Hi,

Im getting banded on Thursday morning in Monterrey Mexico. I leave tonight on a red eye flight. Im a 28 year old mom of two precious little ones. Im going alone because my husband has to stay home and work and take care of the kids. Im feeling alone and scared about traveling to another country by myself for surgery, and I thought that if I started this thread to keep you all posted then I might feel better while Im in Mexico. Ill post here when I arive tomorrow and again before and after surgery. If you have time feel free to say hi. My Dr is Dr Rumbaut:redface:

headin... you'll do fine, i just know it. :thumbdown:

you've waited for this a long time now, and it's almost here! keep being brave, and take it nice and easy.

i can't wait to hear your story when you get back.

I got to Mexico this morning. Very tired. left at 11:45 pm, arrived here at 8:10am, and didnt sleep because the ride was full of so much turbulance I was scared to death. Drinks were coming off of the trays from the bumps. So I was tired when I got here. Slept for an hour and had to start with my preop apts. Saw the cardio first. Yay my heart is healthy. Then came back and laid down for thirty min. Then they woke me up to go to the psych consult and then to preop apt with the Dr who will be placing the band. I havent been allowed to eat in three days accept for S/F popcycles and jello and broth. So no sleep+no eating=cranky cranky. :wub:

*sending you positive thoughts*

please come back soon and let us know how you're doing...

I made it alive. I write more when less pain. I love my band...welcome band to ur new home

hehe, must be some good drugs.

Welcome home!!!!! Hope you feel better real soon!

I have to say that for some reason I am emotional. When I woke up from surgery I was in a lot more pain then I had expected. I dont speak spanish and my Doctor was gone and none of the nurses spoke english. They gave me a lot of pain meds but the second the meds would wear off, the pain was almost unbearable. I finally started crying. It wasnt just the pain, but O think because I was frustrated and tired and also in pain. It was a combo of all of it. The nurses just thought it was all pain since I couldnt explain it to them in spanish so they dosed me up like I was a horse and I was so high I forgot about being emotional. (even though the nurses dont speak English they are so very nice and try very hard to be helpful). When the meds wore off I was sad again, but at the same time so happy that I finally have my band. Weird. Every emotion is just really intense right now. Its like really bad PMS but I just ended that less than a week ago. Anyways, thought Id put it out there in case someone else feels that way they know they arnt alone. Emotional wreck over here! :scared2:

headin,

i was the same way to a lesser extent. i was lying in the hospital thinking "what the hell have i done to myself??" and feeling really bad about having not been successful without the band. it seems to be pretty emotional after anesthesia, although i totally don't understand the connection. :-)

i'm glad you're doing okay. when are you heading back home?

I have to stay here until Sunday. Since my Doctor is in Mexico, they dont let their US patients leave for five days because if I needed aftercare it would be expensive for me to pay out of pocket to see a US doctor. So I stay here for five days so we are totally sure Im good to go. I do have a doc lined up in CA but still I dont want any emergency visits if I can avoid them. Saw my Doctor again a few min ago. He said my surgery hurt worse than other people's because I have a single insicsion surgery. So there is a lot more tugging and pulling to get all the surgery untinsels in that one little insision and get around the stomich and liver. It makes that insicion very tender and the muscle really sore from all that tugging. Also he said he has to use more gas because he has to inflate the entire abdominal cavity from the one insicion he places up top. Now I understand why it was more painful than I had expected. Well Im sure it will get better every day. Im not hungry for the first time in my life. I got scolded for not drinking my juice or yogart. Im just so sick of the sugar free, crappy tasting poo Ive been eating could cry. Uh oh. There are those emotions again. I really hope that I can just eat normal things and not all this diet crap. I dont really like sweets so I figure as long as things in moderation once I am back on solids Ill say good bye to all this sugar free stuff. Plus I really dont think sweetner is very good for our bodies. Its all processed chemicals. Sugar is more natural and if you have it in really small quantities I dont see anything wrong with it. In two weeks Ill say good ridence to this sugar free stuff and focus on healthy solid foods like chicken and veggies.

i sooooo agree about the sugar free crap.

i can't even eat jello now because of having to eat sugar free "liquids" so much after surgery. and i'd rather drink a cup of low-sodium broth than have to tolerate anymore "diet drinks". sucralose is my new enemy! hehe what happened to the labels they used to put on products so you could clearly see what fake sugar they were using? i guess sucralose is like a generic fake sugar now, so i have to search the ingredients list... sneaky fake sugar...

Are you still on liquid diet? Mine is only a week then on to mushies. Ohh thank god. Honestly the worst part about traveling is that I dont have a kitchen to cook myself some food in. I could handle this better if I could make my own home-made cream of potato soup watered down with skim milk and blend it, or some home-made chilli watered with tomato juice, or real chick broth made from a chicken I boil. This nasty prepackaged stuff is so gross to me. Fake canned soups and broth from cubes. Eww! I know Im a food snob but whatever. I just like home cooked stuff. I am used to home cooked meals and this just isnt cutting it for me. Im onto full liquids now so I can have anything I can suck threw a straw (but Im not supposed to suck it threw a straw literally. Straws are a no no). When I get home Im gonna start cooking. At least Im not very hungry yet. So Ill keep suffering threw the sugar free yogurts and precanned garbage they call soups. And I hope I never see another sugar-free protein drink again. I want to puke just thinking about forcing them down. As soon as Im onto mushies Im going to eat as much soft chicken as it takes so I dont have to gag on those sugar free protein drinks!:cursing:

Edited July 17, 200917 yr by headin_to_mxico
bad spelling

Woke up today in the dumps. I am nausious as hadies and Im so afraid that Im going to start puking my guts out. Deep breaths seem to help some. I feel worse than yesterday. I thought Id feel a little better everyday, but today Ive gone backwards. Please just hurry up and be tomorrow.

Update, after the pitty party I just threw myself, my wonderful (and I must say VERY GOOD LOOKING) Dr's assistant came to my hotel room to check on me. I told him how nausiated and awful I felt, and the wonderful man had in his medical bag a shot of phentagram, or something that sounds like that. He simply gave me a shot right in the caboos. Within 20 min my nausia was so much better. He also switched my pain meds to something better. So a shot if this, a swig of that, and presto Im a new woman! I dont feel my best, but I feel a whole lot better with that nausia gone. That was just AWFUL! But much better now :smile:

Hi Headin

I just got back from Monterrey myself on Friday! What hotel r stayin at and who was your doc? Did you have your surgery at the Christus Muguerza? So sry to hear about your pain. I was absolutely amazed by how little pain I had (must be one of the lucky one's or a hellva good surgeon)I was walkin around 3hrs after and was able to sleep on my side the 2nd night.Oh I know what you mean by the language barrier. I thought my nurse wanted me to have a shower and take the bandaids off, so being an obedient canadian i did..whoops.Her eys lit up and they called another nurse in to put them back on.lol

My doc (Dr.Horacio Guajardo) gave me a small bottle of

Tradol which really keeps any pain away. My 5hr plane ride from MC was a long ride home but my belly spoke to me the whole way!lol

Hope you have a safe trip home!

Hi Kev,

I was banded by Dr Rubaut. Yes was banded at that hospital. I stayed at the Hampton Inns and I was so impressed with how smoothly they work with band patients. They seriously have it down to an art and the staff at the hotel has totally held my hand threw everything. I have a long flight as well as a three hour lay over in Mexico City. Ugh. Not looking forward to it AT ALL. But I really do miss my family and cant wait to get home. Its great that you didnt have any pain. My pain gets better everyday, as long as I can keep the nausia at bay.