What To Expect With Dr. Aceves

[SippNSotaGirl 1]

Hi everyone! I have my LapBand revision to sleeve next Tuesday. I'm starting my pre-surgery diet tomorrow. I'm starting to get more excited and nervous.

Dr. Aceves will be my surgeon. For those of you who had him, can you tell me about cellular service at the hospital? I understand the hospital is very close to the border. Do you think I'll be roaming or charged for international usage if I use my cell phone there? Only one person knows I'm going to have the surgery, and I'm going alone. I don't want people getting worried if I don't answer my phone for an entire week. (I live alone, too, so my family checks on me every so often to make sure I'm okay.) Any thoughts?

Closely related, I think the nurses will call someone when surgery is over to let my family know I'm okay. Is that correct? If so, I'll have them call my sister. She's the one person who knows I'm having the surgery. She's a nurse, too, and she's had the surgery, so she's been helping me about what to expect. Most of my questions now are specific to having surgery in Mexico and by Dr. Aceves.

I'd greatly appreciate any other tips/suggestions you want to send my way. Thanks in advance!!

[Rev Me Up! 75]

Honestly, I don't clearly remember about the cell service because I was lucky enough to have an epidural-type line and I was on DRUGS the whole time I was in there. I want to say that I did send some text messages and it was through my regular carrier.

I think they do offer to call someone for you, but I had someone with me and wasn't able to test that theory.

The best thing I packed for my trip: Biotene. Your mouth will be unbelievably dry and there are no fluids by mouth the first 24 hours after surgery. I would swish / brush with biotene and my mouth felt great.

The staff at the hospital are really fantastic and there is usually some good camraderie with the other sleeve patients in your wing. You will notice that the hospital is a regualr general hospital with an emergency room, etc. However, it is really clean (a lady comes in to mop your room several times a day) and the nurses are very sweet.

Also, do your best to learn some of the Spanish phrases they send you via email. At a minimum, bring it with you so you can point to phrases so you can communicate - they don't speak English. I think I have a blow-by-blow account of my time with Dr Aceves. You can go to my profile, look at my posts and it should be there. I don't want to re-post it and bore everyone with the details. If you have any questions, please ask.

[VFB 4]

_{I was there on Nov. 29, 2011. My cell phone worked great, no international charges. My mom went with me and hers worked good too. Dr. Aceves will call someone after surgery for you. The hospital is the cleanest I have ever been in, and it is literally one block from the border. You can see the fence from the hospital.}

_{You will do great, Dr. Aceves and Dr. Campos check on you about 3 or 4 times a day along with other docs. The nurses are great, they don't speak much english, but they will try their best to figure out what you are asking. You will be in great hands! Good Luck!}