Warning! Lots of detail ahead.

My mother and I flew into San Diego on Tuesday evening, where we were picked up by Raoul (??? I think that's his name) from A Lighter Me. There was also another group in the van, two girls from Texas who were having sleeves done, accompanied by their mother. Honestly these Mexicans drive like crazy people! We crossed the border into Tijuana and were settled into our hotel at the Mariott Tijuana. Nice place! Possibly a little fancy for two Kiwis dressed in their comfy flying clothes!

We met Abraham and Eduardo from A Lighter Me at the hotel, really nice guys who are endlessly running around after patients. Abraham arranged to pick us up early in the morning and take us to Mi Hopsital.

After a great night's sleep (and a thirsty night it was, since I was nil by mouth after 9pm!), we were picked up and off we went! When I'd looked on the map, the hospital looked very close to the hotel, but it was a lot further in practice. It's a concrete block building, with a cafe inside the entrance. We went up a couple of levels and into a waiting room. There was no room available for me right away, but there would be one after surgery. In between chatting with Abraham, I had a couple of things to do.

A lovely lady that spoke no English at all took some blood for testing, and I filled in some forms about my health history. After a while another doctor went through my results with me (all fine) and listened to my heart and lungs. I'm pretty healthy so they decided it was time to go! I said bye to my mother, and was lead into a tiny closet and given a hospital gown to wear. I put my clothes in a plastic bag for safekeeping and the nurse helped me tie up the gown at the back.

I lay down on a hospital stretcher in a little waiting area. There was a girl next to me just waking up from some kind of surgery (not a gastric sleeve, she was way too skinny!). It was a bit weird being next to her like that while she was so vulnerable. A new nurse pulled down one side of my gown (in front of a bunch of other hospital workers!) and attached some electrodes to do an .. EKG? ECG? E something ... a heart test. I must have passed because I was then given compression stockings to put on.

She then put an IV needle into my hand. It didn't work on my left hand but she got it second go on the right ... I've had the same problem before so it wasn't her fault! IV lines going in is a horrible sensation.

A really lovely man came and introduced himself as my anesthetist. He told me his wife had the surgery and lost lots of weight. He led me down a corridoor, I could see through a little porthole window of a room where someone else was having surgery, I thought it would be more private than that! I was taken into my own room. It was about ten in the morning.

There is a hospital bed in the middle, and I lay on that. There are two huuuuge lights suspended above it, and machines all around. My surgeon Dr Lopez wasn't there (in fact, I didn't meet him at all). The anesthetist told me he was going to give me something that would make me feel dizzy (and he showed me the little vial it came in). It sure did! It was kind of cool actually, like being drunk. I saw someone writing my name onto a computer disk, so I assume they were recording either my vital signs or maybe even taking a video? They gave me the disk afterwards but I haven't looked at it.

The anesthetist really was lovely. He told me, now you don't worry about anything, I will take care of you! That's that last thing I remember.

When I woke up, I felt DREADFUL. Really really groggy, and nauteous. I felt like I was going to throw up! I think I may have been back in the holding area that I'd been in before. There was someone else next to me calling out hello? Help help I'm going to be sick!

Honestly ... the best thing you can do is just let yourself go back to sleep. And that's what I did! I drifted in and out a bit, feeling horrible.

At some point, I woke up in my own hopsital room. There was a bag of fluids hanging up beside me, with a line into the IV in my hand. I sort of snapped to it all of a sudden! A nurse was there with me (not my mother, she was getting some dental work done while we were in Tijuana, also organised through A Lighter Me). She had a few needles full of clear liquid which she put in through my IV (a little sore and a strange, cold sensation in my hand) which she said was for nausea and antibotics. It was about three thirty in the afternoon.

There were bandages all over my stomach, and a line coming out of a random spot on the left that coiled round a couple of times and led to a little pouch. This is the drain!

I spent the afternoon sleeping and eventually got up and did some of this walking that everyone talks about! I actually felt pretty good. I HATED the hospital gown and wrestled myself into some loose clothes. TIP - get some baggy baggy PJ pants that you can draw right up over your stomach, over all those bandages and the drain. Ones that sit around your waist won't do.

At some point I knocked my IV and it bled a little, the nurses taped it down more securely.

My mum showed up. She said that Abraham has called her at the dentist to tell her my surgery had gone well, which I thought was really nice. There was a second bed in the room for Mum to sleep in, and we turned in for the night. I woke up a few times during the night to that awful cold sensation in my IV, to find a nurse standing over me administering more medication. I can't sleep on my back (or I wake myself snoring!) so I slept on my right side opposite the drain. There was no problems with my stomach, although the bed was horrible, as hospital beds are. I'd brought along an extra pillow of my own and it was fantastic! DO THIS!!!

The next morning the nurse asked me to take a shower - your room has a little bathroom attached to do this. She put a glove over my IV hand so it wouldn't get wet. The shower head is really high up, so I had to move a bit awkwardly so I didn't get my hair wet. Afterwards, the nurse changed all my bandages. My lips were really dry, but thanks to these forums I was prepared with lip balm!

It was pretty uneventful after that! Nurses came in constantly to check my blood pressure, administer meds, empty my drain (which I can happily say had nothing in it!) and make sure I was ok. Mum was at the dentist again so I was by myself, I spent the day walking and reading. Getting up and down was a bit painful but not as much as I'd thought it would be! I could manage fine by myself.

One of the other patients I met while walking told me she felt really really bad and just felt like she could die. She commented that she was impressed that I was in my own clothes (she was still in the hospital gown) and I didn't tell her I'd been in my own clothes since the day before!!! So I think I was doing really well compared to the others that had surgery the same time as me.

I hated my IV. It was painful when they administered meds, so they took it out that night (even though I think it was meant to stay in til the next day). It was SUCH A RELIEF! My hand was pretty swollen.

After another night, I was allowed to head back to the hotel. I was hoping they would take the drain out since some of the others had theirs out, but no such luck. Before I left, Eduardo from A Lighter Me came in and gave me a little postop pack with lip balm, Gatorade, an eye mask, ear plugs, some antacid, antibiotic pills, painkillers, and a folder with my test results in it to give to my doctor back in New Zealand.

I was instructed to drink lots of fluids, especially those with electrolytes - Gatorade, Powerade, and vitamin water (and not to worry about sugar at this stage, as my body needed to replenish its blood sugar). The antibiotics were to be taken twice daily, with the antacid five minutes beforehand to prevent reflux. The painkillers were only to be taken if required.

And then I got to LEAVE! Even though they say to walk walk walk, the hospital requires that you leave in a wheelchair. The guys help you up some little steps into the van. My spare pillow was wonderful to hold against my tender tummy as we sped through the bumpy streets!

Had to check back into the hotel all over again. As part of the surgery package, they include up to three cups of chicken broth, two popsicles (but they aren't real Popsicles, I think they're made at the hotel, I tried one and hated it!) and a whole bunch of other stuff such as access to the computer room with internet where I am now, typing my report!

So this was Day 2 post op. Mum and I walked up the hill (about fifteen minutes each way) to Walmart. That may have been overdoing it a bit to be honest, so that night, I did end up taking one of the painkillers at about three in the morning because the area where my drain was felt very painful. It helped immensely! The next day, a doctor from the hospital came to our hotel room and took the drain out for me. Such relief!

Day 3 post op, the guys from A Lighter Me picked up a bunch of us and took us to Revolucion to do some shopping. It was pretty expensive there, much more than I would have thought! Make sure you tell the shopkeepers that you would like to browse and don't need any help, because they follow you around pushing things at you and it's really irritating.

So here we are, Day 4 post op. I've expanded my menu to include protein shakes (and they are REVOLTING here, the ones I had back in New Zealand were much nicer) and had no problems. So tomorrow I plan to add some of the other items from the liquid diet, like yoghurt and custard and thin oatmeal. If that goes well, I might ask if I can start the puree stage early. I'm really looking forward to it! I almost the whole day at the Rio Plaza (a big open air shopping complex) and while I took plenty of rests, I didn't find it difficult. So everything is going swimmingly!

I'm not concerned about weight at this stage, but I can tell you I have lost a couple of pounds (nothing to write home about really) My body has just experienced some huge changes and I've been pumped full of IV liquids, so I will wait for the weight loss to begin!

I know this has been a really detailed report but I would have liked to have read one like this before my surgery, so hopefully someone out there finds this helpful!

I'll be back with more updates soon! Bye!!!