O U C H... Sympathy please!

Penni60 · June 18, 2004

Donali: THanks for setting my misinformation straight. The projected weight loss I was quoted came from the Doc mouth directly. The Protein Shake statement was my own observation and a personal comment that I experienced at the beginning of my recovery. I find that I get enough Protein now by just eating regular foods.

Not sure if you are confusing where I went to get my lap band placed. I did not go to Oasis Hospital but went to Sanoviv Medical Institute in Rosarito.

I am going to update my website by the end of June and will make some other comments but will stipulate that they are my own observations and what works for me might not work for everyone else.

maybe we could collaborate on the Dr. Lopez job. LOL!!!! You have way more experience than me in the long term aspect and I can contribute the Nursing end. Something to think about.

I am so glad that Lisa is doing better. Can't wait to hear from her personally on this board.

donali · June 18, 2004

Penni -

I did understand that you had your surgery done at the Sanivov, but not knowing exactly where the brochure came from, or who did it, it could have easily been modified for the Sanivov, or you could have been given the one from Oasis by Dr. Lopez, since his office is where I originally picked the thing up. Again, it was not handed to me - it was lying there in his office waiting room, and I took it, because there is so little written info available. I was going to copy it and return it (since I didn't ask if I could have it), but after reading all the way through it I realized it wasn't band related, so I never gave it back. I have not had an opportunity to discuss the brochure with Dr. Lopez, but I will try to mention it tomorrow, particularly if I find another in his office when I'm there!

As far as the liason position, I have a wonderful job that I love, so I don't think that's an option for me.

donali · June 18, 2004

Alexandra - I started a new thread with the doctored brochure info in it.

Boy, it's so easy to get off thread topic!!!

Sorry, all. Not just here, but in the intro section, and well, basically everywhere... Some things take on a life of their own.

I think they call that "hijacking a thread" in the savvy world.

I don't do it on purpose!! :D

And Alex, I know you weren't telling me I hijacked the thread, but I DO know I've done it on occasion, and have been meaning to apologize to everyone for a while now.

Vera · June 18, 2004

Donali shouild write a book! Your knowledge is priceless.

DeLarla · June 19, 2004

Wow, what a headful! Let me start by spoiling all the upbeat hope for Dr. Lopez. I will no longer apologize on his behalf because his staff screws up. Sorry, people, but Dr. Lopez doesn't give a damn. It took me a month to finally get him on the phone. He asked how soon I could come, and we agreed I'd be there Saturday (yesterday.) He promised, profusely, several times while apologizing, that he'd personally call me at work 2 days later on Wednesday to get my exact arrival time but he'd expect me sometime early Saturday. He never called. Then I got the lame message from Carmen on my home machine that her phone is now working so we can finally talk. Dr. Carmen works out of the office as well as in her car, and she had plenty of opportunities to call from the office phone, her home phone, Nora's phone, a pay phone. For Heaven's sake, she's a doctor with a patient in trauma so she should have gotten on a plane to save my ass. Dr. Lopez and Dr. Carmen both know my fuc*ing tube was protruding through an infected incision but use a broken cell phone to avoid me?

They are full of Beans. I heard Dr. Carmen on her cell phone, as clear as a bell, repeat my name and number and say she'd call me as soon as she got to the office. I didn't hear from her for a week when I got the "lame" message. With all the money they're making off of us she could have bought a new phone the day hers broke. The broken cell phone is a used excuse anyway. Nora used that the day I got there. The also used the excuse of the phones being new and not properly working yet. Funny how Nora has no problems yapping for 20 minutes on personal calls on the cell that doesn't work. I'm lucky to speak enough Spanish that I don't have to use English while I'm Mexico. They probably keep a busted up cell phone in the office on purpose.

Here's the proof that Dr. Lopez doesn't give a damn... he's just playing innocent and naive and letting Carmen and Nora take the blame for all this shit. Because Ann Marie called me several times (thanks to those of you who brought her into this.) She had a meeting to see Lopez that night. I talked to her just hours before the meeting, but the meeting never took place (he probably didn't show up.) But she did call him, and they had a lengthy conversation about me. He promised Ann Marie he'd call me personally that night. When Ann Marie called to see how my call with Lopez went, she sounded a little shocked that the SOB didn't call me as he promised her. She couldn't believe it.

Last week, Dr. Lopez kept an appointment open to remove my surgery this morning. He swore he'd call to get my exact arrival time so Nora could pick me up. Who thinks Nora is at the border waiting for me? Dr. Lopez does not know I consulted another surgeon, so as far as he and his staff are concerned, his patient is still walking around with tubing protruding out an infected wound. By the way, by the time I got to surgery, the loop of tubing was protruding out about an inch.

They make me sick. That being said, I'll start a fresh reply regarding the next chapter.

DeLarla · June 19, 2004

Gross Darcy, I got to come home to your cute face! So cute, you remind me of Francesca, my dark haired beauty with big blue eyes! If anyone wants to know the gross and hardcore blow-by-blow of my procedure, let me know and I'll write a warning in the subject line for fainters (like me & Donali) to skip that posting. Otherwise I'll just send Gross Darcy a private message.

My friend, Babs, drove me to San Diego where we parked and walked through, then grabbed a cab. Good info here: Yellow Cab charges a little more but the drivers speak English. Taxi Libre is dirt-cheap but no English. We used Taxi Libre. Cost us $1.40 from Palacio Azteca to Ave. Revolution is (all the shops & partying.) Palacio Azteca is walking distance to Santorio San Francisco Hospital, where Kuri does surgery (less than a walk through grocery store parking lot.) Kuri patients pay $58.00/night for a nice, clean, safe room. It took 6 hours to get into our room, so we ordered room service ($14.00 for 2 meals) then went to sleep.< /p>

We walked to the hospital, where the Sister knew my name and procedure. Dr. Kuri walked out within minutes and took me to a room just to peek at my incision. Once he saw it, he said to come back in an hour, so we went across the street to a fun TJ style restaurant where Babs had traditional Mexican Breakfast. An hour later, I was on the operating table ready to have a heart attack. Before the procedure I told him that I was warned about his "sterile technique" and asked him to be extra careful and use extra Betadine (sp?) because Ann Marie had me worried and made me promise to talk to him about this. He seemed insulted but scrubbed me good.

I was really confused, because when we spoke on the phone, he said I'd have to stay in the hospital if he removed my port. But he said if it wasn't infected, he'd just give me a local and move it. I didn't have to stay even though he removed my port. But he gave me a shot to calm my nerves. And what a lovely little shot it was. I'm a fainter, but they cut me open and did the whole procedure with no problem. Weird, I wasn't drunk or stoned, I just felt really good. Numb for the first time in weeks. No pain, no worry. While I was still open, I felt the weirdness of my first fill. Whoa... trippy. Then he sat me up and had me drink. I was able to finish the styrofoam cup of Water. He lay me down again and gave me more fill, total 1.8. Then I sipped more. I don't think he used flouro. I didn't see him scoping with anything, then again, I was on Cloud 9 and extremely relieved to be in the hands of a surgeon.

He spent 10-15 minutes on me, then told me the female surgeon would close me cause he had 10 fills. I can't remember her name from LaLa land, but I want to find out because she's wonderful. I smelled burning flesh and asked what it was. She said I had a deep indentation, and she was trying to plump the skin underneath to make less of an indentation. How nice that she cares about my scars! Meanwhile, I've had these ugly little red broken capillaries all over my belly, so I said, "try zapping those if ya wanna." She was so nice that she sprayed me with local anesthtic and zapped about 10 of them. Then she cleaned the heck out of me. It felt like the world's biggest vaginal exam but through my stomach. I kept imagining this 10 inch gap in my stomach necessary to accomdate all her interior scrubbing. This went on for 5 minutes, so I asked what the heck she was doing and she said she was scrubbing every bit of infection possible. She cleaned the heck ouf of me, then sewed me up. She told me to change the bandage for 3 days, then leave it alone and the stitches would dissolve. The next morning, Babs couldn't wait to take off my bandage, and she was shocked at how good the incision looks. It's flat now, and Ms. Surgeon used some crazy underground sewing technique so you can't even see the stitches. I was extremely impressed with her, and she was so nice and cute and friendly. I felt like I was in good hands.

Dr. Kuri scolded me for the huge burns and rashes all over my belly and advised me I'm allergic to latex. He told me to use cloth tape. I actually ended up with some open wounds from burns from the latex. He sent me away with pain meds and new antibiotics. He said take one last dose of my American Keflex, then stop the Keflex and start the Mexican one. He said I could come back in 3-4 months when completely healed and he'd reinstall a new port. Meanwhile, someone gave my e-mail to an RN, who wrote me and advised me to chop the antibiotic up in small pieces & let each piece go down before taking more, to drink it with milk, plus to take Pepcid or Nexium because the harsh antibiotis can cause ulcers. I agree, and I'm having my 4 small bits of pill now w/ choco-milk. Spent 15 minutes taking them, but they're still not down.... love that fill!

DeLarla will have to fill you in on the adventures once she left the hopital feeling like Super-Duper woman... DeLarla worries me.

xoxo,

Lisa

La_madam · June 30, 2004

bumping

DeLarla · June 30, 2004

Penni,

Today is the first "dry-bandage" day... BUT (there just has to be a but, doesn't there?) 2 inches below my incision is a grapefruit-sized pink, warm patch. La Madam referred me back here to your pic so I could read the outcome of your visit with Dr. Lopez. However, he said your red mark (mine looks similar) is irritation from the port. I don't have a port. Do you think I need to go back on antibiotics? Thursday will be 2 weeks that my port was removed. Urgent Care gave me Keflex, which I took for 5 days, then Dr. Kuri told me to stop the Keflex and take the antibiotics he gave me, which I finished. I still have a few Keflex, but I don't like messing with antibiotics.

So, do you think I should chill out and see if the warm redness subsides, or should I rush to Urgent Care for more antibiotics? Meanwhile, under the incision is hard as a rock... then it's soft and supple, but the hard rock stuff starts again 2 inches below the port. If this is scar tissue, will it subside over time?

How is your redness? You haven't mentioned it. Thanks!

Penni60 · June 30, 2004

Lisa: My redness simply disappeared after three days. IT was weird. The morning I went to Tijuana it literally was GONE. No redness, NO tenderness, no swelling NOTHING GONE.

Hard to say with you though. It could be nothing or it could be an infection brewing again. Here is what I would do. I would call Kuri and explain the situation. Ask him what you should do. He may tell you it is nothing or tell you to continue the antibiotics of Keflex. I don't think you are DYING!!! I don't think this is an emergent situation either.

I still am not sure what caused my redness. As I mentioned in a separate post I am going to see Dr. Billy next Friday and I am going to take pictures of my redness and get his opinion. I also have a protrusion (not through the skin) right under my skin. Dr. Lopez and Carmen both said it was my port. Like you I am skeptical of there explanation. Which is why I scheduled the appt with Dr. Billy. I am afraid the protrusion will eventually pop through the skin and I will end up with your situation. I still think the port end that has the tubing attached has herniated.

Do you know what Fluid they used to fill your band before they took out the port? Maybe some of it leaked out and has irritated the skin. That is possible.

Keep us posted.

Penni60 · June 30, 2004

The rock hard area is most likely scar tissue. It might soften and it might not. Time will tell. The scar where I had my hysterectomy is hard as a rock and that was in 1987. But the surgery scar from my tubal is soft and supple. So it just depends.

sascijo · June 30, 2004

Well I have been reading what is going on and it sounds like you are having h_ _ _. But,,,,,,, it also sounds like you have lots of friends and a really wonderful man to help you through it. I think your cure rate will be 100%. At least I hope so. It is amazing how animals can ease the pain of ANYTHING. All I have to do is cuddle them in my lap, or let them lay with me and for some reason everything is so much better. They look up at you with those pitiful big eyes and they trust us so much and they just don't understand that they are the "giving" ones to us. I recently lost a pet that if I were not at work fighting tears, they would be streaming down my face. I loved her "almost" as much as my children. But, we have to face loss as bad as I hate it. I try to remember how much love and joy she gave me. ENOUGH, OR i WILL CRY!!! I truly hope you get to feeling better and find the right person to care for you. If it helps any, I honestly think Vets are smarter than MD's because if you think about it, Vets have to treat without the help of the animal saying, "Doc, my tummy hurts, or leg hurts or whatever" Regular docs ask what is wrong and go from there, and that is only if they are really listening to what we say in the first place. Anyway, the go through the same training, it is just on animals. But we have a lot of the same problems the animals do. Back to the problem you have... Hopefully now, you will be able to get this healed and started concerning yourself with losing the excess fat and not with trying to heal problems. I wish I could give you a big hug and pet your puppies with you....

DeLarla · June 30, 2004

Thanks, Penni. I left a message for Kuri last night, but told them it wasn't an emergency. The area is painful today but it's not warm anymore. I'm sure the pain is all that hardened scar tissue. It feels bruised, but tomorrow will only be 2 weeks, so I'm going to give it a lot more time. I'm glad you're going to check out that protrusion. I hate to rag on Lopez, but Carmen doesn't know what the heck she's talking about. I don't know if you were following my original problem, but I called Dr. Carmen, and on the one occasion she answered, I told her my incision had "herniated" and was poofing out like a juicy caterpillar, and the liquid inside was plumb red with a hard white ball rolling around in the liquid. When I slept, the ball would hide, but during the day it was trying to pop it's way out of the incision. Carmen told me to stop worrying about it and leave it alone. It was 2 weeks later that I showed my VET, who said it was a badly infected pustual. And that was a week after I sent Carmen pictures of the monster-looking thing, so I don't trust a word that she says. Truthfully, I don't think she even listens to us. So please let me know what Billy says ASAP. Also, if you think of it, find out what he'd charge for replacing my port. And also what he'll charge for normal fills down the line for Mexican patients. My little brother lives in Canoga Park, close to the 134. I'd rather drive to the Valley, spend the night w/ Lance, hang out with friends, then drive to Ventura for the day.

Penni60 · June 30, 2004

So please let me know what Billy says ASAP. Also, if you think of it, find out what he'd charge for replacing my port. And also what he'll charge for normal fills down the line for Mexican patients. My little brother lives in Canoga Park, close to the 134. I'd rather drive to the Valley, spend the night w/ Lance, hang out with friends, then drive to Ventura for the day.

Lisa: I will certainly ask those questions because I might be faced with the same issue. I just know this darn thing has herniated. I thought so the first time. I even suggested it to Carmen and Dr. Lopez the day I was in TJ and they both said NO. I am not sure I agree now. I still like him as a surgeon but not as my after care person. I hope to get established with Dr. Billy and not have to go back to TJ. I would go to Lopez again for the surgery but get someone else set up for the after care.

I live right off the 405, literally it is my back yard. LOL!! So, come on down and we can party before going to see Dr. Billy. That would be fun. LOLOL!!!!!!!