Surgery is TODAY!

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April 15, 201115 yr

I'm wide awake at the hotel in Mexicali thanks to something that sounded like a foghorn blaring right outside my window. I tried to go back to sleep for at least another hour but it seems that when the ativan is done with you, it's done! I'm wide awake & checking email, Facebook & hanging out here for the next 2 hours as it's just now 5am in Mexicali.

Today I meet Dr. Aceves & his team and will have most of my stomach liberated and expunged sometime this morning. My surgery buddy & I had a great dinner last night at the hotel's restaurant; it felt so go be able to order anything but not so much when the waiter innocently asked if we were in Mexico to have the weight surgery. Guess my fat ass gave it away again, huh? No worries, by this time next year I'll be healthy & smokin' hot. After fasting all freaking day yesterday, that food was delish, not to mention the margarita & Coke I downed.

Is it weird that Im not nervous at all? Sure, I worry a little about the unforeseen; equipment failure, bad reaction to anesthesia, nicking the liver, etc, but not enough to get all worked up over it. I do wonder, though, since our "last supper" is still gurgling away in there, if Dr. Aceves had to suction all the undigested door out before of after he pulls the liberated part of the stomach out? It seems so gross! That's why he gets the big bucks, I suppose!

Yesterday was a bit of a rough start. Ernesto is on vacation to see his daughter get married but I didn't know this when I arrived at baggage claim yesterday right at 11:00 and there was absolutely no one to be found holding a sign with my name on it, I waited until 11:10 before calling the office who explained that the weekend driver was coming and should be there in 10 minutes. Nina called me back after another 5 to 10 minutes to explain that another patient was arriving late and asked me to wait inside 15 minutes then head outside so the driver could pick me up at the curb. I was looking for a tan van with my name on a card in the front windshield. I sat in the southern California sun for over an hour and never saw the van with my name. Finally, around 12:20pm the driver was walking around & found me sitting on a stone bench right by the street but he had to go to the other terminal to find my surgery buddy. So I waited another 20 minutes or so. I hadn't expected to be outside so long and as my 3-1-1 bag was full, I didn't pack any sunscreen - I'm now sporting a lovely burn on my neck and arms. My advice to incoming patients would be to call or email the day before you fly in to see when the other patients will be arriving so you can plan meeting with the driver accordingly. Im going to miss out on meeting Ernesto, unfortunately. He's due to come back Tuesday, the day after I return home.

The hotel is nice & from what I saw at the hospital from pre-op testing, it is just as clean as others have said. Looking forward to heading over in a bit and settling in to my new home for the next 3 nights! I hear they have AWESOME drugs, too! Soooo ready to get the most uncomfortable part of this journey over and so I can start writing a new chapter of my life! I could really, really use a cup of coffee, tho!

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