Hello from Tijuana.
My name is Kevin. This is the 3rd time I have been down to Mexico. Let me tell you my story. First and most importantly, 2 things. I am a registered nurse and spent many years working in surgery, I am 49 and live in Iowa. Second, I am writting this simply to get information out to all of you. I am not in anyway connected to any group or facility and really I have not posted on this kind of website for 3 years.
In Jan 2012 I came to Tijuana to have gastric sleeve surgery with Dr. Almanza. I was 80 pounds overwieght and had diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The Trifecta. After much research and honestly after talking several times with Melissa Bracker who many of you may have talked to already, I decided to have my surgery at St. Jeruselum Hospital with Dr. Almanza. I was really not fully prepared for what I experienced at his facility. While my experience was OK, I was surprised at how packed in like cattle we were and how completely wrong the facility was for surgery, we literal had to walk down a flight of stairs right after surgery to get to our post op room. IT IS NEXT DOOR TO A PITTSBURG PAINT STORE. Anyway, my surgery went well and I loved the hotel that we stayed in after. I NEVER saw the doctor other than a ten minute meeting before surgery. Afterwards I actually had to fight with the nurses who were trying to pump MORE IV fluids into me because I KNEW my blood pressure was to high already and they would not listen to me. NOTE that the doctor did 15 surgeries the day I was there.
I came home three days later and all but one of my incisions opened up. I am lucky that I have immediate access to healthcare that most people do not as I work with doctors in a clinic. Everything finally healed outside and honestly the surgery internal was great and I have slowly but surely become a much skinnier and healthier person. I am down 80 pounds and have NO ISSUES other than I burp when I drink diet coke......
4 months later I was asked by two very important family members to travel back to Tijuana so they could have the surgery. I connected them with Melissa and helped get them set up for surgery. I went with them to be there as a companion. All seemed similar when we arrived except that the number of patients had gone way up. We literally had to wait outside the clinic to get in so that my daughter and step mom could get prepped for surgery.
Once they were ready I left them and headed to the hotel knowing that I would not need to be there as I would not see the doctor after surgery. At 3 am I get a call from the lobby of the hotel from my duaghter who is bawling. Dr. Almanza's staff had come in to the recovery rooms and got all of the patients up and made them WALK to the van and then into the hotel within hours after surgery in the middle of the night. THE HOTEL DID NOT EVEN HAVE ROOMS FOR THEM. It was the worst experience I have ever had in my life, watching two people I love go through this.
The entire stay was terrible. WAY TO MANY patients and not enough staff or room. Luckily both my daughter and step mom have done very well long term post op. The overall surgery was successful but the risk and treatment at the facility was not good, actually dangerous.
Three days ago I brought my business partner down for the sleeve. I was more reluctant to move forward with surgery at the same facility but I felt like I could manage things for her now that I knew what was up. Luckily a week before our travel I got a call from Melissa explaining that things had really gone wrong at St. Jeruselum and that while it was our choice, she felt that we might like to go someplace else. Of course I wanted to understand this troubling call so spent time researching and talking with folks. We decided to make a move and we are NOW HERE at Trinity Medical in Tijuana. I can only say this.......I wish I had known about this facility sooner. THe doctors and staff our incredible. The entire philosophy of the center is based on QUALITY patient care. The experience for my buisness partner Darcy and others here who I have talked to has been incredible. Of course as a surgical nurse I have asked to see the entire facility and meet the entire staff. I have been very impressed and Darcy has had hands on care by the nurses and doctors constantly. THe hotel we moved to after the first night is literaly in the same parking lot and the doctors come back and forth.
I asked the staff to help me spread the word about this awesome place and hence my post tonight. The do a max of 5 procedures a day and quality is the key here. I would love to share more with anyone who wants to ask. I am headed back to Iowa on Thursday and will be back at work and on with my life. Darcy has watched me and my family go through this and it is just such a wonderful positive thing to do if you are overweight and tired of not losing weight. It changed MY LIFE.
I am getting nothing from this, I mean that. I feel it is way to important to share our experience and about this new facility. The doctors all trained with one of the top surgeons in the world in this field. They also do many other procedures but I cannot speak to those. The people you will meet with stay with you for the rest of your life. Rick, Melissa, Nathan, Eliza and the doctors for starters.
I wish you all the best in whatever you do as you look at this option in your life. If you want pictures, let me know and I can send.
Choose wisely and change your life,
Kevin
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