I thought I'd take some time and give details on MY sleeve procedure.
I'm hoping this is typical of most. I am sure this will be on the long side, but I want to give you all the info I have while it's still fresh in my mind.

I had surgery in Tijuana Mexico with A Lighter Me, Dr. Elias Ortiz.
The surgeons (it's a 4 handed procedure - so there are two surgeons operating on each patient), work out of Mi Doctor Hospital. It's a 7 room hospital with a single operating room.

A Lighter Me is set up with various coordinators:
1) Janese and Sonya - are Pre-Op
2) Abraham, Orlando and Eduardo are the transportation and post op
3) Rhonda is post-op as well and will take phone calls after you get home, consult with the Dr. if she needs to and then call you back.

The Mi Doctor Hospital has a cordless Vonage Phone that you can use as any time to call family or friends, unlimited calling. This is the best way to get a hold of people. The 3 of us had issues with texting, calling and family wasn't able to always get through. I'm on Verizon and have their $15 international plan (1000 minutes for $15 - texting is extra). But the texts aren't going through.

The Hospital employs various orderlies, nurses and aides to help with your stay, give meds, ice chips etc.

Monday Morning, Abraham picked 3 of us up at the Marriott Hotel.
My sleeve siblings: Rob and Lessie, are so much fun. All three of us came alone, so it's been nice to have someone else to talk to.

Upon arrival at the Hospital (after a fast and furious ride in the van - btw, Abraham has never had an accident -ever), we immediately went into the lab to have our blood drawn.

We were then shown our rooms, (private room each with a private bathroom and large shower). Before I go on, I want to comment on the Hospital. Picture an small town hospital, everything is there, but it's just not as "modern looking" as the 25 Million dollar 250 bed hospital close to your home. The hospital was very clean, everything was organized and I didn't have a single qualm about having my procedure done there.

I was the first to receive my operation. Probably because I knew I already had a hiatal hernia and had made arrangements to have it fixed. My gall bladder was taken out 12 years ago - but if I still had it, I would have had it removed at this time.

I met all the Doctors and those assisting in the procedure before the surgery took place. The anesthesiologist and I talked about some prior surgeries, I told him that I had the "dry heaves" after surgery, so he gave me something for nausea immediately. It worked.

I have five incisions. One right in the center of my chest, about an inch and half below my bra line. The other 4 are across the middle of my abdomen from the middle to the left side. The incision to the furthest left is the drain line (where they pull the removed portion of the stomach from).

The drain: There is about 18 inches of tubing inside you, with another 18-24 inches hanging out and going into a plastic "bulb". It's sealed and every few hours, the bulb is drained. Do not worry, you can't possibly pull this thing out!

Ice chips only on this day. Your mouth will get very dry - so they are helpful.

The worst part of the recuperation for me was the gas pains that I had in my left shoulder. Yesterday was the worst for me, but today, I feel much better and the pain if minimal.

They tell you to WALK and I walked! I'd sleep, wake up, force myself to get out of bed and walked up and down their very small hallway for 5-10 minutes. At one point, there were 5 of us walking, pulling out IV poles with us... and stopping to talk, compare notes and stories, it was congested but kinda fun!

The one thing I didn't bring, that everyone else did was GAS-X strips. Thankfully, Rob gave me some and that helped with the abdominal gas a lot!

Patients are in the hospital two nights. So bring something to do. There is a TV in each room - some channels are English speaking so I watched NCIS and Criminal Mind reruns. I started watching the Big Bang Theory but I think that's a funny show and laughing hurts! HA! Each room also has an air conditioner if you need it. I kept the fan going at night to give me white noise against the noises of the city and nurses.

Some things to prepare for:
1. You will have an IV in your hand the entire time. Have them put the IV in the hand you don't favor (easier to go to the bathroom etc.).
2. Ask for extra pillows if you are a side sleeper, you won't be able to sleep on your left side, but a pillow will help keep you from rolling over onto your drain.
3. This was a coincidence for me, but I brought light weight exercise pants that had pockets in them, perfect to put your drain bulb in while you are walking.
4. Every two hours, the nurse came in with medications: Pain med, anti-nausea, omeprazole (for the acid reflux), and an antibiotic. Some of them don't speak English so they can't tell you what you are getting.

24 hours after the surgery, I was able to take a shower and that was HEAVENLY! They asked me to take off all the bandages except the drain and once I was dressed, the nurse put on fresh gauze and tape, redid the drain bandages and I was ready to go.

This day is where you drink the contrast (blue stuff - bitter tasting) and about 3 hours later they have you drink something clear while you're checked for leaks. If you are completely cleared, you get to go on liquids - Apple Juice never tasted so good... but remember to sip sip sip!

This morning, after shower and bandage changes etc. We got our packets (all the medical info, blood test results and the DVD of the leak test). We also got medications for pain, acid reflux, and an antibiotic. Gauze and surgical tape as well.

Then we had to wait a couple of hours to go back to the Marriott. But the 3 of us just visited and talked about food! LOL... well Rob is a chef so we were talking about what things we could eat and how to fix it.

How I am feeling today: I'm a big achy, its not easy to go from a laying down to sitting up position, but I'm a wimp... and know it. I feel MUCH better today than yesterday. Tomorrow will be even better.

If you have specific questions, just ask, I'll log on a bit later to see if I can answer them. I know this is going to be a life changing event for me, and I'm happy I took the step.