I'm doing this just for you, Char!

So, my trip started last Thursday. My husband and I drove to San Diego airport and parked in the long term parking lot and then took the airport transport bus to Terminal 1 Zone F to get picked up by Dr. Almanza' s team at 3pm. Once we got to the meeting zone, I called the coordinator to let them know we arrived. I was told that there was one more woman who they were waiting on and once they had confirmed that she was there too that they would send the driver and he would come out and introduce himself. A short time later a large woman with a cool European accent arrived and introduced herself. She was a sweetheart. The coordinator confirmed everyone was present that needed to be over the phone and said the driver should be there shortly. Sure enough, a few minutes later a large passenger van approached and a man came out and introduced himself and started loading our bags up. To be honest, I did not feel that particular driver was very friendly, but later we had much better drivers who more than deserved the tips.
From the airport, we drove straight to the HMN Hospital in Tijuana. The drive was probably 45 minutes to an hour because it was during the rush hour. I can't tell you how depressing Tijuana is... Such a cramped and dirty little town. There was some nicer parts, but really... It is not a place I will be returning to.
The hospital is really small. You walk into a little reception area and then go through some glass doors and walk upstairs to the second floor where there is another little waiting area where they asked us to take a seat. They gave us some medical history paperwork to fill out and then called us one by one (there was only the two of us since we were the late arrivals for the day) to walk around the corner and get some blood drawn. After the blood draw, we were taken up to the third floor to sign all the consents and given a little breakdown of what to expect. As many people have previously mentioned, all the consents are in Spanish. The man said it was that way because that is what the government insists on, however, if we wanted a copy in English just to ask our surgery coordinators at weightlossagents.com and they would provide us one. Then we went back to the second floor and went in another little room and had an EKG done by a very elderly man. He also asked some more medical history questions. His English was very good. When I was done with that, I waited in the waiting room until the other woman was done and then we were on our way to the Hotel Ticuan.
The hotel is lovely. For our 4 nights there, it only cost $232. If I had travelled alone, it would have been free because I would have bunked with another surgery patient, but since I had my husband we had to get a private room and pay ourselves. But still, $232 for four nights and it was easily the second nicest hotel I've ever been to. In the states, it probably would have been about $200+ a night! The elevator is lightening speed, lol! We were told at the front desk that I could ask for popsicles, jello, water, and juice anytime. I was also given 3 tickets for the chicken broth. At first I thought that the 3 tickets was all I was allowed for the chicken broth, but later I was told I could ask for more tickets at any time... but in the end, the three tickets was all I needed anyways. So, we went up the our room and got settled in and then went downstairs to the hotel restaurant. I, of course, ordered the famous chicken broth and was not let down. It was delicious! My husband had three beers, chips, salsa, a huge hamburger and a bunch of fries all for the low, low price of $12! What a deal! We loved this part of Mexico! Lol
After dinner, we headed back up to the room to settle in for the evening. I heard later that there was groups who went out and explored that evening, but we were tired from driving all day. It had been about a 5 hour drive from our home. Oh and by the way, it's pretty easy to identify the surgery patients at the hotel as everyone has an IV in their hand.
We received a call that night around 9pm informing us that we needed to be down in the hotel lobby by 6:30am to go to the hospital for surgery. And then it started.... The music... Every night is a party in Tijuana. The music starts at about 9pm and literally goes until 6:30am. It doesn't matter what day of the week it is. I had heard about the music beforehand and even brought a fan to try and drown out the noise, but it did not help at all. I found out later that others in my surgery group did not hear the music at all as they were on a different floor and on the other side of the hotel. The day after I got back from surgery, we asked to switch rooms and they were willing to oblige, but then I was so weak and tired that we backed out and decided to deal with the noise instead of packing everything up and moving rooms.
So, the next morning we are down in the lobby at 6:30am. There were 4 other women down there waiting already. 2 from Canada, 1 from Alaska and the woman with the European accent who now lives in Texas. Later on, two more women would be joining us at the hospital - 1 from Florida and the other from Georgia.
At the hospital, we were back in the second floor waiting room and one by one we were called back to undress and put on our hospital gowns and get our caps on and our legs wrapped to prevent blood clots. I was roomed with the two women from Canada who have been life-long best-friends. They were in there mid-50's and very nice and funny. I immediately felt at ease like I had two Momma's watching over me. The other girls who were not dressed in hospital gowns yet came into our room because we were told Dr. Almanza was on his way in. He came in and introduced himself and explained what was going to happen and what to expect. He took pictures with everyone individually and then as a group. After he left, we all got our IV's in our hands and they called the first woman back to surgery. Literally, just a few minutes after she left, they called me. At first I didn't even know where I was going because I knew they couldn't be done with the first surgery already, but I had enough sense to kiss my husband before walking out. They took me to the recovery room and had me get up on the gurney and told me it would be about 20 minutes before my turn. At this point. I started to doubt my decision, get real nervous and began praying like crazy that all would go well and I wasn't making the biggest mistake of my life to drive to Tijuana for surgery. I mean, how scary is that!? So, I started to get just a little weepy and then decided since they don't use a catheter that I really should use the restroom before going under. It took a few minutes before I could get the attention of a nurse and inform them I wanted to use the bathroom, but they were kind about it and I went and took care of business. When I came back and got back on the gurney, they wheeled me into the hallway right outside the OR and the anesthesiologist came out and talked to me and while talking, he pushed something into my IV. I remember him walking away.... And my next memory...
I'm being pushed back into the room where my husband is and the woman who had surgery before me. I have absolutely no memory of going into the OR, being in the recovery room for the 30 minutes after surgery or how the heck I got into the wheelchair. But, I was alive. I got into my bed, they hooked me up to the fluids and I tried too get comfy. The pain wasn't bad... Definitely some gas pains and I found rolling from side to side every once in a while helped. Definitely more tender on the left side where the majority of the surgery is performed. The nausea was out of this world though! It was only my second time being under general anesthesia and I did not remember it being so bad, but oh my god, it was this time! I threw up probably 4 or 5 times and it was all this dark metallic tasting blood. Oh,it was awful and I couldn't help but worry what I might be doing to my staples. The other terrible thing that almost made me wish for a catheter was I constanly had to pee. Every 30-45 minutes, I was in the bathroom relieving myself like I had been holding it in all day! This went on allll through the night as well. It was ridiculous. The other two women got up maybe 1 or 2 times to use the restroom, but I was constant. My husband left probably around 6pm to head back to the hotel as he was getting hungry and tired. I didn't blame him and there wasn't much he could do for me anyways. I tried to get up and walk the halls a few times, but honestly I was getting up so much to pee that I felt I was getting plenty of walking in. Lol. Now the other two women would have you belIeve that they didn't sleep a wink all night, but I'm here to tell you that would be a lie. One of them snored like a freight train ALL night long, the other snored too but at least it was softly. So, when I'm trying to get sleep in between my runs to the restroom and vomiting and nurses coming in to take vitals and give meds,it was just impossible with the snoring. At 5am or so, I gave up on any possibility of sleep and started pacing the halls again. There was a scale on the other side of the hotel in the Labor and Delivery wing that I so badly wanted to step up on just to see how much I gained with the gas and fluids from surgery, but I was literally too weak to step up. Around 6:30 or so, we were told that we could change back into our regular clothes and get ready to head back to the hotel. I was never so happy!
Upon returning to the hotel, I found my husband in the hotel restaurant having breakfast by himself, so I went and sat with him until he finished up. On our way to the elevator, I ran into one of the hotel nurses named Suzy (total sweetheart) and she informed me to go ahead and take a shower and she would be in my room in about an hour to change my dresses on my stomach and give me meds through my IV. So, that's exactly what happened. I was in pretty rough shape and even though my husband felt we should go walk, walk, walk and I knew he was right, all I wanted to do was sleep, sleep, sleep. However, we did make several laps around the different hotel floors that day during different times. Around 1pm, the nurse Suzy and a doctor came into check on me and give more meds and check the dressing. The doctor was young, cute and very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. Later around 3 or 4, I finally felt up to venturing outside and my husband and I walked several blocks around the hotel area to check out the surroundings and pick him up some dinner. At this point, I was very much struggling with drinking anything. It was almost impossible. The pressure it caused in my chest and the nausea was just too much, but I continued to try and get down what I could, which honestly wasn't much at all. I think the nurse came by one more time that evening around 9pm to give more meds and give me the contrast dye that I would need to start drinking at 7am to prepare for the leak test and informed me to be in the hotel lobby by 7:45am. I slept like an absolute log that night after not sleeping much the two days prior. Yes, I still heard the music and yes, I was a little uncomfortable with that stupid drain bulb sticking out of my stomach, but still soooo much better.
Got up early the next morning and took a shower, had the nurse come in and change my dressings and started getting ready for the leak test. At 7am, I started trying to drink the contrast dye, which was this purplish color in a small sized water bottle. I took a teeny tiny taste and it tasted like ink to me. It was horrible! I kept at it little by little... And yeah, I threw it all up mixed with more metallic tasting blood. Luckily or not so luckily, I still had plenty more left to drink. When I went downstairs to meet the group, I was astonished to find that all of them had finished it already. One of them even admitted that they had "gulped" it down real quick. How she did that, I have NO IDEA because I could barely sip anything, let alone this nasty stuff. I ended up throwing the last of the dye in the trash and just prayed that I got enough down to do the test because I just couldn't drink anymore. We were told we were going to a radiological lab and that only surgery patients could go, so my husband stayed back at the hotel. This time our driver was excellent. His name was Tony and he was a ball of laughs. Very energetic and fun. He stayed in the waiting room with us at the lab, gave us all suckers to suck on for after the test and made general chit chat with everyone. One by one, we were called into another room and asked to drink this other mixture of disgusting stuff in a small styrofoam cup that was about 1/2 full. We had to drink it in one gulp. It was better than the dye, but still vomit-inducing, but I managed to keep it down. They took the picture with the X-ray and said everything looked good, no leaks! Yay!
Back in the waiting room, I sucked my sucker and felt very pleased with myself. Tony told us that there would be a driver picking anyone up who wanted to go shopping at 1pm at the hotel lobby. Went back to the hotel and waited for 1pm. At this point, I really felt like just going home. I felt ready... I didn't see any reason to stick around for another day. I even inquired about leaving, but was told I needed to stay because I was going to get some more medicine in my IV that evening and get my drain out. It wasn't until later that evening that I discovered that there were at least two other girls in my surgery group that got their drains and IV's out that morning and I had my surgery before them! I couldn't make heads or tails of it, but whatever. So, at 1pm, we drove a few blocks to go shopping in the tourist area. It was an area of about 3 blocks on both sides of the street... With each little store trying to convince you to come in and offering deals... But each store sold pretty much the exact same things... Not interested in knives, tequila, mini guitars, sombreros or ponchos...so, that was a bit of a waste. I would've ate the amazing smelling food... But yeah, that was a no go obviously.
Back at the hotel, I probably took a nap - I don't remember. The wifi absolutely sucks at the hotel, I do know that. It would be good for a while and then non-existent. Luckily, we had downloaded some movies prior to the trip, so we at least had a few things to watch. Take advantage of the wifi at the hospital as it is MUCH better. I got a call on my hotel room phone around 5:30pm from one of the other ladies in my surgery group that everyone who had surgery on our day was meeting at the hotel restaurant at 6pm for a round of broth and to talk and take pictures. That was a good time, as we all got to chat, compare notes and see how everyone was faring. Funny to see how everyone lapped up the broth (some even had two helpings) the night PRIOR to surgery, but now not one single person was even able to finish half of one bowl! Most of us exchanged contact information so that we could at least keep up with each other on Facebook. Apparently, while we were all having such a good time, the nurse had been ringing all our rooms and couldn't find a single one of us. He finally went downstairs and found all of us taking pictures! So, we were all shamed and had to go back to our rooms and wait for him. Lol. When he came in, he took out my drain (very weird pressure sensation, but not painful) and he took out my IV because I wasn't getting more meds through it that night despite what I had been told. We were told to be downstairs in the lobby by 8:45am to start our journey back over the border.
The journey back was uneventful, if a little bumpy. It took less than 20 minutes once we were at the border to get through and our birth certificates and drivers licenses were completely acceptable. We were dropped right off at our vehicle in the long term parking lot, said our good-byes to our Canadian friends and were on our way. We stopped about 3 times over the next five hours to get out and stretch our legs and I continued to struggle with drinking liquids.
I was soooo happy to be met at home by my children, two nephews and my parents! It was amazing to be back in the comfort of my own home. My parents took great care of my children while we were gone. I had FaceTimed them at least twice a day while we were gone, but with such sketchy wifi at the hotel, there was always a lag and it left much to be desired, so I was thrilled to have everyone back in person. Went to bed early that night... And pretty much every night since then.
The next day after getting home, I was pretty much bed bound. I slept a lot on and off and attempted to drink more. I also had been increasingly getting worse and worse acid reflux. It even came up into my mouth a few times while I was sleeping during the night. I sent my husband out for TUMS, but that didn't touch it. It was awful! I decided I would tough through it and go to work the next day.
I had to get up at 5:30am to get ready for work. The shower itself wiped me out. I had to get a chair and sit down to do my make up. After driving the 40minutes to work, I barely had the energy to get out of the car, let alone work for 8 hours and then drive 40 minutes back home.... I don't know how I did it, but I survived. At lunch, me and a co-worker walked to a Chinese resturant and I got some egg flower soup in a large styrofoam cup. 4 days later, I still have more than half of it left! But it really helped give me some energy. Later I had a few bites of jello and that helped me finish the day off.
By Friday, I had enough of the acid reflux and picked up some Omeprazole. Talk about a life-saver! It is my everything right now!
Today I am 9 days post op and I am pretty much back to my old self. Drinking and "eating" (as much as you can call it eating when you are still on liquids) is getting much easier! My energy levels are getting better and I haven't vomited since Tuesday. Yesterday I did several loads of laundry, took care of the kids while my husband was at work and made a mean pot of chicken vegetable soup. Today I made it to church and took the kids to the park to play. I sometimes do feel hungry, but after a cup of broth, I feel completely satisfied, sometimes even a little too full. I am down 19 pounds and can really tell the most difference in my face. I still have my lovely double chin, but my cheeks have already thinned out a lot which I am thrilled about. And I noticed at church that I could comfortably cross my legs again! NSV, baby!
I'm not gonna lie, my recovery wasn't easy with the nausea and vomiting and general sense of weakness and not being able to drink pretty much anything, but I think those things are also pretty common and as long as I didn't have a leak or a knicked spleen or liver, then I consider myself fortunate and a success. Especially happy about the 19 pounds (which includes about 7 I lost during the 5 day pre-op diet), as I talked to two other girls from my group last night, both of whom were larger than me, and one had only lost 12 and the other 15. I'm guessing I peed all the fluids pumped into me that first night in the hospital and they didn't. Lol.
All in all, I am very happy with my experience and would do it again. Now I can't wait to just keep losing, losing, losing and be a whole new person in 6 months... Or as our driver Tony called us, "Future Barbies".
Any questions, feel free to ask! Thankful for this forum, as it has been absolutely invaluable to me! Sorry this is so long, but I always love the long ones.