Home from Monterrey

Hi all!

I'm home now. It was so hard to leave. I felt great the last two days, so I really got out and did some sightseeing. I must have walked 3 miles yesterday (waterfall, street market, glass museum, some final shopping...).

Honest to goodness, nothing hurts. I'm laying on my belly in my bed while I'm writing this. I had about two minutes of nausea while I was in the hospital the same day of my surgery (didn't vomit), but I haven't struggled to keep anything down since. I haven't rejected anything. Swallowing is as easy as it was prior to surgery. I have tons of energy. When I went to see the waterfall, it was a bit of a hike all up hill, uneven stones, stairs, ramps... and it was HOT. And I did it. It wasn't even hard. So weird.

So, anyway, the important stuff... I have no infected incisions, no popped open incisions, no leaks... nothing like that. I was given copies of my prescriptions for every medicine I brought home with me (and the prescriptions were in their original boxes, not baggies). I have my medical records. That includes all of my lab results and my surgical report which gives every little detail about my surgery and recovery.

I've already decided that I'm going back in a year. I'm taking my family. I have to introduce them to my amazing doctor and coordinators. These people have changed my life forever and I saw so many beautiful things there. I have to share that with the people I love!

Now... off to sleep in my own bed. This should be heavenly.

Night!

I'm SO glad you're having such a wonderful experience!  It's going to be such a great way to mark the life change!

Thanks! Are you getting excited about your sleeve?!

Honestly, I wish I could say yes, but I haven't even had a moment to think of it.  I am a full-time nursing student, had finals this week, and I work 25-30 hours/week taking care of violent, confused elderly people.  I hardly have time to breathe, let alone think about surgery!

Plus, I'm busting my butt to try and pay for it AND school, so I'm stressed to the max.  I think I'll get more excited about it closer to the time, but it's starting to get awkward now because a friend wants to visit me this summer, the day I get home from surgery.  I told her I was having a procedure, and she wants to know what.

I think I can relate completely. I'm a grad student with a full time job that often involves dealing with angry or emotionally devastated people. It became so hard to concentrate as the date got closer.

As for your friend, we all have to decide for ourselves how we handle telling or not telling people about our surgeries. I went the 100% public route. I told everybody. My coordinators even called my boss to let her and my coworkers know that I was out of surgery and that I was fine. I just think it's easier this way. And I'm not the least bit ashamed of choosing surgery. I got myself here and this is how I'm choosing to get myself out. No part of that journey was experienced by anyone else, so negative comments are powerless to me. I liken it to a man criticizing a new mom for having an epidural rather than hanging from a tree branch and pushing the baby out. I'd roll my eyes, say something disparaging about his anatomy and be on my way.

The point is just that you're going to get questions whether you tell people or not. Start working on your responses now.

Brandy

I agree, and I have been very open with lots of people, including classmates and coworkers.  I've fielded a LOT of negative comments so far, and I don't want to tell this particular friend, because she will tell everyone under the sun, and I just don't want to have to deal with people I barely know calling to judge me. 

I just want to be left alone to make my own decisions.

I feel like I haven't recieved a lot of negativity about going in for a revision NEARLY as much as I have recieved negative comments about going to Mexico for surgery. People honestly beleive I've lost my mind. I just tell them, "That's not all I'm going to lose"..  

Haha, I like that!

Congratulations!!!   I too had a wonderful experience in Mexico and would do it again.  Wish I had done it 10-15 years sooner.   I too have taken the open approach.  I have in the Medical Education field at the same hospital for 30 years and I can tell you that I have not received one negative response.  I have had more support than I could have ever imagined.  Some were a bit nervous about my going to Mexico but once I returned they were so excited for me.   And believe me, I thought I would get all kinds of negative responses when I started my journey.  It's certainly a personal choice.  Keep up the great work and good luck to those not yet sleeved.  It is wonderful.