Greetings from Tijuana, Mexico.
Was banded yesterday and everything went fine. Also saw Ted quite a few times and rode over to the hotel with him. I believe he's doing fine as well.
For those worred about going to Mexico to have this done, don't be. While it might not be for everybody, it has easily met my expectations so far.
I'm 35, married and have a 6 year old daughter. We decided that my wife would stay home with our daughter and that my mother would come with me. And that was really helpful at times.
Biggest problem is that most of the nurses do not speak English. (Why should they, we're in Mexico). But they try really hard. We've had no problems communicating with anybody.
Was picked up at San Diego airport by Miguel on Tuesday and he took us across the border to Mexico and straight to Dr. Pedro Kuri's office. I filled out paperwork and had an EKG and a few other tests before going to the hospital (It's next door). Both facilities are very nice and very clean.
I had blood drawn at the hospital and was checked into my room, which had a chair, a couch, a bed and a very nice bathroom and shower.
We were told we could eat whatever we wanted at that point and there are several choices across the street from the hospital (mexican, italian, pizza, TGI Fridays). We also took a $6 cab ride to the Revolution Arena to do some shopping. That was interesting as well.
Tuesday evening, we met with Dr. Kuri and he explained the whole process again to us. They sent us to our rooms and gave us a sleeping pill.
On Wednesday, they woke me around 6 a.m. and took me to surgery. It seemed like I was there quite a while, but I fell asleep. They finally wheeled me into the operating room, gave me a couple of shots of gas via the mask and that's all I remember. I woke up in recovery.
They took me back to the room and I slept for a while, then we decided to get up and walk a bit (you have to walk to get the gas moving out of your body cavity). Did that several times and only ate ice chips to that point. Rooms have cable television with about 1/2 the channels in english. Also has a DVD player in the room.
Met briefly with Dr. Kuri again Wednesday and went to bed.
This morning, woke early and went down to check the status of the band. Drank some nasty stuff and got to watch it pass through the band. That was pretty neat. They also gave us a copy of the xrays.
Dr. Kuri stopped by around 8 a.m. and discharged the three of us who had the procedure done. We were then taken to the Hotel Palacio Azteca, which is where I am right now. Food now consists of Jello and Apple juice, though I really don't have a lot of desire to eat very much right now.
Will head home tomorrow. Overall, I'd say it's been a good experience with very few complications of any kind.
Jeff
