Dr. Amanza walk through/review

[Dave1324]

As Promised Here is my review of Dr. Almanza and his staff. I just got back from having surgery on the 19th so this info is new.

Day 1 - The shuttle will most likely be late due to hold ups at the border. Expect an extra hour or two wait unless you get really lucky.
-You will arrive at HMN Hospital that is more like a Clinic its not very big at all. They will take your blood sample and run an EKG test. Then take you to your Hotel. They over booked the hotels so its random where you may end up. Ticuan is the better one, however their band will keep you up all night if you have a room where the Tuba/Bass Echo resonates. Bring headphones!

Day 2- Note: while doing EKG and asking questions they prepare the Que line for surgeries. The easiest to do go first (Lower BMI no prior surgeries). The more complicated go later (Lap band revisions prior surgeries etc).
-Don't expect to get a specific time or notice which number you are going in at. They do things on the fly which can be frustrating.
-Once you wake up from surgery I can damn near guarantee you will have instant buyers remorse. To be honest everything hits you at once when you come out of the surgery room. The gass pressure burns, Reflux kicks in and you feel like total shit. Very few come out saying they feel ok.
-Walk,Walk,Walk! the only to get the gas out is to walk your ass off if you can manage to get out of bed. I literally marched in place by my bed when I could barely walk. it helps a lot.

Day-3 you get released from the Hospital and get to go to your room. If you go alone it would be best to pay the $60 a night for your own room. This will ensure you don't end up with a Roomate from hell who wont let you sleep. Trust me if you cant get proper rest and take it easy life is gonna suck. From here you wait it out try to get better and go sight seeing if you feel ok. The Drain coming out of your stomach and the fact they leave the needle in your wrist can cause issues. My entire wrist is bruised still.

Day-4 Leak test and removal of tube and IV needle (well if you end up with a female nurse, the males appear to be there to collect a check.. Ill explain later in another post). Once you are x-rayed (By the way the liquid they have you drink tastes like chalk and hair spray. You will be good to go. You just sit around all day in your hotel and wait for a call when your bus to San Diego leaves.


That's it in a nut shell you are literally ran through like cattle, they did 15 the day mine was done. I was the lucky #2 that day. You will see one group going out and another going right in. Non stop.

[Dave1324]

Ok Now for the review. Going to make this short and sweet because everyone literally has a different experience. Dr. Almanza is a very good surgeon, cant take it away from him. I have zero complaints because I knew going in I was just a number for the day. He introduced himself to me 4 times in one day with in 3 hours not realizing he had already met me. This is the reality when he sees 70+ different people in a week. Us Gringos all look alike lol.

As for his staff that's another matter. you have a 50/50 shot at getting a nurse who actually gives a shit about your pain or how you are doing. It really seemed like the Males were there just collecting checks and the Females were busting their asses doing their best. That may just be my view though, I know others in my group totally agree.

If I had to do it all over again I would, Thanks to this forum (Good and the bad) I was prepared for every possible scenario. I'm going to leave this short because if I posted my personal opinion on every thing it would just turn into a rant and not be productive.

The fact is that literally everyone has a different experience, suffers different side effects and has different views on what's acceptable medical wise and what's not. My only advise is to listen to everyone, and expect anything to happen.

[southernchick]

Well I can appreciate the truth...thanks

[shila]

I appreciated your walk through/ review. My surgery is in April and want to be well prepared!

[BBLovesBB]

Thanks for the review. I'm scheduled for May.

[DLove0328]

Hey Dave!!! Glad you are doing well! I can't wait for my day 3/28... hope to find some people going to Dr. A the same time. I hate going solo lol! But I've got my big girl panties haa haa....

[Angella67]

Dave and I were there at the same time....I was #5 in the surgery line. I agree with everything Dave had to say. I personally didn't have the problems with gas pains that others seemed to be having. Everyone is different. Walking is a must! Whether or not you get a good nurse is hit or miss. I was fortunate that the female nurses took care of me most of the time. Definitely try to get one of the female nurses to draw your blood and start your IV....I saw the arms of some of the ones that the males nurses attempted. I would definitely do it again. It is very different from America, but all in all not a bad experience.

[dpresha87]

Did everything look clean and sterilized?

[southernchick]

With so many surgeries. .Did the doctor look fatigued?

[Angella67]

Did everything look clean and sterilized?

Everything was very clean! But don't expect things to be as modern as in the US...for instance, none of the blankets on the beds match. One bed may have a quilt and another a little girl's pink blanket, but they are all clean. I saw someone mopping constantly.

[Angella67]

With so many surgeries. .Did the doctor look fatigued?

I was the fifth surgery of the day and I never saw the doctor again after that, so I'm not sure what he looked like by the time he got to the last few surgeries, but he does that many everyday so he is used to a long work day.

[Dave1324]

Hey Dave!!! Glad you are doing well! I can't wait for my day 3/28... hope to find some people going to Dr. A the same time. I hate going solo lol! But I've got my big girl panties haa haa....

Thanks! It's amazing how fast you recover. The hard part is not knowing ahead what to expect in terms of how hard your body is going to react. Some of us were running around just a couple hours after surgery the unlucky ones were stuck in a wheel chair for a couple days.Then you have the crazy ones who go out drinking the day after lol, or decide to go sample the fish Tacos.

[Dave1324]

With so many surgeries. .Did the doctor look fatigued?

He shows up at the clinic/hospital around 5am starts surgeries at 6am and doesn't leave till around 9pm depending on complications. He never appeared to be tired to me I saw him in and out a lot since I spent most of my time walking the floor at all hours trying to get rid of the gas pains.

Dr. Almanza also had the sleeve done he lost 70lbs. I often saw him popping out in between surgeries eating something. The guy is in good shape and healthy, I didn't see him "dragging ass" at all.

[southernchick]

Thanks. .I really needed to know

[Dave1324]

Dave and I were there at the same time....I was #5 in the surgery line. I agree with everything Dave had to say. I personally didn't have the problems with gas pains that others seemed to be having. Everyone is different. Walking is a must! Whether or not you get a good nurse is hit or miss. I was fortunate that the female nurses took care of me most of the time. Definitely try to get one of the female nurses to draw your blood and start your IV....I saw the arms of some of the ones that the males nurses attempted. I would definitely do it again. It is very different from America, but all in all not a bad experience.

As Angel said its clean, I think they spent more time mopping the floors than anything. The surgery room is a trip though. It has old tile floors some with cracks, card board boxes of surgical stuff laying around. Almost reminded me of a meat freezer lol. There is a bunch of Vietnam era looking equipment in the recovery area. The surgery table is stainless steel with arm extensions. When you lay down you feel like you are about to be crucified.

Don't worry though, the tools used to perform the surgery are new.