It's been a bumpy one!

[MissKay 329]

My journey started only about 9-10 months ago when I first learned about the VSG. I approached my doctor, she agreed, and we started the process for insurance. However, by about April of this year I was entirely fed up with the constant hoops they were making me jump through, and the co-pays I was having to pay even just to meet their requirements. I started looking into self-pay with little hope as I don't just have that kind of money lying around. Then I saw Alex's post for the $4399 surgery in Mexico. My brother had suggested looking at Tijuana surgeons, but I had shot it down. I did some digging, educated myself, asked a ton of questions, and within a month I had a down payment, and a surgery date scheduled with the BariatricPalMX team led by Dr. Illan.

This all included getting picked up in San Diego, brought to Tijuana, the surgery, 2 nights stay in the hospital, 2 nights in the recovery condos. And then, voila! Time to go home.

Being picked up and brought over was non-stressful, easy peasy. Stacy, who works for the BariatricPalMX team, did a great job at easing my mind on the drive over. She was so warm and welcoming! Once arriving at florence Hospital, I had blood drawn, an IV put in, and chest x-rays done. Soon after all the doctors started coming in (sorry, I don't remember all names). Everything was explained to me, every question I might've had was answered.

I think the first time something happened that I wasn't expecting was straight out of surgery. I was in the recovery room outside the OR and I was in PAIN. Most people didn't seem to experience much pain, but I did. Whether it was gas pain or actual pain, I don't know. They gave me two doses of morphine, and that didn't do anything other than make me extremely warm and nauseas. After another hour or two, a different pain medicine was administered with some anti-nausea, something for gas, and then eventually something to prevent infection. The rest of that day I was really weak, really uncomfortable, and did some walking and breathing exercising as much as I could.

I also will say, don't expect to get some restful sleep, haha. Nurses in and out every hour or two hours. But this is just a testament to how attentive and on top of it the staff was during this time. Which was truly appreciated and made me feel taken care of. The next morning I was taken for my leak test, and once that was passed, I was given some ice chips, Water, gatorade and apple juice. Of course coming off from the liquid diet I went straight for the apple juice. It tasted like heaven, but my new stomach didn't really agree. The sugar content didn't settle well. So I backtracked to the Water, took that slow, and had to take a sip of the Gatorade (not G2) every 30 minutes or so to kind of work up to it. By late that night/early that morning, I was able to drink the Gatorade just fine! (btw Gas-X strips will be your best friends!)

Wednesday we came here to the recovery condos, I began just been relaxing, sipping away at water and gatorade, working out the new timeline for the medicines that was prescribed. There was a very helpful packet outlining phases and what to have and not have. Luis was wonderful and took us out into TJ and we went to Caesar's where Josh (the boyfriend) had a good looking fish dish and I had the beef broth. It was delicious and I have yet to feel full, but have stopped myself in fear of taking in too much.

While we were in the hospital, Roberto was great and always checking in on Josh and getting him food and drinks whenever he needed it. He was well taken care of even though he didn't want to leave my side.

Dr. Illan came in and checked on my incisions the day before we moved to the recovery condo and to see how I was doing. Again, everyone was very attentive and caring, and just been great. I couldn't have asked for better attention and being put at ease. I'm so incredibly thankful and am now just easing forward and looking forward to healing and getting my life back on track now.

Thank you to everyone! Dr. Illan, Bill, Stacy, Roberto, Luis, Rosa, Jessica, Denise, and every other doctor, nurse, or staff member who's played a hand in this and helped me reach this goal and start a new life.

Edited June 18, 2016 by MissKay

[Gripp 34]

That was a great story and I wish you much success

Sent from my SM-N915V using the BariatricPal App

[Sandrey 4]

Wow, this is exactly what I needed to read. My surgery is scheduled for June 2 at Oasis of Hope. Unfortunately I have a few people with negative opinions of me having the surgery. However, I have tons of positive supporters as well. Thank you for sharing your story and I wish you the best!