offset

I was given an estimate for Open Prostatectomy from Dr Viroj at Bumrungrad of between 360000B and 38000B but it ended at 420000 due to the fact that I am a bleeder and extra blood and a Hematologist was on stand by during the operation never heard of 'Potency keeping binoculars operation' so I cannot help with that a Laperostomy (spelling) can be done at Bumrungrad but Dr Viroy does not do them the only hospital that does the Robotic Prostatectomy is the Siriraj Hospital I was told and the estimate I was given verbally was about 450000B

The best source for personal questions concerning medical policies is direct with the Broker you are using. If for some reason you are thinking of going direct, may we suggest you use the services of a Broker as they can help in many ways and cost no more.

As a Thai Visa member you can use the services of the Thai Visa Broker for impartial advice and help, please go Here

Well um..ive been trying to get hold of my broker (thaivisa insurance) to enquire if this clause is the norm or not but im not getting any feedback atm.

Has anyone heard of this kind of clause?

I need to get a check up before im covered for breast/cervix disease? This is normal?

Plus, im surprised that ALL conditions relating to the thyroid will not be covered. Of course i understand they dont wish to cover for pre-existing conditions, but it seems a bit extreme? Particularly when ive been stable for so long (with paperwork that can prove that).

Sorry, i havent had personal health care before, so this is all new to me. Advice is appreciated. Thanks.

Normally pre-existing conditions are not covered that includes anything related to that condition you could always ask if the year that you have been OK can be included in the 2 year waiting period and also ask if you will be covered then even though you are taking a hormone supplements (and get it in writing) my lady had to have a Mammogram and Pap smear test before they would cover her she is over 40 years of age so I guess that is normal I ended up dealing with LMG direct (I had other problems myself) at least that way you will know exactly what they want then I went back to the broker to take out the policy I also have another policy and that has the same 2 year waiting period

Make sure what you are getting before you take out the policy

I was at Bumrungrad yesterday Doctors fee 500B plus 150B about the same price as BPH

We had a baby in Feb by C-Section it was her 2nd baby the first was by C-section because of a problem with birth so doctor strongly recommended birth by C-section this time which suited my lady she went to see her Buddha and was told a lucky day and time and that was when the baby was born I did ask the doctor about normal birth because of the risk of infection and was told that they have much less problems with infection in Thailand than we do in the UK the baby was born with no complications I must admit it was better for me knowing when the baby was going to be born

"Just a word of warning be careful you might find that the baby will not be covered for birth defects"

offset - that's one thing we all think about and don't want to face, I appreciate your thoughtful comment. We're done the deed, we do all we can to be healthy but as we know, life has many twists. It's our baby and our life.

cheers..luap

luap I wish you the best of luck with your baby ours was born in February and everything was OK so he is now covered by insurance

As your wife/gf is already pregnant it is too late to buy health insurance that will cover the cost of the birth. Also most policies I found when I was looking at this require you to have the policy in place for 12 months before they will allow maternity cover. The only benefit to the little one if you take out insurance coverage for your wife and yourself is that some policies will include the baby in your coverage from when he/she was born until 1st birthday for free.

Martin

Thanks Martin

I'll search for health cover for both of us that includes our baby

any ideas?

luap

Just a word of warning be careful you might find that the baby will not be covered for birth defects

If I had to do it over again I would pay a supervisory engineer or firm independent of the contractor to oversee the work, even if it doubled the total price. At the very least and assuming unlike me you know enough about construction, watch their every move. And regardless I would urge you to get professional oversight on how they do the wiring. Even in Bkk and on big projects it is usually sub-standard.

How do you get an advisory engineer? if you were to trust him that much why no use him in the first place TIT I do not trust most Thai constructors,contractors or retailers and I put in as many safe guards as I can other than doing the work myself (which I cannot due to age and no visa) in the end you have to pay somebody to do the work but I always let them think that I know more than they do and what I do not know I know people that do so I can find out

Only guessing but I think it is a steam relief valve if the thermal device was to fail the kettle would be like a bomb with a build up of steam pressure

Hi Sheryl I am having a house built in Prachinburi at the moment the builder as not got as far as doing electrics yet but when he does I will see if he is any good if he is would you like me to get his telephone number for you or I could ask the the family if they know a good electrician but I would not guarantee they would know a what a good electrician was

Just as a suggestion could you not get a normal electrician to put an isolator switch in between the mains and you water heater (or would you not trust them to even do this for you) then you could play with the heater as much as you want safely

Ohhhh are you in for it!!!!!

By all means if you find a good electrician in the province let me know but I have scoured the province from on end to the other for over a decade and I really, really don't think there is one.

I strongly recommend that you bring in a Bangkok firm/contractor for the wiring and guarantee that while it will cost more initially it will be much cheaper than what you will otherwise pay in repairs, shorted out appliances etc, not to mention aggravation.

I would also recommend the same re the plumbing if you are wanting anything other than the typical rural Thai set up. For example, if you want a bath tub that you actually intend to take a bath in, otherwise they will install the tub OK but the plumbing will not be set uop to handle actually filling it with water (it is not unusual for Thais to buy a tub when they only intend to take showers apparently a status thing; there are some specific plumbing things that need to be done when it will be actually used as a bath which are automatriocally done in the west but would not be familiar to/occur to the average rural Thai contractor).

And if you'd like a description of all else that can go wrong that you will not know until later , PM me But the wiring & plumbing are the biggies

Nice to hear from another Prachin resident was beginning to think I was the only one!

Thanks for the advice I am in an all in price situation I guess not good but so far everything that I have asked to be done has been with no problems (other than language but we get there in the end) I am paying on work done so it had better be done correctly or he will not get paid he also knows that I am very fussy he is also a friend of the family and I have seen a couple of houses he has built in a western style they look OK we are not having a bath fittedso that is one problem out of the way

There is another TV member from Prachin but I forget his name at the moment

Bunrungrad charged me 3B for each Tylenol tablet but overhaul I was happy with the services I was given and the cost you always have to remember if they did not charge extra on the meds they would have to increase the charges for the hospital services to the make the profit they require

Hi Sheryl I am having a house built in Prachinburi at the moment the builder as not got as far as doing electrics yet but when he does I will see if he is any good if he is would you like me to get his telephone number for you or I could ask the the family if they know a good electrician but I would not guarantee they would know a what a good electrician was

Just as a suggestion could you not get a normal electrician to put an isolator switch in between the mains and you water heater (or would you not trust them to even do this for you) then you could play with the heater as much as you want safely

This link to the CAB may be of interest, the most important line for me states that if you normally live abroad, and are receiving a UK state pension, and have lived in the UK in the past for at least ten years you are entitled to NHS hospital treatment, it's also interesting to note who else is entitled to free hospital treatment.

I think the bottom line is that any visitor to the UK will get free emergency treatment.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/family...from_abroad.htm

Thanks for that info.

I've just looked at the CAB link that you provided and it does indeed appear to indicate that pensioners are entitled to the full service. In my case, I lived and worked in UK until about 5 years ago and will shortly become entitled to draw the UK state pension so I should be OK. Just have to avoid getting seriously sick for another couple of months!

DM

You will only be covered if you problem arises during you visit not for any long term problems you have before you arrive in the UK

I have high cholesterol and got insurance they just excluded heart problems from my cover but they had to talk to the underwriters first it might also depend on if you are looking for cheap insurance or not

Thanks for the help so far but my soil is not to good would I be able to dig it in straight away if I mixed it with cow manure or would it be better to dig in some cow manure first then mulch with the rice husk I am really trying to improve the soil it is very sandy but must have some clay underneath because it does not drain to well the plot has just been planted up with fruit trees I am hoping to work on it this weekend

I have been offered a quantity of rice husk and as my soil is not very good I was wondering if it would be OK to use as a mulch and if so could I use it straight out of the bag

I'm in a custom built house, not an apartment. The heater is a Stiebel Eltron DHA 4/12T, type #2 as described by Mosass69 i.e. it is for hot water only. There are separate hot and cold lines altho they bifurcate off the same initial line, i.e. one side, controlled by the cold water knob on the faucet, goes straight into the shower or tub while the other, controlled by the hot water knob on the faucet, goes through the heater and comes out hot.

So I do have both hot and cold. My problem is getting them to mix as having the cold on seems to shut off the hot or at least slow it down to an imperceptible flow. It is not a new problem, has been the case ever since isntalled when house first built. So whatever it is due to, it's not something wearing down.

Local electricians utterly unable to do anything with it (they fall far short of much simpler tasks than this, to put it mildly). I would at minimum need to be able to tell them exactly what needed to be done and virtually draw them a diagram. I'm out in the boondocks and quality of "electricians" is abyssmal beyond words.

I can't identify anything inside that looks to be a flow meter or other control, but I have not looked inside the large cylinder that occupies most of it, is that where it would be? I'd post picture but am not at home now.

Thanks all....

Possibly a flo9w meter and other controls are located inside the cylinder? I have not ventured to open that as I don't know what I am doing.

Sheryl,

Sorry to hear of you're dilemma with the water heater. I will give you my 10 baht worth of thinking on this problem and what I think you can do about it.

First let me say looking at the Stiebel web site for Asia I do not see a model 4/12T listed, only a 4/6 or a 4/8 in the DHA series. But this is not why I want to comment as the "multipoint" units all operate about the same in this series of heaters.

I will also add that I recently installed a new Stiebel heater only mine is higher powered a model DHF 12C1. This model has two heat settings. 12kw or 6kw. I only use the 6kw setting as this is hot enough.

So now here is my theory about what you're water heating/mixing problems are and possibly what to do to make it better.

The heater you have most likely is working correctly. It has a heating element somewhere in the 4 to 12 thousand watt range depending on the model. When you open the mixer valve at the shower or bath the water flow will cause the flow switch in the heater to sense the flow of water and turn on the heating elements. Water will get heated as long as the flow of water remains high enough to keep the flow switch activated. So now you have very hot water coming out of the mixer valve so you decide to add some "cold" water to the mix to get a nice comfy shower. When you move the controls of the mixer the water flow from the heater is reduced as the mixer valve is moved over to the cold position and more cold water is allowed to flow. If you reduce the hot water flow enough it will cause the flow switch to shut off the heater as there now is not enough of a flow through the heater for it to heat correctly without burning out an element.

Now this is where the problem begins. Most likely the "cold" water is not really cold. Here in LOS the normal water temperature coming from the supply pipes is most likely around 23C or higher depending on where you are and the season of the year. Add to this if the water supply is coming from a sun heated tank or any other thing that will raise the standing water temps. So the "cold" water that you try to mix into the hot water is really not "cold" enough to make a difference when added to that hot water from the heater. The water from the heater is just too hot and cannot be cooled enough using the "cold" water side of the valve. There is nothing really wrong with you're heater, the water pressure or the valves or other plumbing. If you could regulate the temperature of the water being heated in the heater then the problem would be solved. But in the case of the heater you have its all or nothing. As the heater works on flow and not an electronic control to regulate the heating elements.

The solution to this problem is make the water supply colder if possible. Or buy a heater that has an electronic control unit and you can set the output temperature of the hot water to whatever that unit will allow. Stiebel makes a DHE series that does this and they sell remote controls so the unit can be adjusted from the shower cubicle.

I can speak about this issue as I have the same problem here in my new house. My DHF heater set on the 6kw setting is too hot and I have the same issues when showering during the hot day time. We cannot add enough "cold" water to make a cool shower before the heater shuts down. The problem is much less noticeable now in the cool, rainy weather with the water temps down in the low 20's but even at the slowest water flow from the heater my wife still complains its too hot. I am seriously considering the electronic model from Steibel

So I hope I didn't make this too confusing and I hope it makes sense to you. But this is my theory and I'm sticking to it.

Maybe you could test this theory by running the hot water in the bath when you have a shower which should keep the flow switch open you would only need to run the water in the bath just enough to get hot water I do not have one of these heaters so I am only guessing

As stated by NMJ, CAT is CDMA not satellite.

I had IPstar for about 5 years and this system is far better and costs much less.

I can use Skype and VOIP without problem. My typical speeds mentioned above are in the region of 6x what I was getting before and at approx 850 Bath/month it is less than 1/2 the price of the basic IPStar system

It is also cheaper and considerably faster than both DTAC and AIS EDGE options. so until they get 3G in the provinces there is no better option if you are in a rural area.

In addition as it is only a USB dongle I can take it with me when I travel which was a little difficult to do with the satellite dish

Sorry for my ignorance only I had spoken to TOT and they offered me satellite and I thought that they said that CAT was the same silly me I should of have checked myself (I normally accept that TOT do not know what they are talking about) anyhow thanks for your help I will check out CAT and see if they cover it in my area when I move house

I am using the CAT CDMA system with a claimed 3.1Mb/s here in Issan and today I did some speed tests with www.Speedtest.net

To Bangkok

and

To London

A several tests to the US gave me realistic results

Other sites give me more realistic results to all locations and judging by download speeds for files and torrents my true download speed is about 1.6~ 1.8Mb/s with which I am very happy

CAT allocates a 10.x.x.x IP address so I can only assume that the speeds quoted are for the CAT router which I am behind. By the way the CAT system makes it ipossible to open ports for Torrents so they can suffer a lot

Note the Ping times are not so impressive

The ping times will always be bad with a satellite system because of the extra time taken to and from the satellite I might have to use CAT in January how much does it cost and is it any good

sounds like the consensus is village living is for the birds........it downright seems most cant take it.

AND FOR GUYS WHO HAVW KIDS ,WHATS UP. WHAT KIND OF FUTURE THEY GONNA HAVE GROWING UP IN THE VILLAGE.

What do you mean the children should not have a good family life not live in a crime free environment learn to make there own enjoyment where parents do not have to worry what the children are up to

Oh I forgot that they are not getting the experience to become bag snatchers, pickpockets, gold chain snatchers,and getting used to taking Yabber tablets or even selling them

Had a few bad experiences myself around Pattaya, including one on Pattaya Tai where the hairdresser screwed her nose up and put on a face mask before cutting (she was cutting Thai males hair without a mask)

In Pattaya she has probably got sick and tired of being gassed by unwashed farang with revolting B.O. and sour beer breath.

I usually go to a couple of places on Soi Buckhaw, priced 60 baht or 80 baht for a nice short back and sides. Just wander up and down and look for the totem pole outside.

I use one about 5 shops away from the small market on the same side of the road do not talk much English but used by a lot of farangs 60B

Lived in a village 25 K from Khon Kaen for a couple of years back in 1986. It was O.K. but I missed running water, electricity and peace and quiet. The noise in the mornings made sleep beyond 6.00 very difficult.

Offset,

This post reminded me...get ready for electrical brown outs and black outs here. Surge protectors are a must.

They took a full 8 hrs one day a few weeks ago to rectify the problem. They did. Now instead of a few houses having them ( the brown outs and black outs ) now the whole village goes dark.

Remember to buy plenty of candles and a good flashlight.

I have just found out that we are lucky we get a water supply twice a day were most people only get it once

Same old same old this morning. The 6am "Good Morning Campers" speech (as somebody said before) for an hour. (Then I got on TV and experienced the ill-fated forum upgrade - not a great start to the day ).

I tried using ear plugs last night but had to take them out because it seemed like I was sleeping in a drum, a strange feeling. Put them back in at 6am when the speakers started again and they did help deaden the sound. Not a solution, but they helped.

I'm really feeling badly for my wife. Settling here in her sister and mother's village was her dream it seems.

I promised I would keep trying, and I will. I'll be trying out motorbike rental, frequent travel and other good suggestions.

If you can sleep to music get yourself a good set of in the ear earphones (noise cancelling) load up the I-Pod and you will hear nothing but music I do this on flights returning to the UK or when the frog in our pool outside my bedroom window decides he wants some BOM SING (he is very vocal) and this is in Pattaya

You don't state where you are located, but if you are in one of the Provences and can get a signal from the CAT CDMA system then this is both the fastest and cheapest option.

My CAT internet is 6* faster and only half the price of the IPstar system I had for several years.

My house is about 20km outside Prachinburi at Non Hom Is the what type of service is CAT CDMA

Its a phone service much like DTAC or AIS provide using GSM but it uses a different modulation scheme and is much faster for data if implemented properly. Your other option is to make do with EDGE using your current mobile phone service.

How much faster is it than EDGE I have had to use the EDGE connection when I am away from home it is a bit slow and I would not like to have to use it full time

You don't state where you are located, but if you are in one of the Provences and can get a signal from the CAT CDMA system then this is both the fastest and cheapest option.

My CAT internet is 6* faster and only half the price of the IPstar system I had for several years.

My house is about 20km outside Prachinburi at Non Hom Is the what type of service is CAT CDMA

Moving to a new house and cannot get ADSL the only offer of Internet that I have had was for Satellite Internet Is this any good I can use a mobile phone link if required but I was wondering which would give me the fastest speed