My experiance with Dr. Joya in pva....

Hi fellow June 24th'ers...I was trying to update from PVA but I couldnt get the typing box to pop up it was weird...but now I am home! I uploaded pix including of my incisions to my profile for you.

My trip was amazing, it was a positive experiance from the start, Dr. Joya is so kind and makes you feel like he cares, you are not just a piece of meat or a chart. His facility is top notch..my room was cleaned 2x a day complete with mopping, it was freakishly clean, like disneyland..i could not even see any dust on the bottom works of the hospital bed. The sheets were like a resort, polished cotton, with a fluffy white comfortor, the hospital comfortor was better than my hotel blanket. If I needed a nurse literally, push the button...1...2...3....door opens. My surgery was standard and uneventful, I have the operative notes and my complete labs, I will be taking that to work with me on Monday and letting the Dr.s I work for have a go over :)  Surgery was Monday, I was taken for leak test on Tuesday afternoon, and he took the time to show me on the monitor, my new stomach, and I actually got to see the icky stuff they make you drink go down my esoph into the new tummy etc....he explained everything I was seeing to me,  I had no leaks or blocks, everything went through perfect!  

I went back to the resort on Wed afternoon, I had minimal pain..in fact my only biggest pain was the gas, or feeling after trying to drink the first couple of days..boy that is really hard, but dehydrating scares me more than the discomfort. I had gas-x strips and would take those. When I got to the resort I went right down to the pharmacy on the corner, and filled my scripts, but i never took one of the supradol (pain killer) I just didnt need to, I had such little pain with this surgery.  I DID buy tagaderm, and when I went back to the resort I showered, peeled off their bandages and put neosporin i brought with me, and put my tagaderm bandages on, just fyi, if you get little red spots where regular bandages tape lay..even looking like pimples, you are reacting to the whatever is in the bandage. I had that you might can see the little spots on my belly photo. My son is the same way I can not put regular bandages on him when he gets an owie :/

ANYWAY...so after that I felt so refreshed, I put my water in the mini-fridge and off I went exploring the resort, walked by the ocean, sat by infinity pool...keep in mind my surgery was Monday evening, this was Wed evening. It was just wonderful.

Thursday, even better! I'm up early, working on my bottled protein water (i brought spec k protein drink additive and some other brand from vitamine shoppe) by the pool....went back in to my room for a bit, ran water through the coffee maker so i had ho****er, and put a boullion cube (i brought from home) into a coffee cup. LUNCH! I got a few spoons in then just relaxed, got a couple more in..relaxed...then went back outside to enjoy the air and sun.   Went back in the room after a bit of that....got another Coooool shower this time...did my hair..got dressed...and walked about 2 blocks down the main street to their little mall...lans or lams..dept store! Coach, bebe, chanel...everything........walked through there into the other part which was typical mexico market stuff...then back to the resort. This surgery DOES NOT cripple you! Just keep your water bottle in tow and sip, sip sip. 

Back at the resort I had the butler print my boarding pass..went to the room and finished my cold broth...and tucked in for the night...I even slept on my side.

Woke up Friday, laid around sipping and packing, checked out at 11..sat for 1 1/2 hours talking to people, then had them call my cab for the airport......and I was home yesterday evening! 

I did go to vitamin shop on way home and got a couple of isopure protein waters..I like them..the after taste is not much more to me than the protein dieter funk I already have going on in there lol......

And popsicles are such an easy way to get some water in, im considering making some protein pops some how.

Anyway I know this is tldr for most.....but i also know some of the girls I met we are having surgery at the same time and I wanted to post my experiance :)

***adding in bc i forgot to mention with the gas pain...waking up from recovery was HORRIBLE. Apparantly I am one that reacts to anasthesia..I thought I was going to throw up, it's the most horrible feeling and scary when you know in your head you just had your stomach operated on. They promptly gave me nausea med in the iv. My recovery night was like this....come to ...feel sick....fall back asleep...wake up an hour later...feel sick...repeat. They checked on me a lot tht night, and my stupid phone was going off with people wanting updates. I tried to text them back, but my eyes would blurr and i couldnt type lol. I had to go to the bathroom and they wont let you alone, in case you get dizzy...so yea..awkward lol I mean they arnt in the room with you but they are THERE, waiting for you to say you are done ....and im one of those that cant pee if i think someone can hear me..LOL I woke up for a while at 3am and I was feeling back to normal, then conked out again till the 6am bp check and stuff...then it just got much much better from then on.

also, everyone is different....dont expect everything to be the same as the testimonies you hear from other people :) This is only mine.

I weighed in on surgery day monday at 244, this morning saturday i am 238, i started pre-op diet at 260, i am 5'2

I would also like to add, I saw some posts about dr. joya and how his brag type "why choose dr joya" put some people off....... a different perspective......It made me feel like he CARED. I think he deserves to be proud, his hospital is wonderful, I am the type that feels safer and better if my medical offices are clean and well kept, it makes me feel like my dr. CARES and STRIVES to provide an environment for people. People go to Dr.s bc they are sick, they dont feel well, or have to have something scary done..I would have been scared out of my mind to walk into amerimed and see anything but the quality i saw, and there is no reason this wonderful life changing surgery can not be a vacation too...its a beginning of a new life, it was refreshing, calming and serene. So to each their own...I say..Dr. Joya has every right to show people first hand what their experiance will be like bc lets face it..mexico has a bad rep...if i had not seen how open he is about his facilitites maybe i would have never had the nerve to go...and im so so happy i did.

Great post - well said and I'm glad you had such a good experience. I see you met a few others who had surgery at the same time - hubby (and I) did as well. I mentioned it to Gerald that I thought it would be a good idea if during the admission process Natalie asked if you would like to meet others who had surgery while you were in hospital. We already knew one other lady - but there were a few others in at the same time - only one of which we got to meet after surgery. I noticed the nurses tended to ALWAYS shut the room door when they left - I guess they do it for the privacy of the patient. Because of this - you didn't get to see others pushing their IV poles up the hall and going for walks. Of course it's a personal choice - to meet others. That was the ONLY thing of the whole experience that I can honestly say would have made it better. Top notch - all the way!

I just sent you a message on this site - hope you don't mind

I dont mind..and guess what??? Natalie does that! you must have influenced them!!!!! She took me to meet the two other girls, the two other girls spent a lot of time together but i was a bit of a loner, i tend to be like that when im nervous/not feeling well etc..also i get in a zone and just do my own thing a lot, its just how i am...but on my last day there..another lady came from canada and natalie came and got all of us to go talk to her!!!!! i showed her my scratches of scars lool and we chit chatted with her :) and we were dischared and walking down the hall to leave as she was being rolled to surgery! 

how cool! they took your suggestion!!!!

Oh my goodness - that's SO great they are doing that now. I think it will really benefit a lot of people. Especially those who are uncomfortable being on their own but did go down to PVR alone due to family, financial or other issues. That makes me really happy! Thanks for letting me know.