Brain Picking for Ensenada ;)

I would like to pick the brains of those that know! Going to Ensenada Mexico for surgery & have questions for those kind enough to help; Including surgery, exactly how many days will I be in the hospital? I'm going alone, will I be okay after the hospital stay? (caring for myself) Should I rent a hotel for the nite before the surgery & then for the days after surgery? or rent strait thru? What's the absolute closest hotel to the Dr? How will I get to & from the dr for surgery & followups? does bambay's fee include this or do I get a cab? Any pre op suggestions to get healthy? should I do situps to strengthen my abdominal wall? Thank you All

Hi, I just had surgery on June 23rd and I have been home for one week. You will be in the hospital for two nights unlees there are complications. I don't mean to scare you but if the doctor notices something he may suggest another night. You will be fine alone in the hospital but lonely. Remember the staff does not speak English. They know some bits and pieces but they will not be able to visit with you. Rosella and the doctors stop in but all the hours in the hospital will be quite boring. You will have a TV/VCR with a couple channels in English. I would take movies in English unless you speak Spanish. The night before surgey you will have an appointment at 6 p.m. to have you pre-op tests (blood draw and urine specimen). Then you will go up to the other end of the blcok and speak with Dr. Aguirre. This will take about 20-25 minutes. I found the hotels in Ensenada to be pretty old, dirty and smelly. The Hotel Coral and Las Rosas are the two expensive spa type hotels and they are nice. I have said this before and I will contiue to say this, You are going for surgery not for sightseeing. If you sightsee before your surgery that's great. After surgery you need to concentrate on yourself and your health. You need to be thinking of your new eating plan and so on. Sorry, I am a teacher and I tend to lecture but I did see two people who had a very hard time while I was there. The absolute best place to stay is the apartment. It is homey, has a refrigerator, computer, TV and is within walking distance to a store, pharmacy and Cardiomed. If you want to save money I would stay in a hotel the night before surgery and then go to the apartment when you are released. The apartment is $70.00 a night without transportation and $79.00 with transportation. Transportation means Rosella will pick you up and take you where you need to go. For example, if you stay there the first night she will pick you up and take you to your pre-op appointment, She will also pick you up in the morning and take you to Cardiomed for surgery. She will bring you home from the hospital (on they way home have her stop at the pharmacy and the store). This is the very best way to go! The easiest and the most convenient! There are no hotels close to the doctor or the hospital. They are all located in a small downtown area or outside of town. Bambi's fee of $300.00 is only for the tranportation to and from San Diego. He does have a cell phone. I will post the number later and if he is not picking someone up he will take you wherever you want to go. There are taxis everywhere but some are very dirty. Your hotel can call you a cab and the receptionist at Cardiomed will call one if you ask. If you need a cab ask them to call Carlos. My suggestion for getting healthy are to be in the right, positive frame of mind. You need to think about you and only you at that time. Selfish! Heck yes you just had major surgery!!! I am going to recap (again the teacher thing). To make this experience as wonderful as the one I had I would have Bambi meet you in San Diego. I would arrange to have the apartment with transportation. My mom and I stayed in the aparrtment for 6 nights and then we went to the Hotel Coral for three nights. By that time I felt pretty good and we wanted the pool and the spa. Depending on the number of nights you are staying I would make the same type of arrangements. Also, I had a nurse come two mornings after I got out of the hospital. The nurse helped me bathe, dry off, replace my bandages and get dressed. It was very nice. I could have done it myself but as I said I was being selfish and taking care of myself. I felt more at ease with the nurse coming. The cost for the apartment/transportation/nurse is $125.00. I only did this for two days. I hope this helps and if you want more info let me know.

Thank you so much! You've given me some very useful info! I was thinking of renting a car but now I probably won't & go your route! Thanx again.

Hi, I have to say that Mexican highways are not safe for anyone and worse for a woman travelling alone. Believe it or not there are still bandits that roam the hills by the highways. I know of a whole family that disappeared while driving in Mexico. They never found any of them or their motor home. Again, I love my country but it is different. Be very careful---go with Bambi!

I am a little curios, I had lap band and don't know much about the RNY. When you get back home, do you need to see you doctor for follow up? How long is your recovery time? Sandy

Hello Michelle: I had many questions just like you, and Everytime i ask Rosella, she always answered all my questions(some even twice) and she will help you figure out every posible senario. My surgery is on Sep. 21 and she got me ready in a week with very knowlegable answers(and I am horribly picky) and she is very helpfull and loves answering emails of questions like this even if you are not sure you are having surgery with them. She answered for me over 25 emails in 2 weeks all within a day from each other. Her email is [email protected]. I hope this helps as well and good luck on your journey... Ann S.

Well, I was in the hospital for 2.5 days. Surgery on Wednesday morning and left on Friday afternoon. I know some stay 3 or 4 days though - I pretty much was chomping at the bit to get to the motel though. If you go alone you might find that your energy level is so low that you need someone to help get some things for you and depending on how you feel you might need someone to "spot" you when you shower and do your bandages. I did okay for the most part, but the other thing you have to consider is you shouldn't lift anything. I had my friend carry everything heavy and I just carried my purse. For that purpose I would recommend you rent the apartment from Dr. Aguirre and use the nurse. I would have been fine without my friend there if I were in the apartment because I didn't need to be entertained and wasn't much into shopping or anything. I was pretty conten****ching movies and sleeping. The weakness factor might have gotten me though. She brought me water and such when I was feeling like I would wobble all over. I can say about renting the hotel room. On one hand, you could save a lot of $$$ if you didn't have to pay for the rooms while you were not there, but then you would have to pack up and take everything to the hospital with you. If you go lightly, it might not be a big issue. Probably the closest accomodations will be Dr. Aguirre's apartment. I myself would be doing that had I to do it over. Especially if alone! I think when you get the apartment it comes with a driver. Otherwise from the hotels you will want to have them call a taxi. They usually have one or two waiting outside for rides at the Hotel Coral where I stayed. It's usually around $6.00 per round trip. About sit-ups: Can't hurt and might help. I didn't do them as my back was in horrible shape by the time I was getting ready to go. I would have had I not been in such sad shape! Otherwise, I would recommend taking a multi-vitamin and perhaps suck on a zinc lozenge every day. I get the ones with Vit c, echinacea and zinc (I think it's Sooth Herbs brand). That will get you some extra vitamins and ward off any colds that might be hanging around the air. You want to build up your immunity as much as possible. I have also heard from other folks who have had the surgery that losing a little weight beforehand and watching what you eat shrinks your liver a bit making it easier for the surgeon to get around. Dr. Aguirre doesn't require any special pre-diets though. Also, if you lose a little weight now you will be way ahead of the game by the time you have surgery. Good luck - hope that helps! Dina