Dear All,
Thank
you for the invite to this bulletin board, I hope I
have something to offer. My name is danielle from USA,
i'm 44 years young, my children are grown and putting
themselves through college. I had my surgery this summer,
june 10th to be precise. Dr Pichet was my surgeon, and
my experience seems to be very different from what I'm
reading here. I wired my deposits to Dr Pichet from
the US, and was required to pay either by cash, Thai
baht i'm sure, or by US travelers checks. Dr Pichet
would not take a credit card, because of the risk of
having the charges reversed. I think we all know that
surgery doesn't fix everything. We cannot escape from
ourselves, no matter what we do to our bodies. Regardless
of the surgical outcome, some people just are not happy
people. Me being me, I landed in Bangkok around 1:30am,
my luggage didn't arrive, i irresponcibly didn't have
one Thai baht on me. Dr Pichet made! my hotel reservations
before i arrived, so i didn't worry, but don't much
anyway. Someone came over to me and asked me if I was
danielle, and asked me to follow. I was put into a cab,
the driver was handed money and papers, and i was taken
to my hotel. The cab to the hotel was paid for by Dr
Pichet. My reservation was there. I paid with my debit
card which is automatically converted into Thai baht.
The next morning i recieved a call from the doctors
office and was told what time i was being picked up.
I was taken to the clinic and introduced to the doctor
and we spent a long time discussing all the procedures
and cost. There was no surprises with the cost, and
the doctor was more than thorough. When he wouldn't
take a debit card, his staff assisted me in making overseas
calls on his cell phone so I could arrainge for the
bank to release $7000.00, which they did. I was taken
to the airport and picked up my bags, I went to the
hospital after i got my bags and w! as settled into
my room. The staff did not speak much english, but some
knew enough so I could communicate sufficiently. It
was a public hospital, and the staff was awesome. Had
I had someone with me, they could have stayed in the
room with meals, I'm pretty sure at no extra charge.
The surgery went great. srs is not a painful event,
breast implants are. They bind you so tight it was hard
to breath, but it passed of course. I had a 24 hour
live in assistant that was at my beck and call. She
didn't speak english, but we got along great and had
fun communicating and watching "thai cinema",
soap operas. I was out of bed and walking the day after
surgery, holding 4 drains and my "bladder"
in a plastic bag, I strolled the hospital. The nurses
said were quite amazed that i wanted to walk, but i
wasn't in any pain, not all doped up on pain killers.
actually sitting was the most painful because of the
drains. The second! day after surgery i would sit at
the nurses station and use the internet, chat with friends,
email, joke with the staff and whoever came out of the
elevator, i had so much fun, the staff really got a
kick out of me. The hospital did have a representative
that spoke excellant english for the english foreign
patients, very helpful. Here's a good one, being a vegetarian,
i had a problem getting something i could eat, i needed
protein. Dr Pichets staff would order me vegetarian
food from the Vegetarian Cottage, a world famous vegetarian
restaurant and deliver it several time a day, no extra
charge to me! Dr Pichets staff would pick me up at the
hotel every morning and take me to the clinic. I would
be checked by the doctor, my wounds cleaned and changed
everyday, morning and late afternoon. His wife is the
clinic manager and always kept me well fed. The surgery
price included everything except the hotel, which I
paid about $33.00/night,and then changed to a different
ho! tel because i liked the location better and it was
only 800 baht per night. It had cable, remote, a/c,
combination safe in the room, refrigerator, and was
pretty clean. The hotel staff was so friendly and alot
of them wanted to call on me to hang out, even though
we didnt speak the same language. Never did they expect
me to pay for anything of theirs, they just wanted to
be friends. after a few days after getting out of the
hospital, i was asked if i wanted to go site seeing,
or shopping, or whatever. Dr Pichet had one of his hired
drivers take me and others anywhere we wanted, he paid
for it all. I would tip his drivers 100 baht for taking
me everywhere, carrying my bags, paying 1 baht for the
restrooms in the malls. One could not ask for better
care. All medical supplies, like gause, lubricants,
dialation kit, whatever, was all included and i was
never asked for anymore money once i paid. In fact,
Dr Pichet said if I wanted to buy a much thinner ! panty
liner than the ones he supplied, he would re-imburse
me for the cost. How awesome is that? I found the thai
people totally open and friendly. They just absolutely
love it when you say hello to them first in thai. I
ate tons of fruit from the local vendors on the streets,
and they got to know me and were just wonderful. My
experience in bangkok with Dr Pichet and his family
was the best experience i've ever had in my life. I
never felt so loved, welcome, accepted, and so well
protected. Dr Pichet and I became very good friends
and spent alot of time hanging out talking, eating,
and he told me he creates a barrier around his patients
to protect them, and he did, and more. I became very
close with all his staff and his 3 children. My experience
in Thailand was so wonderful, i'm buying a one-way ticket
back in january. I never felt more at home anywhere
in my life. Leaving Thailand after this experience was
unbelievable. I said goodbye to him and his staff around
10 pm because i had a 1am flight. his whole staff was
there because i was leaving at that time. I'm talking
10 at night! The whole staff walked me out to the car,
I made it into the cab without crying, Mr.Hai, my driver
and now very good friend put the car in gear and i lost
it. I cried all the way to the airport, cried all the
way to Seoul, cried all the way to San Francisco, and
cried for months after whenever anyone asked me about
Thailand. Just a note here, my surgery went perfect
without a hitch. My vagina is functioning great, looks
totally awesome, like i was born with it. my breasts
are magnificent, my nose is perfect, and i'm really
glad i asked him to shorten the width of the space between
my nose and upper lip. Dr Pichet is an awesome surgeon,
a real man of his word, totally conciencious and has
his patients well being as priority number one! . I
was never ripped off, noone tried to, january when i
board that plane for bangkok, i'm going home.
peace and love, danielle
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