My Sleeve Story! With Dr. Lopez In TJ!
Hello All!
I wanted to write out my story of VSG in Mexico to hopefully help other sleevers down the road. Post like this helped me tons when I was in my research phase. I used Dr.Lopez's company Specialized Bariatrics, I have multiple reason why I picked Dr.Lopez after much research.
SO! We flew out from Dallas on Aug 17th our flight was delayed about 3 hours due to rain. Victor, the drive who was picking us up in San Diego had called me the day before to touch base on flight number and landing times. He also sent me a phone of him next to the van we would be getting picked up in. I was able to text Victor and tell him about of flight delays. He was quick to respond. We landed in San Diego around 2pm, I called Victor to let him know and he was there within 10 minutes to pick us up. We drove to the boarder which only took about 20 minutes, getting into Mexico was not a problem at all. Once we were in TJ Victor pointed out our hospital (MI Doctor) and we went straight to the hotel (Marriott) it was only about a 10 minutes drive, if that. When we pulled up to the hotel the bell hops and Victor unloaded our bags and got them inside with us and took us to check in to the hotel. The staff was very nice and check in took just a few minutes, they explained the complementary items and gave a piece of paper that had them all listed. We also met Tatiana in the lobby (she is the hotel/pick up time coordinator) she said just get situated in our room and she would be up momentarily to go over a few things. Bell hops took us to our room and made sure everything was good. The hotel and room were beautiful, the grounds are so nice and pool was beautiful, paid great attention to detail. Tatiana came up and had a few forms for me to fill out to bring to the hospital the next day. She said she did not know what time they would be picking us up in the morning yet but she would call us at our room and let us know. After she left we went for a swim and ordered room service. The broth is very good. We received a call from Tatiana at 7:00pm and she said to be in the lobby at 11 am for pick up the next morning. I was getting worried she was not going to call us and was about to call her. We called it a night and went to bed early.
Surgery Day! I woke up SO early, like 5 am... scared and nervous! So I had a long time to wait until pick up at 11am. I took my time getting ready and went down to the lobby to meet up with others in my group having surgery as well. We checked out of the hotel and were driven to the hospital. Once there, we were taken to a small waiting area to get checked in to the hospital. There were more forms to fill out and then you were taken to your room. I was on the 4th floor, 401. They gave me a gown and told me to change. The nurses came in and did a EKG and started my IV ( left forearm, did not hurt too bad) and another nurse came to take my blood. I was not looking but my companion was and she said she poked me about 3-4 times, it hurt, I was drinking a gallon of water on my pre op so I would be well hydrated and my veins easy to spot but apparently they were hiding that day (never had a problem before). My blood pressure was high and they cave me tiny amount of pink liquid to drink since I was pretty nervous. It was nice to have that, because I mellowed out a lot. By this time it was 2pm, still no word on when my surgery would be. Finally at 6pm they came in with a wheelchair to take me to surgery, by this time is was SOOOOO ready to just be done with it. They took me to the pre op/ recovery room where there was a patient recovering. The anesthesiologist was there and a nurse. The anesthesiologist went over my blood work results and my EKG, she said I am young and everything looked really good and that they are not anticipating any sort of complications with me, that I was very low-risk. That was so nice to hear! Dr. Lopez came out of a surgical suite and talked to me and told me it was all going to be ok and no need to be nervous, and even joked with me a little. He was wonderful and I was very completely comfortable in the moment. *Side note- I heard awesome upbeat music from the surgical suite when the door opened, it made me laugh... guess he listens to music while he works just like the rest of us!* So I walked into the operating room with the anesthesiologist and were were just chatting, I got up on the table and she was asking me what I did for a living and I remember looking at the clock and thinking I don't think I am fully listening to her anymore... And then I woke up back in the pre op/ recover room. I woke up a little uneasy because I forgot where I was for a moment, but there was a nurse right there with me, she was telling me its ok, everything went great, just calm down. Then I guess I must have just went back to sleep. When I woke up again they asked if I was ready to go back to my room, I sure was! They wheeled me on the bed back to my room and the nurse asked if I could get onto me bed I told him no. I was too wimpy and scared to use those kinds of tummy muscles! He then used a sheet and just scooted me over. I was SOOO happy to see my companion :) It was about 10 pm. I knew walking was the key and I told my companion to wake me up every hour to walk for 15 mins. She set an alarm to do so but she said I would wake up before the alarm every time. I would need to use the bathroom and she would help me get out of bed and use the restroom and then walk. Getting out of bed was no fun...She pulled me up but whew, it felt like I did 19,034 sit ups! The nurse told me to just walk in my room until I was not dizzy at all. So the first 2 hours we stayed in the room. After that we went to walk the halls. I felt so good when I was walking, laying down hurt my butt and back. So we did all night, I slept on and off...about 3:30 in the morning I woke up suddenly with a wave of nausea, and threw up a little blood, that was it. I had not felt nauseous before or after.
The next morning I felt pretty good, the nurse came in to tell me to take a shower, and take of my bandages and after the shower she would put fresh ones on. The shower was nice, and new bandages felt good too, and to have my normal clothes on! I walked a lot and they gave me a blue liquid to drink right before the shower, it was a leak test to see if anything came out in my drain. Dr.Lopez came by that morning to check on me and looked at my drain- no leak :) My IV had been stopping and messing up through the night and about 2pm the next day they decided it needed to be moved, I was not a happy camper. The right the right forearm and that was a fail, I still have a huge bruise 2 weeks later to show for it. Then they tried me left hand... I was petrified but it barely hurt and was over. All day I just walked and watch some TV.
The next morning was Wednesday and release day! We were told to take another shower and then we would be taken down for our barium swallow. The barium was nasty, but the worse part was that he wanted bigger "sips" which I need up taken about 4 normal swallows... It was nasty. But no leaks! when I got back to the room from the test there was a gatorade and apple juice waiting for me. Dr. Lopez came by to see how everything was going and said we would be leaving shortly. They came and took my IV out ( I could ran jumping through the halls) and around 1pm we were headed back to the hotel. Checked in again and met friends down by the pool. to chat and walk. I was feeling really good for just having surgery.
Thursday we walked more and sipped more! We were taken shopping this day fir just 1 hour, which was sadly not long enough. Also a quick tour of TJ. It was nice just too quick. We walked to Wal Mart which was about a mile away from the hotel that evening, it was nice. One thing that was not so nice was that we STILL had our drains in. And we were told they would come out between 8-10pm on Thursday and that they would come to our room to do so. And sure enough 8:05 there was a knock on the door at they were there to pull the drain. I was scared it would hurt and I will say 100% I did not feel a thing!! No weird movement, no pain, nothing. I thought he was lying when he said all done. So I was free at last!
Friday we were picked up and taken back to SD for our flight home!
I will say over all I was 110% impressed. I got great care, and Dr.Lopez is wonderful. The nurses were very nice and attentive. The hospital very clean and plain and simple. Hotel staff were wonderful. I was happy overall, I sit here 2 weeks post-op (started pureed today!) and I have lost 26 lbs since my pre op diet. I am super happy and no regrets, my sleeve has been amazing so far, it likes water and so far anything I have given it. My only "complaints" would be the lack of communication and organization at some points, like not knowing what time surgery would be or even what time to be in the lobby for surgery. And the waiting, you wait a lot... for drivers, surgery, shopping... But in the grand scheme of things those are small. Anyhow, sorry for the long post I hope it helps someone along the way, feel free to ask any questions of PM me!
With surgery in Mexico aftercare is somewhat up to you. I can contact the nutritionist or my coordinator with questions, but there is only so much they can do. I live in North Texas and there is a surgeon in my town who does VSG and said he would never turn down a patient no matter where they got their surgery. So if any major complications arose I could see him or the ER. I have a good support group that I use for daily struggles like water and protein intake. I ended up payed 4,700 +350 because I had a hernia repaired= so a little over 5,000.
Hello! I am from Wichita Falls, I have lost 31 lbs total:) I will go to mypcp for normal aftercare, I have not had any problems that would require a dr. But there is one vsg surgeon here in my town that said he we see a patient if they needed him. I did not have any sutures to remove, my cuts were glued shut and are pretty much healed! I started at 281, I was 250.6 on Sunday. Don't be nervous, dr lopez is an expert at his craft.
I was there on August 20th getting my sleeve done :) Your experience sounds almost exactly like mine. I also went with Dr. Lopez, had Victor as a pick up driver and Tatiana was super helpful too. The nurses were great and always on top of things. I had a wonderful experience, went shopping twice and even made it to the beach. I would highly recommend Specialized Bariatrics and Dr. Lopez to anyone. My only complaint was also the drain but I guess it had to be there for a reason :) I asked if we could have it taken out early and Tatiana arranged for 3 of us to be taken to the hospital in the afternoon to have them removed. It was such a freeing feeling. I felt so awesome just days after surgery. It is amazing. I flew from San Diego to Washington then on to Halifax and then a 3 hour drive home. I was tired but felt awesome. I am down 22lbs and able to start purees tomorrow. My sleeve has liked everything so far and I have had no issues. If you are considering it, just do it! You won't regret it!
