Monday 8/16 I flew down to El paso, TX. Crossed the border via Amigo Shuttle, with a driver by the name of Sergio. Sergio took me and three other people to the Star Medica Hospital. There was a guy that was getting a lap band fill for the first time, a guy that was getting a VSG, his wife who was tagging along for moral support and of course myself who also got the VSG done. We made it to the Star Medica hospital around 11 am. We checked in and they did our labs (bloodwork, chest x-ray, ekg etc) and started an IV.

After the labs came back normal I was told i would be going into surgery at around 3 oclock. Sure enough I was wheeled to the OR around 3 oclock, met the anesthesiologist and was given something for anxiety. It could just be my active imagination but right after she gave me that anti-anxiety agent i became a heck of alot more anxious and agitated out of no where until i eventually fell asleep!!

When i woke up from my "nap" I was in a lot of pain!! All i remember was tossing my head from side to side and repetitively saying pain over and over again. I also remember feeling like i could not breath, this part was the scariest for me. I guess since i was in such distress and restless i just wasnt able to think straight and i was snatching my oxygen mask off of my face. By this time i think the only nurse that was in the post op room with me did not speak english but some kind of way i managed to point upwards as a sign for her to kick the o2 up and she did. Immediately i was able to breathe better and felt like a rock had been lifted off of my chest. I was given something for pain but it seemed as though nothing worked because i was still repeating "pain" over and over again....

As a side note i can tell that the nurse did get frustrated with me because nothing seemed to help with the pain until i guess I eventually just fell asleep.

When i woke up i was back in my room and the pain was still there. A million and one thoughts was running through my head. Why did i do this? Do i have a perforated bowel? Do i have a leak? Is this just the way my body is responding to the procedure? I was having buyer's remorse and prayed that everything was okay.

I stayed on my call light complaining about my pain the first couple of hours after surgery. I remember my nurse saying "Im going to give you an IM injection this time. This is so good stuff" In my head i was like YES!! But to no avail the pain was still there. The only thing the meds were really doing that i could tell was helping me go to sleep. By the middle of the night i woke back up and decided to MAKE MYSELF walk. Hoping it would help relieve some of the gas pain. I walked a little while and boy it does make a difference. I got back in the bed and used my heating pad and gas x strips.MMM i love my heating pad Thanks to everyone who suggested i take one. I'de be dead without it. Lol J/K. But it did make a world of difference with helping manage the gas pains.

The second day i felt ALOT BETTER! I got up to walk more and I even took a shower. It actually felt better to be up and about than to be in the bed. I was cleared to be able to chew on ice chips and this also seemed to help.

Third day walked, followed clear liquid diet, still in pain but not as bad as the prior days. I went down for a swallow study to test for leaks and everything came back fine. I was also given a copy to take home with a neat xray of my esophogus and tummy. In exchange for 50 bucks someone brought up an RX of prilosec, rapix for pain, and macrozit (sp?) which is an antibiotic.

The fourth day was discharge day. This day not much pain more like discomfort.

Overall the experience was pretty good. The chick in the post op sx area really pissed me off. But whatever its over and done with.Everyone else was so nice and accommadating. Not all of the nurses or aides spoke spanish but all the doctors did. If they could not figure out what i was talking about, which was not often by the way, they would get someone who did undertstand. The other guy who had the VSG was not to happy about the pain either. He even had a really bad headache afterwards. Im guessing probably from the anesthesia. But i thought he was doing better than i was until after his wife came to check in on me (that was soooo sweet of her b/c i was in another country by myself) but from what she was saying i was up and walking before he was. So i know the pain thing just wasn't a "figment of my imagination." They were really nice ppl and if they just so happen to visit this site i appreciate you guys! Well that is all i can think of right now. If you have any questions please feel free to send them to me.

By the way the surgery was coordinated through Belightweight. My Dr. was Jose Rodriquez. He is a very friendly guy. I only have 3 tiny little incisions. It would have been two but my liver was a little enlarged. Wonder why . My coordinator name was Jamie. She is great. She even called to check on my this morning. And i am doing fine. A little sore when i woke up but i will live.

Mekia