DO NOT USE JERASLUEM HOSPITAL

Hello Ladies                                                                                                                                                                     I just wanted to tell you about my surgery in Mexico on July23.  I went to Jerusalem hospital in Tijuana and saw Dr. Almanza.  The Dr was great and thankfully the surgery went well.  My coordinator was Louise.  I researched this like crazy and asked lots of people about their experience in Mexico as well.  I asked Louise 1000 questions pre op and she was great(pre-op).  I read everything I could get my hands on and on here and felt like I knew what I was going into.  Well I will say the surgery was for the duodenal switch and cost 20,000 here and i got it for 7,000 there and so I wouldn't have been able to have it if I hadn't gone there BUTTTTTTT here are my issues.  The hospital was not a hospital it was a clinica in a strip mall next to an office depot and a adult book store in a dirty area and this is where Louise told me I would have my blood work and EKG done pre op. I had ask Louise if i could bring my sister and she could stay with me except for surgery time in the hospital and at the recovery house and she said yea no problem and I said this is very important because I am a little afraid to leave her alone and I surely don't want her alone and away from me at anytime.  Louise said of course no problem is understandable.  When we get to the clinica they take me in the back and leave everyone else out in front lobby which is a tiny tiny room with a bathroom my tiny sister could barely fit in too, not to mention us bigger girls and all the other 5 surgery patients and one other family member sat out there for hours waiting for their turn at surgery.  I demanded finally after asking over and over again to people who spoke little English to speak to my sister as I was worried about her and vice versa.  So I talk to her and tell her i think this is where the surgery's going to be and she seems worried as I am at this point and they put us in a tiny room the size of a large closet and you can barely walk between the two twin beds and tell me to change and then they take me to the o.r. room,  telling my sister 1.5 hours and I will be back.  The o.r. had ants on the floor and I didn't know what to do cause I was across the border and couldn't afford it in the states and would lose my money so I did it and when I woke up 3 hours later I was in a pitch black room alone and couldn't see a thing.  I beat on the wall and someone finally came and I had to immediately upon waking, walk up a long flight of stairs back to the small room where my sister was and she was so relieved as she had been asking for me for nearly 2 hours now.  I lay down and we dose off to be awakened by constant racket and laundry timers and just loudddd noises and they made her get out of bed and move to a chair or bench couch thing in a room next to us.  I freaked out cause was late at night and they were just snatching her up and pushing her out saying they needed the room for a patient.  I ask to speak to anyone that could help or my Dr.  A mean man says his brother owns the hospital whats the problem I told him and he said the patient is priority and they were paying and my sister wasn't.  I said I want to speak to your brother cause Louise said we wouldn't be separated and he said get over it. He finally called his brother who was meaner and said if i kept causing trouble they would take me to a hotel in town and check me in there so as not to disrupt the other patients  I wasn't disrupting them i was scared.  So my sister stayed in that room and i stayed awake all night listening to know she was OK. I wasnt about to leave in the middle of the night with an I.V. and drain to a Tijauna motel. NO WAY ! Next day the owner comes in and says nothing about that conversation but we heard him saying he had too much wine with friends last night and comes in to chit chat like nothing ever happened and we have both been awake all night with all the noise and fear.  I tell him i just want to get done there and leave for the recovery house and please let her stay with me cause I'm scared for her to be out there alone.  He said he was moving us to another room and he did and it had a bed and a recliner and was tiny but I didn't care at this point I was silent and happy she was safe with me. His discussion with us included instruction on eating post op for the D.S.  All he said was not as I had read.  He said he was a Dr.   Several of the staff and workers were so sweet and the night nurse was good but the day nurse was mean and way over worked .  They kept me there an extra night because the recovery house was full.  Finalllyyyyyyyyyyy we get to go do the xray , drink the nasty stuff and come back for Dr. to see xrays.  They leave us in the van and take xrays in and come back out 5 minutes later and say Dr. says xrays are good do you want to buy them to take home with you and I knew about this before so I did and we go to recovery house.  Theses xrays should be viewed carfeully to discover leaks, not glanced at. The recovery house is very small, very dirty, and very very full.  There were 16 people sleeping there and 12 beds.  So all 3 couches had people on them a recliner and one person on the floor.  One man that worked there lived there also and slept on the floor in the living room most of the time he said and made no pay and asked for tips constantly.  I didn't worry about my sister here as much and finally slept some.  You only got a pain medicine shot in your I.V. every 8 hours here and you were lucky if you got that.  Overall though I could deal with it much better than the hospital.  At the hospital I think was every 4 hours if you asked but you had to ask for everything pretty much. They would occasionally check your bp and they ripped my skin off when they took off the tape which was over the incisions.  I still have large wounds from that.  The cook in the house cooked for hours for the clinica staff and everyone else and constantly kept a frying and cooking burned smell going on and burned grease for the two days I was there.  I left at 4:30 a.m. the first day I could leave claiming to them that I had an early flight but I didn't i just wanted out of there.  Long story I'm sorry but god what a night mare.  I'm so thankful to be home that i cannot explain that enough.  I wouldn't have been able to afford it here and I'm OK now.  They send u home with horse pill antibiotics and no pain pills and I feel like they did everything possible the cheapest way they could but I was able to get it done at least.  I guess it was worth it but I'm still freaked out about it and I'm not a big scaredy cat person or a whiny baby but i mean this is Tijuana a known unsafe place.  I knew that but what I was expecting and told is not how it was. So be careful an please double check and do not use Jerusalem hospital. Oh I forgot I called Louise when the owner said all that to me and she never answered or returned my call, ever.  I think if I'd have spent a little more and went to Dr. Ramos Kelly or Aceves or Urgsan, it may have been much better but *****ally knows.  I thought I knew what I was getting into but obviously, I didnt.  BE CAREFUL AND DO NOT USE JERASULEM HOSPITAL.!!!!!!

Thanks
Melissa

I'm sorry you went through this. Perhaps now you understand why people on the DS board are so adamant about who to see in Mexico. I hope you recover well and go on to be fine despite the ****ty care.

Now allow me to put this PSA out there for preop readers:

1. THERE IS ONLY ONE ACCEPTABLE DS SURGEON IN MEXICO, AND THAT IS DR. GILBERTO UNGSON IN HERMASILLO.

2. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON "MEDICAL SCHEDULING SERVICES" IF YOU WANT TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY FOR SURGERY. THIS KIND OF CRAP IS WHAT ALL TOO OFTEN RESULTS, AND FAR WORSE.

Wow, yours is the first detailed post I've seen about Almanza, but he is also a Dr that has been plagued by a higher than normal amount of complications.. and a somewhat shady practice. And yes, he operates in a clinic and sends people to a recovery house.. Frankly I'm surprised that in your research you didn't come ac cross the many complaints about him. Good, luck- please watch your incisions very carefully for any signs of infection or opening. I also was unaware he did the DS until now. Good luck with your healing, I truly hope all turns out well for you.

If you can, for those researching- please edit some paragraphs into your write up so it's easier to read?

Hi, thanks for the comment. I know was horribly written but I only had my phone and didn't know how to backspace this silly thing to do some corrections and it took forever to type but I wanted so badly to tell people about that horrible place. I only found one complication with a. Woman who's stomach leaked and she ended up in icu. Of course that's how it goes. I will edit it when can get to the computer. But thank you. Have a good night and good job on the loss.
Thanks,
Melissa

Thank you so much for posting this.  I don't think you need to do any serious editing, just add some spaces for paragraphs.  It'll make it much much easier to read rather than one giant block of words.

:D

Best of luck to you!

thanks i will

Melissa, yes,... PLEASE edit this when you can.  EVERYONE who's considering surg south of the border should read what you have to say.  VERY important.

Please post this on the Mexico forum..

Angela

hate to seem dumb but i dont see that under forums, where is it

i found it, nevermind.  i do not know this site backwards and forwards like so many of you all do.  thanks

melissa