amaltha

Last time I was on a plane it was not all that fantastic being as I had just had the band put in. However, this trip I just had my first fill. I was disappointed to find out that my port is apparently on my side. He went on to say that it is fairly common for my Doc, Dr. Corvala to do that. I am fairly pissed about this because I distinctly remember the doctor telling my port was directly under my big incision, when it reality it is about 4 inches to my left and 1 inch above it. :mad: In a way I feel lied to. :crying:

The fill itself hurt like the dickons. :confused_smile:Not the needle or injection part. What hurt was him pushing and pressing on me to find whatever it was he was looking for. I relaxed a little through the pain and the ordeal when he started chatting casually with my friend because I knew he was concentrating less and therefore, things were a go. He put 2 cc in and said I was lucky because normally he has to stick people more than once and that I was once stuck one time is a good thing.

Being that I had my band surgery in mexico I am feeling as though I am the ugly duckling that no one wants. :frown:The doctor down there doesn't really go out of his way to make sure I am ok and the doctors here don't really want ownership of me but are willing to take the check and do the fill. :cry_smile:I hope to God nothing goes wrong. It would be nice if American doctors just took care of people in general and not their own patients.

Do I regret the band? Not really I am down almost 30 pounds and feel fine. :thumbup:I have yet to vomit and have had success so far. The reason for me was I simply ate too much in my life. I always have. Having a foreign object like this in me has blasted the fear of God into me to do the right thing. And on this trip because of the band I LOST weight instead of gained weight. :w00t: I found myself doing the right thing and it was a great change of mindset. And believe me when all you have to do is eat pastries, drink with coworkers, drink soda, eat a lot yummy food and sit in a classroom for 5 days people usually gain. (I work at a food company so we are constantly tasting our products) So I am happy to see what was on the scale this morning for my weigh in. :tt2:

Good for you for staying strong! It is hard watching everyone eat all the time but it sounds like you did great!

So I got banded on monday. Today is Friday. I was discharged Tuesday from the hospital in TJ. I had a feeling that what I am about to write would happen.

Since Tuesday, right after I left the hospital I had one more question about the cream they prescribed for me and when I can take the bandages off...The hospital (though I have emailed 3 times and called) have yet to get back to me and answer. Instead, the MedToGo coordinator called some other doctor in the business and got the questions answered.

Here is my point for those thinking about Mexico...what you get is what you pay for. They told me up and down at the hospital, "just call" "just email" if you have anything...what a crock of BS. I understand these doctors are busy and have busy days, however, responding to an email like that takes 3 minuts tops. It is a clear case of I paid them to do a service and they did...well and the business transaction is over. If any of this is something you don't want to be involved with rethink going to Mexico.

In other news all is well (regardless) and I am under 200#s YAY!:frown:

Well I made it!

Here was my experience:

As most of you have read I did mine in Mexico and not the states because insurance denied me. We flew to SD and a gentleman was waiting to take us over the boarder. We arrived at the Hospital that was imaculate. Very state of the art and cleaner than any hospital I have seen in the states. Apparently they are doing a lot of advanced research there??? Anyway, I had all my pre-op stuff off the bat and then went to my room. Dr. Lopez came in and the anastegiologist came in we had a quick chat and then they came to take me to the surgery. I lied in bed for 20 minutes and then they took me to the surgery room. I saw Dr Lopez and smiled.

*funny moment* So am a bit of a smarty pants. They had needed to get the the EKG thing and so my robe was down (breast exposed) and so I was about to go under when I looked at the one person I knew spoke english and whispered "you know I usually charge men to see these" :ohmy:

and then I woke up in recovery shaking uncontrollably. They gave me something and we went back to the room. the enxt few hours as my prior people will say were the worst. I was sore, they weren't giving me very much pain meds. none of the nurses spoke a lot of english, and my spanish is broken enough for us to barely get by. The doctors all spoke perfect english. I got up to urinate often and walked up and down the halls when I did.

The next day I was wisked away to drink some icky pink stuff and take another x-ray of me. (which looked pretty funky!) And then I was discharged. I had the choice of staying in the hospital another night and opted not to. (my mother is with me and is a nurse and I wasn't getting all the attention in the world so I figured it is best to get back in the states) So we bumped up my plans by a day to return home and get on with the rest of my new life. I am walking a lot. I feel the gas build up and am a bit sore from it and walking helps emencly. Sipping my broth and apple juice like a champ. Apparently, while they were operating on my they found a hiata hernia and he fixed me up right there at no extra charge. :frown:

To all those who were in my situation financially. Here is who SHOULD NOT do this. If you are a person who likes plans, and likes to stick to solid timelines this is NOT for you. I am not sure how they do it in the states but there was just a fly by the seat of my pants feeling the entire time. I kept asking, "what time will the doctor be here? what time for this what time for that. all the answers were....oh he come find you. oh she will find you. When they said "we do this in 5 minutes" it always was an hour or better. It was a little annoying but I dealt with it. I can imagine someone who likes a tight ship would hate this. If at all possible bring a spanish speaker with you. I think that would have helped a little bit.

Don't get me wrong I didn't have a BAD experience but there were moments of uncertainty. I was very scared getting wheeled around the moments before surgery, I was afraid of going under, and the surgery and they left me alone alot to sit on it.

I keep thinking...wow in a matter of 24 hours I just changed the rest of my life. I suppose it is a similar feeling when you give birth to your first child. To all the other allstars I wish you the best! I want everyone to have a speedy recovery to the rest of our lives.

Congrats to all my other 4th Peeps!