Hospital Mi Doctor; what was your experience?

[paradoxgal]

Paula, I'm bummed our paths crossed without us meeting - I left on monday, but Abraham told me he took you in and that you made it and all was well. I had a very similar experience (Doctors, nurses, anesthesiologist. Dr Morales is a hoot. Made sure you always knew his name, too!) I also didn't get any of the ice cream. I am happy with my care and everything there as well! It's this post-op diet thats killing me!

[Paula72]

I was disappointed too Jamie. I was really hoping to meet you but you're only about 5 hours from me. Next trip to edm we'll have to get together. The post op is getting on my nerves too. Still a week to go and I'm so sick of sweet. All the protein drinks are sweet and I really want to just chew on something good and feel like I'm actually eating something. Had cream of mushroom soup yesterday but sacrificed a protein meal to do it. Trying to make sure I get my 64 g in today before evening so I can enjoy some soup again. I should have bought some plain protein to add to soups. Might try some vanilla protein in cream of wheat later today. Not sure how it will taste but it'll be a nice change from drinking my protein.

[meisenlord]

I am curious as to how you are doing now that you had your surgery just last week. I have Dr. Valenzuela at the Mi Hospital on Nov 18th. I hope your long trip home was good.

[Luann]

Ok, here is my .02 on Hospital Mi Doctor. I knew not to expect US standards, just that the place be clean and decent. It was clean. I had some problems with many of the nurses who took care of me.
Some seemed to have quite an attitude, one in particular would just stare at me if I asked her something. I don't think it was a language barrier. I called one night to have my JP drain emptied, it was so full it was completely round. She looked at it and said "it's ok." I told her no, it is not. It's full. It won't drain any more unless it is squished down and to give it a vacuum. So she emptied and then left. It had already started leaking around the drain. Why tell me some crap like that? Either complete apathy or amazing lack of training. I just can't believe a nurse would not know a JP drain is supposed to have a vacuum on it. Any nurses aid, MA or lay person with an iota of common sense can see that there is supposed to be a vacuum on the thing.
I don't have tricky veins. Granted I was a little dry when I went in for my IV start tuesday morning. It took 3 tries, 2 different nurses to get an iv in me. They were trying to thread the cannula with the needle completely in place all the way up into my hand veins. Then telling me I need to relax, and that "you are very sensitive to pain." WTF? You don't thread an iv with the needle in place the whole way. You get into the vein, completely in, then you slide up the cannula without the needle. And hand IVs hurt! They made a huge bruise on both hands & then the next one went to my AC and had no trouble. SMH. They kept telling me you can't have the surgery without the IV so we need to place it. Well no one was arguing that point. But the next IV I needed took 5 pokes. No one has ever had this kind of trouble with my veins.
None of the nurses wore name tags with their names. So maybe Edna is an angel who never would have behaved like this, but the nurse I had the most trouble told me her name was Edna, so that is what I am going by.
The first night my call light quit working. They called someone who came & replaced it. The next night, the same darn thing happened - call light not working. I told my 2 nurses, showed them it didn't work, and they just nodded and did nothing. Edna just stared at me again. The guy told me to call if I needed anything. I reminded him the call light did not work. He sort of shrugged his shoulders and left. I was about to puke at one point & could not find my emesis basin. So what could I do? I was in no shape to walk out to the nurses station, not that I could have anyway because the IV pole was up so high it would not clear the room door or the bathroom. I yelled like a banshee and finally someone came in.
That morning I told Nissi that my call light was busted all night, they knew & nothing was done. She tried it, it works like a charm. I can press a button as well as the next person. I think they must have waited for morning & me to be stone asleep, and either put the batteries back in or gave me one that worked. Dr. Lopez & Nissi both said they would talk to administration about it. I hope they did. I don't expect to be waited on hand & foot, but a fresh post op patient does need help and should at least have a working call light. I think this is where a companion would have made a difference. I traveled by myself. I don't think they would have pulled it if I had a husband or son or friend who could have walked out and asked why my call light doesn't work. Or when it did later that morning, I would put it on and it would be shut off immediately at the desk, and then still no one comes to see if you need something.
My sink was full from the time I filled it to rinse out my pj bottoms that got some drainage on them. The release to let the water back down was broken. I told 2 or 3 nurses about it and no one did anything, no call to engineering to fix it, nothing. The towels sat on my floor for a whole day until I picked them up and asked a nurse where the hamper was.
My bed was a cluster of tangled up short sheets, torn blankets the whole time. I still slept, but it would have been nice if someone had straightened the mess out for me. Between my back troubles, the nausea, weakness and my abdominal pain there is no way I could have torn that bed apart and put it right again. Little things like holes in all the sheets - that surprised me but it was not a big deal. Bad attitude of nurses when you are dependent on them for your care - that is a big deal. And not all were bad. I had 3 nurses over the course of my hospital stay that were friendly and very helpful. The male nurse seemed nice enough but his English was perfect and I am certain he understood me when I said my call light was broken.

The ICU - I believe it was a room next door to me with 2 hospital beds in it. It was full the time I was there. So at the point, if there are no unit beds I don't see that an ICU is truly available.

I have several allergies, the paper above my bed listed none of them. Every time a nurse wanted to give me something or put it in my IV I insisted they tell me the name of the drug and why I was getting it. Twice I had to refuse meds I was not supposed to have. I would have got them if I had not spoke up.

I am home safe, I'm sleeved, Dr. Lopez did a fine job and is a fine surgeon. I don't think I can recommend Hospital Mi Doctor though. I hope this sort of feedback doesn't upset people scheduled for that hospital shortly. Maybe Mexico Bariatric Center needs to have a meeting with nursing administration.

[RENUNDERCOVER]

Thanks Luann I think you were very brave in telling us about your experience on this website and Now that ibkniw I w ill be going to another hospital mybe I go see Dr kelly but I want to check out nova hospital. Thank I sure you help a lot people is glad to know how nurses who are supposed to be taking care of you while you are in the hospital and not have any name tags you don't know wbo is taking care you. Thanks so much and giving us very important information.

[Luann]

Thanks Luann I think you were very brave in telling us about your experience on this website and Now that ibkniw I w ill be going to another hospital mybe I go see Dr kelly but I want to check out nova hospital. Thank I sure you help a lot people is glad to know how nurses who are supposed to be taking care of you while you are in the hospital and not have any name tags you don't know wbo is taking care you. Thanks so much and giving us very important information.

The last thing I wanted to do was scare patients away from Dr. Lopez. He really is a highly skilled surgeon and a nice person. I just have to tell the truth about the hospital though. I am not the sort who is going to shit rainbows and unicorns in talking up their surgeon. We have to help each other out, with the truth, especially when the hospital is so far away we can't take a walk through & see for ourselves before making a big financial commitment.

Lopez does surgery in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara as well, the price point is higher but to me it would have been worth it to be in a better hospital.

[RENUNDERCOVER]

Luann don't worry about that maybe the doctors their need to be inform on how their nurses are treating some people I don't know how it is in Mexico but in Philadelphia nurses here would have been removed as your nurse. Mybe they where threaten by you because you did what you do best research and question everything

[paradoxgal]

I had a similar experience with a few nurses staring blankly at me, and not being super attentive. I was there alone, and my call button didn't work. I loved my doctors too. I had a hell of a time with getting an IV. Truthfully, I had similar experiences with nurses, IV problems, and stuff here in the states with my hysterectomy and the births of my three children though so I just figured well, must be worldwide. I did feel that the facility was okay, I didn't have allergies, or holes in my sheets. I guess had I had more issues or concerns I would had more of a problem with it all. By the time I went to the Marriott, I was ready to be on my own. The biggest problem I had was with my IV. It came out the first night and was bleeding all over. The two nurses worked for two hours to get a new one going. After 24 hours it was clotted and the night nurse with the head wrap just pushed my meds through and it was hurting. She still pushed it all through anyway. There was a large bulge in my wrist from where the IV slipped out but the fluids just kept going in under my skin. They took out the IV a couple hours later. The pain in my wrist is still there and it's been 2 weeks and 3 days now....

[Luann]

Oh no, that's terrible. Injecting those drugs into your tissues instead of having them go into a vein is a bad thing. Not everything is toxic to the tissues but some drugs definitely are. Have you had your doctor here in the US look at it? The problem with IVs in the hand or wrist is that there are so many bony structures, nerves, etc. If it was only an issue with IV fluid it really should have gone down by this time. Sorry this happened to you.

I know things are not perfect here either, but that is just wrong. I hate to think staff would be so lazy, indifferent or calculating to ignore patients who come alone. I always felt grateful if a patient put on his or her call light to let me know of a problem. They are helping me to do my job right and to know of any problems. Holy smokes. Yeah some people call for every little thing, but you know what - if they see you come quickly and are concerned with their welfare, that you are "on their side" they usually calm down and then don't need to ring so often. SMH.

[Stacy'sSleevedLife]

I am so grateful that my surgeon employs English speaking patient liaisons whose only concern is that Dr. Quinones patients are well taken care of. My liaison would translate anything my nurse did not understand.

[zmdh39]

Looking for any sleeve patients who stayed at this hospital. Any info on your experience!
I have read a comment that someone had no internet connection here. In case I wanted to look up a drug name I didn't recognize, was hoping to use my netbook. Did the wifi work for you?
Did anyone walk by the ICU - did you happen to notice how many beds?
I read this is a real hospital, but have found some posts online that describe it more as a clinic.
Is it true that there is no doctor in house overnight?

Anything else you can tell me - how well you could communicate with the nurses if you aren't fluent in Spanish, how your valuables were stored while you were in surgery (passport, etc), any details at all.

I didn't have surgery at this location, but for me the wifi worked fine, my personally items were stored in my room while I was in surgery, nobody bothered them. The ICU where I had my surgery done was really nice. There was a doctor on call all the time at my surgery center, and everyone spoke English, but if your Doc's staff isn't bilingual, you can always make yourself a cheat sheet of some common phrases to take with you. Also, there is this really neat app that I have on my Ipad that you just hold the camera over what you are trying to read, and it will translate it for you so that you can read it in English on the screen...the battery is dead on my Ipad right now, so I can't tell you the name of it, but if you are interested on what it is called PM me and I will send you the name. Best of luck!

[Luann]

I am so grateful that my surgeon employs English speaking patient liaisons whose only concern is that Dr. Quinones patients are well taken care of. My liaison would translate anything my nurse did not understand.

That is good, however language barrier was no part of the issue. My issues happened during the middle of the night, when the patient liaison would likely not have been sitting at your bed side. The coordinators who worked with my surgeon were also extremely concerned for my well being and did all they could to help resolve any issues. All of the nurses were able to speak some English, I have a little Spanish, and of the 2 nurses on duty the night I had the issues - one was fluent in English and the other with fair grasp of English.

Nissi the coordinator stayed all day at the hospital checking on patients, got me ice chips and helped put the iV bags on a lower pole so I could at least leave the room or walk into the bathroom without leaving my iv behind. My surgeon and the other surgeons who worked with him checked on me several times a day. I was also checked on by my surgeon at the hotel, once a day and additionally when I felt too nauseous & was concerned.

[Luann]

*update*

I spoke to my coordinator today, they had a meeting with the owners of the hospital this afternoon.

They have asked for several changes; one of which being that the staff all wear name tags. Because they care very much about complaints of bad care and want to know who is responsible.

I think all we can do is report back to each other about our experiences honestly, and as much as we want to cheer for our surgeons we have to speak honestly for our experience at the hospital. This, or any other. Otherwise if there are problems nothing can be corrected.

[Dair67]

I am in my first full day post op at Mi doctor and can not say enough about how great my care has been. I feel great, very little pain or gas. Just finished my leak X-ray. All good.

[paradoxgal]

I am in my first full day post op at Mi doctor and can not say enough about how great my care has been. I feel great, very little pain or gas. Just finished my leak X-ray. All good.

So happy all has gone well!! My coordinator just told me yesterday that they had just had a meeting with hospital admin about the care level at the hospital needing to be a little higher, so I hope that all the nurses are taking sweet care of you. Did you go alone? Or did your sis go with you?