Back home and sooo happy!

[mandems mom 3]

Hi everyone! I just got back from Tijuana after having surgery on April 17th with Dr. Jose Rodriguez. at INT hospital and I am sooo sore. The morning of surgery, I had a major meltdown leaving my kids (9 months and 7 years) and also changed my mind because of it. My husband talked me down from my insanity moment and let me know that everything was going to be okay with the kids and I would see them in no time. I then blubbered a little more and scrounged around the house for pictures to bring along so that they were always close to me. My mother-in-law took us to the airport and saying goodbye was the hardest thing ever....it just felt so permanent. Our flights were predictable so when we arrived in Tijuana, we just had to wait for our driver, Alberto, to pick us up. We would later find out that punctuality is not high on his priority list, although I was already very familiar with that as Mexicans tend to be very laid back when it comes to schedules. I can remember my first business trip to Monterrey a few years back and the vendor/fulfillment center owner that I was meeting did not start his day until 11am and started drinking during out lunch. I love the personalities in Mexico though. Both that gentleman and our driver were hilarious and very personable. Anyways, back to the trip. When Alberto finally arrived, he picked us up in a really nice 10-passenger van and another lady was getting out as we were getting in. She looked very mobile so I asked how she was and she said she was fine, but really sore. Couldn't tell by looking at her! The trip across the border was uneventful and the driver and I thew barbs back and forth because I tend to have that type of personality, so it made for a fun trip. My husband was starving so I asked Alberto if he would stop somewhere for food and he said no problem and then decided that he would just take my husband to a great taco place once I was at the hospital and having my pre-op tests. WELL....that little trip to the taco place felt like an eternity. They had to be gone for almost an hour and a half and I had a major freak out moment when all my tests were done and they were ready to wheel me to the operating room. One of the ladies from Belite (Jamie) was a GODSEND. First they had problems putting my IV in my left hand (typical for me) and she stayed there and held my hand as I squeeze REALLY hard. I felt bad because it seemed like I was squeezing her hand off. Finally they put it in my right hand successfully and we were good to go. Well, when I freaked out about them wanting to take me to surgery before I could hug and kiss my husband, Jamie promised not to let them and said she would stand in front of my door so that they couldn't take me if she had to. SO SWEET! I don't know what my problem was, but I think you always have that little doubt when you think you might not come out of surgery alive, so I really wanted that last moment with my husband. So, FINALLY my husband gets back with a full belly and tells me the whole story of Alberto taking him to the taco place and made a few pit stops along the way. I won't get into the details because I don't want to get anyone in trouble, but it was really funny.

So, hugs/kisses happen and then I get rolled into the operating room. My surgery was supposed to take 45 minutes to an hour, but took 2 hours because of all the scar tissue from the lapband (I had my lapband removed and then revised to the sleeve). My husband was so relieved when 2 hours had passed and a doctor finally came to the room to let him know that I was doing great and was in recovery for the next half hour. My husband also was kind (not!) enough to force me to walk 3 hours later. I really just wanted to sleep, but he wanted to make sure I followed all the doctor's rules. Ironically, it wasn't that bad. My biggest pain (don't laugh) was my butt. I've been suffering from major tailbone pain ever since I gave birth to my daughter last summer, and spending long periods of time laying on it is excruciating. I wasn't all that sore from the surgery itself and was blessed to not have all the gas pain that everyone else had. I actually ended up giving away almost all of my gas strips to a few of the ladies that had surgery the same weekend as me. I met so many lovely people and we had great times just sharing our pain stories and bonding over our similar experiences. One lady was there with her husband from London! Oh my gosh, if I could have bottled their accents and taken them home I would have...I just love the way they speak!!

Anyways, I'm back home now. I was originally scheduled to leave tomorrow, but begged to come home and not to the hotel. I was so homesick for my kids and my own bed, it just didn't make sense to spend a night in the hotel in Tijuana when I could be happy and more comfy at home. We got home around midnight last night and I was happy for my bed, but had a REALLY hard time getting comfortable and of course, my baby girl was completely off her schedule so my poor husband was up most of the night with her. This morning, I feel quite a bit more sore than I did in Tijuana so I'm not sure if that's because of the plane ride and the way I was sitting, or if that's normal. It's tolerable, but not the best feeling in the world. The pain medication they gave me doesn't seem to be working that well, so I think I may end up switching to Tylenol. I'm not typically a pill popper, but I'm also a BIG baby when it comes to pain!

So, that's my story. Wait...I should probably give some details about the doctors, nurses, and hospital. Dr. Rodriguez was very pleasant but only spent about 10 minutes tops with me (5 before and 5 after surgery) but that's probably because I didn't have many questions. He let me know that he was a very good friend of the deceased doctor that put in my lap band and that he was very familiar with his work so that put me more at ease. There were 2 other doctors whose names I didn't know, but one of them checked on me to make sure I was doing good and the other removed my drain (WEIRD FEELING!). The 4th doctor is whom my husband called my personal eye candy. He spent the most time with me and his name was Dr. Sanchez...VERYy nice to look at! All the doctors spoke English...some more broken than others, but language was not an issue. All but one nurse was great..she was a little more impatient and rougher than the others. None of them really spoke English, but they understood enough of the words to be able to give me exactly what I needed. The hospital was okay. I love how in everyone's posts from Mexico, they keep talking about how clean the hospitals are, but I get it. Everyone has this impression that everything in Mexico is dirty and unsanitary, but really they want to protect their patients just like our US hospitals and doctors do so risking patient lives by having a dirty hospital is not good for business. Okay, off my soap box. The hospital rooms were tiny and the bench that my poor husband had to sleep on was about as wide as him and about 2 inches shorter than him so not the most comfortable sleep in the world. The bathroom was adequate and the TV was a small flat screen where they had a good variety of channels in English. I did have to ask them to change the first mattress cover on my bed as it was stained with something that appeared reddish/orange in color. They did that promptly. The mattress was probably about 5 inches deep and was coming apart at the seams of the vinyl, but that didn't affect its cushion. With the exception of my tailbone pain, it was perfectly acceptable.

Okay, so I think that's it guys. Hope you don't get too bored reading this. If you have any questions, let me know!!

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

Wow thanks for sharing!! I'm glad you're doing good. I bet it was nice to recover at home rather than somewhere else.

[chilo1 62]

Thanks for sharing your story-I especially love how you would've bottled the londoners accent to take home if you could!

I can relate to you not wanting to leave the children and the fear of something happening, I have a 12 and 10 year old, and my baby was only 8 months old when I had my surgery last year!!