back, about half hour later with one tablet. I swallowed the tablet and after a bit, my blood pressure started dropping. About 2 hours later, the night duty doctor arrived. I asked why my readings were so high (my normal max at home is 135), he said he didn’t know. BTW, I had an echo cardio before the op and my heart was determined to be good condition for my age. I was not allowed to eat (to keep bowel clean), instead I was fed numerous drips. Halfway through third day, I had really bad diarrhoea and simply sat in the shower – black/green slime that looked like seaweed. I was able to check out the next day and have my first meal. Almost one week since my operation, my bowels appear to be normalising. I trust the actual repair operation in theatre went well (the doctor and his operating team all seemed capable and competent during our various talks). However, my pre-op and post-op experiences were harrowing, and I feel more related to nursing issues than doctor issues, especially with almost nil English language for communication with most nurses, and my suspicion that a few were probably housemaids dressed up as nurse aides.

Just to be more specific - that would have to be a valid, not yet used visa, or a current multiple entry visa? Not trying to be funny, but the Schengen is a pain in the bum to obtain - need dummy flight bookings, and fake hotel reservations. Then, they give you a narrow window to enter and leave - like 10 days(?) either side, or less. By comparison, the UK visa is much more reasonable - no dummy/fake booking requirement (more emphasis on proof of relationship?) and they give a big entry window - like 6 months. Thank God that the UK left the corrupted EU. BTW don't try to get a Schengen while visiting the UK, can only be done back in country of residence. <deleted>.

To be honest – it’s only one big toe and the fungus is only very apparent in the top third. Also, one smaller toe (on the other foot) has about a top third similar infection. A couple of other toes are suspects... Some would say, why worry, but I have seen the feet of those who have all toes affected, and it’s not a pretty sight – especially in older folk. Like a marker of personal decline or not taking care of yourself. The reason I keep treating it – is that I don’t want it to spread. I have been wearing sandals and no socks for about the last 10 years. I will add in a test for diabetes at my next blood test, in a few months. Sheryl, thank you for your comment and advice.

I have had a toe nail fungus for about 15 years, probably acquired in a nail spa – never again. At that time, my GP recommended the latest treatment – a new French product – ‘file and paint’ once a week. Expensive stuff at like $50 a bottle. After about 3 bottles, I gave up as no change. Then I tried tea tree oil, then Vicks (separately) – religiously over many, many months – no change. I bought something like a felt tip pen from the local chemist, and after about 2 weeks I could see an improvement. I checked the primary ingredient – it was acetic acid or vinegar. So, rather than bathe my feet daily in a vinegar bath – as recommended on the internet, I bought a small spray bottle and filled it with vinegar, and used it morning and night. I’ve been spraying for number of years, the fungus has become less severe but not eliminated – I concluded that the vinegar was just suppressing the fungus. I’ve got so tired of spraying and carrying the little bottle around (usually it leaks on flights), so a few months ago I thought I would try something in the market here in Thailand. Boots offered me “Boots Antifungal Cream”, a 20 gram tube containing 1 gram of Clotrimazole. I forget the cost but like 120 Baht. It works, after one month a big improvement. Initially, Boots offered the same in liquid form but application with a plastic stick was slow; the cream is much easier to apply. There are different kind of fungus and maybe this cream does not work for everyone. Some years ago, a podiatrist told me that he thinks my nail fungus will never clear. He had one client who had a nail removed and the fungus still came back in the new nail. Also, I had several laser (or a special light?) treatments with the podiatrist, as I was prepared to try anything – no change. “Boots Antifungal Cream” – highly recommended.

To be brief and make a long story a bit shorter, I need a second Delorme procedure for another case of a prolapsed rectum. I am male, I say that as females are most likely to have a prolapsed rectum (ratio 6:1). In my case, caused by a prior long-term gut infection, then a prior severe diarrhea, and nothing to do with insertion of animate or inanimate objects. My perception is that a Government Hospital may have a waiting list of months, and charge you double for being a foreigner. So, maybe go private for surgery within a week or two but with extra cost… Samitivej Sukhumvit seems like a middle priced private hospital when compared with say Bumrungrad? For example, for a prostate MRI, I was quoted 15,500 at Prachachuen MRI, then 32,000 at Samitivej, and I read that similar is 60,000 at Bumrungrad. I went with the Prachachuen MRI, no regrets except that it was an older Tesla 1.5 machine - not sure to what extent that affects the scanned details. Other positive reasons for considering Samitivej Sukhumvit – I emailed them one time for the MRI quote and they responded with a quote. Not the “must see doctor first” and then when you see doctor, he says “must see accounts manager”. Plus, I went to this hospital for a blood test and I was able to get one done right away – without the tedium of having to see a doctor first. A second Delorme with the repair of unravelled stitched muscle sounds messy? Of course, I want someone to make the best repair possible. Any advice on hospital or colorectal surgeon appreciated. I believe only one night in hospital required. My first Delorme was done under general anaesthetic, I believe an epidural injection is an option but don’t like the sound of that and being consciously elevated in ‘the giving birth position’ for an hour.