MY experience

[fletcherette 203]

Hey all, Got a nice little nap in and decided to just type this up and post it. Sorry if its a little long winded

Hey all just wanted to post my sleeve experience. I was sleeved March 11^th with Dr. Garcia at MiDoctor through Ready 4 a Change. I have lost 13lbs in the first week

I know a great deal have had wonderful experiences and mine for the most part was ok, but far from wonderful.

The majority of my issues with the experience were with the coordinators and the nurses on staff at MiDoctor, and well the hospital building itself.

Instead of going into a play by play of things I will just organize things into subjects.

Coordinators:

The coordinators at r4ac started out being wonderful but as surgery day approached and I needed more concrete information it was hard to get. I was told I would receive a call from the driver prior to driving into San Diego, but never did and called him myself (no biggy, BUT when I am told I can expect a call I kind of expect it LOL)

I was under the assumption that the day prior to surgery I was to do the liquid fast because I would be going to the hospital that day for pre op testing (as I have seen many other sleevers do)

Once I made it to the Marriott I was told another coordinator would come to my room to explain things to me. I waited in my room for several hours with nothing, I saw I had a blinking message light on my phone, asked a hotel attendant how to receive messages and was told that messages are not a service the hotel provides. After asking several other hotel staff I figured out I had a message and a folder downstairs for me. The folder had a note about who to contact and when to be picked up and said “no, nothing after 10pm”

I then tried contacting the coordinator to see why I wasn’t doing pre-op testing that day. With no success for a few hours I emailed another coordinator my same question-who’s email response was less then polite and basically said had I read the info packet I was emailed 3 months prior I would have known that pre op testing is ALWAYS done the day of surgery. Well this seemed inconsistent with what I had heard from other sleevers but oh well and while I was in the hospital saw a couple of patients come in the day prior to surgery for testing…. I’m not a big fan of inconsistency so this was irksome.

Anywho, when I read the packet again I saw it said:

You may have nothing to eat or drink after the midnight preceding surgery or 8

hours prior to your surgery. If you are a Same Day Surgery arrive with an empty

stomach. If you are coming in a day prior you may have dinner but nothing after

midnight.

That along with the “no, nothing after 10pm” letter I ordered myself some room service around 4pm.

When I finally did hear from the onsite coordinator that night, she informed me it was her day off and that I wasn’t supposed to eat at all. Oops! A little too late, thanks! Thankfully another VST (lexysdad) was in the hotel and kindly gave me a bottle of magnesium citrate to clear my system. At this point I’m beginning to realize communication between coordinators and I wasn’t very clear and was inconsistent.

Aside from this day I had no issues with the coordinators and contacting them the rest of my stay.

Day of surgery was fine, met the doctors no biggy, nurse got the IV in one try.

A few things I hadn’t been expecting:

Something I’ve never seen mentioned is peeing oneself in the recovery room. LOL embarrassing? Yes. But truth. I woke up in a puddle of my own pee and I’ve heard others say the hospital doesn’t have washrags which may be true because when I asked for one I didn’t get one and when I had my first shower they gave me a big gauze pad to wash with.

Another thing I hadn’t known was they make you crawl from the recovery bed back into your own after surgery. A little odd to me considering I just had stomach surgery and lifting a patient with a blanket is fairly simple…but ok. When they asked me to crawl from one bed to the other right I asked them “seriously?” LOL

And I’m not sure if it was due to the gas or the IV fluids but for several days after surgery my breast felt huge and numb. Not painful just really odd heh.

Nurses and hospital:

Being in the hospital IN MY OPINION was horrible. The nurses, though nice, weren’t as on things as I had hoped. The first night the nurse spoke very little English when I gestured to her that I was going to vomit she said “ok, medicine” and never came back. I ended up going to pee and while sitting on the toilet vomited some black stuff on the bathroom floor. Once I got her to follow me back to my room and showed her the throw up she threw toilet paper on it, I later ended up swiping it up with my foot so I could use the toilet. She did eventually give me nausea meds.

I know someone said there’s a paper in the rooms that helps translate but I didn’t have one in my room.

The majority of the hospital stay I was in excruciating pain, which made getting up and walking unbearable (which really the halls were so small I could never really get walking before I had to make a turn, and with 3 of us up walking at a time it was even harder to walk the pain out). The pain meds they gave work but they weren’t giving them often enough. Bottom line, my pain was not managed AT ALL. In the two days there I maybe had a handful of hours of pain relief and spent the rest of the time miserable.

Getting a nurse was difficult, when I was in pain rolling myself out of bed to go waddling out to talk to a nurse was difficult. They have no nurse call buttons and I yelled NURSE a lot but that never worked. (NOTE: I did go with my mom but she stayed at the Marriott at night so I was on my own at nights)

I ran out of IV fluids more times than I could count, my blood would often flow back into the IV and my hand and arm were very swollen and numb.

The hospital was freezing the entire time. I was on the 4^th floor and two rooms away from mine was a room under construction that had no ceiling. Construction workers would work until midnight and one morning I was up around 5 to walk and could smell cigarette smoke on the floor-yuck.

In the end:

This may all seem minor, but while I was in pain the little things did make me feel worse. I don’t have any major issues with the doctors other then I saw Dr. Garcia for less than 10 minutes my entire stay (briefly before surgery and even more briefly the day after) I’m guessing he was really busy but it would’ve been nice to have more time to discuss things with him.

Also the other doctors on staff saw me more often but would often say they would go get something (pain meds, spirometer) and be right back and then never come back. That kinda sucked. And asking to see a doctor was useless, I did ask to see a doctor about my pain meds but never did.

I have asthma and actually never got a spirometer until I was being discharged. AND they made me do some breathing treatments for my asthma, and I noticed after the 2^nd one that my lungs were raspy; I was coughing and could feel mucus in my lungs. I am a week out, still coughing and can feel the mucus

Anyone taking a support person and worrying about their comfort? Don’t my mom was so nervous about her safety/comfort but ended up having a blast and lovvveeeeddd it. LOL, Wish I could share her sentiment. She wants to go back and well I’d like to visit TJ again, this time without the surgery

Would I recommend this doctor and coordinator? Yes BECAUSE I think my experience was the exception to the rule, and the things I found unpleasant may not be a big deal to another.

Would I recommend this hospital? That’s a resounding no, while it is better than a strip mall or some other places I’ve heard about in MX it really, in my honest opinion, is not good enough. While I wouldn’t recommend it I would say to anyone going, you can tough it out for a few days because once you’re out of the hospital you will feel a 100x better.

Would I do this again? Now that’s hard to answer, because to say yes would mean I would be willing to go back through the two days of hospital stay and I am not far enough out to say I’d do that again LOL. BUT now that I am home and can rely on myself for care I feel COMPLETELY better. I’m sure as I progress along and lose the weight and feel more and more better I will come to a point where I can whole heartedly say I would do this again. But at this moment, truthfully, I’m not so sure

And finally, please remember, this was MY experience. MY feelings and MY opinion on things. What was horrible for me might be a breeze to another if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

[confidence 46]

Wow. I am having surgery on the 26th of April with the same doctor and hospital. I am also travelling alone. Thanks for posting but i am really thinking now.

[rollargirl 210]

Hi thanks for posting your experience! Sorry it didn't sound as nice as others ???? ... It would be scary not having medical professionals on hand - I'd be worried they wouldn't know of anything bad was happening - like they didn't really care you were there? Hope you're recovering well at home now - I'm hopefully 6 weeks away

Rebecca

[lilbearzmom 584]

Reading stuff like this makes me glad I paid so much more but had my surgery in the States 45 minutes from my house. I am really considering plastics when all is said and done- was considering Mexico for that but now- um, don't think so.

-Kendra

[AmandaRaeLeo 2,146]

Hey all' date=' Got a nice little nap in and decided to just type this up and post it. Sorry if its a little long winded <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

Hey all just wanted to post my sleeve experience. I was sleeved March 11[sup']th[/sup] with Dr. Garcia at MiDoctor through Ready 4 a Change. I have lost 13lbs in the first week <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

I know a great deal have had wonderful experiences and mine for the most part was ok, but far from wonderful.

The majority of my issues with the experience were with the coordinators and the nurses on staff at MiDoctor, and well the hospital building itself.

Instead of going into a play by play of things I will just organize things into subjects.

Coordinators:

The coordinators at r4ac started out being wonderful but as surgery day approached and I needed more concrete information it was hard to get. I was told I would receive a call from the driver prior to driving into San Diego, but never did and called him myself (no biggy, BUT when I am told I can expect a call I kind of expect it LOL)

I was under the assumption that the day prior to surgery I was to do the liquid fast because I would be going to the hospital that day for pre op testing (as I have seen many other sleevers do)

Once I made it to the Marriott I was told another coordinator would come to my room to explain things to me. I waited in my room for several hours with nothing, I saw I had a blinking message light on my phone, asked a hotel attendant how to receive messages and was told that messages are not a service the hotel provides. After asking several other hotel staff I figured out I had a message and a folder downstairs for me. The folder had a note about who to contact and when to be picked up and said “no, nothing after 10pm”

I then tried contacting the coordinator to see why I wasn’t doing pre-op testing that day. With no success for a few hours I emailed another coordinator my same question-who’s email response was less then polite and basically said had I read the info packet I was emailed 3 months prior I would have known that pre op testing is ALWAYS done the day of surgery. Well this seemed inconsistent with what I had heard from other sleevers but oh well and while I was in the hospital saw a couple of patients come in the day prior to surgery for testing…. I’m not a big fan of inconsistency so this was irksome.

Anywho, when I read the packet again I saw it said:

You may have nothing to eat or drink after the midnight preceding surgery or 8

hours prior to your surgery. If you are a Same Day Surgery arrive with an empty

stomach. If you are coming in a day prior you may have dinner but nothing after

midnight.

That along with the “no, nothing after 10pm” letter I ordered myself some room service around 4pm.

When I finally did hear from the onsite coordinator that night, she informed me it was her day off and that I wasn’t supposed to eat at all. Oops! A little too late, thanks! Thankfully another VST (lexysdad) was in the hotel and kindly gave me a bottle of magnesium citrate to clear my system. At this point I’m beginning to realize communication between coordinators and I wasn’t very clear and was inconsistent.

Aside from this day I had no issues with the coordinators and contacting them the rest of my stay.

Day of surgery was fine, met the doctors no biggy, nurse got the IV in one try.

A few things I hadn’t been expecting:

Something I’ve never seen mentioned is peeing oneself in the recovery room. LOL embarrassing? Yes. But truth. I woke up in a puddle of my own pee and I’ve heard others say the hospital doesn’t have washrags which may be true because when I asked for one I didn’t get one and when I had my first shower they gave me a big gauze pad to wash with.

Another thing I hadn’t known was they make you crawl from the recovery bed back into your own after surgery. A little odd to me considering I just had stomach surgery and lifting a patient with a blanket is fairly simple…but ok. When they asked me to crawl from one bed to the other right I asked them “seriously?” LOL

And I’m not sure if it was due to the gas or the IV fluids but for several days after surgery my breast felt huge and numb. Not painful just really odd heh.

Nurses and hospital:

Being in the hospital IN MY OPINION was horrible. The nurses, though nice, weren’t as on things as I had hoped. The first night the nurse spoke very little English when I gestured to her that I was going to vomit she said “ok, medicine” and never came back. I ended up going to pee and while sitting on the toilet vomited some black stuff on the bathroom floor. Once I got her to follow me back to my room and showed her the throw up she threw toilet paper on it, I later ended up swiping it up with my foot so I could use the toilet. She did eventually give me nausea meds.

I know someone said there’s a paper in the rooms that helps translate but I didn’t have one in my room.

The majority of the hospital stay I was in excruciating pain, which made getting up and walking unbearable (which really the halls were so small I could never really get walking before I had to make a turn, and with 3 of us up walking at a time it was even harder to walk the pain out). The pain meds they gave work but they weren’t giving them often enough. Bottom line, my pain was not managed AT ALL. In the two days there I maybe had a handful of hours of pain relief and spent the rest of the time miserable.

Getting a nurse was difficult, when I was in pain rolling myself out of bed to go waddling out to talk to a nurse was difficult. They have no nurse call buttons and I yelled NURSE a lot but that never worked. (NOTE: I did go with my mom but she stayed at the Marriott at night so I was on my own at nights)

I ran out of IV fluids more times than I could count, my blood would often flow back into the IV and my hand and arm were very swollen and numb.

The hospital was freezing the entire time. I was on the 4^th floor and two rooms away from mine was a room under construction that had no ceiling. Construction workers would work until midnight and one morning I was up around 5 to walk and could smell cigarette smoke on the floor-yuck.

In the end:

This may all seem minor, but while I was in pain the little things did make me feel worse. I don’t have any major issues with the doctors other then I saw Dr. Garcia for less than 10 minutes my entire stay (briefly before surgery and even more briefly the day after) I’m guessing he was really busy but it would’ve been nice to have more time to discuss things with him.

Also the other doctors on staff saw me more often but would often say they would go get something (pain meds, spirometer) and be right back and then never come back. That kinda sucked. And asking to see a doctor was useless, I did ask to see a doctor about my pain meds but never did.

I have asthma and actually never got a spirometer until I was being discharged. AND they made me do some breathing treatments for my asthma, and I noticed after the 2^nd one that my lungs were raspy; I was coughing and could feel mucus in my lungs. I am a week out, still coughing and can feel the mucus <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

Anyone taking a support person and worrying about their comfort? Don’t my mom was so nervous about her safety/comfort but ended up having a blast and lovvveeeeddd it. LOL, Wish I could share her sentiment. She wants to go back and well I’d like to visit TJ again, this time without the surgery <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

Would I recommend this doctor and coordinator? Yes BECAUSE I think my experience was the exception to the rule, and the things I found unpleasant may not be a big deal to another.

Would I recommend this hospital? That’s a resounding no, while it is better than a strip mall or some other places I’ve heard about in MX it really, in my honest opinion, is not good enough. While I wouldn’t recommend it I would say to anyone going, you can tough it out for a few days because once you’re out of the hospital you will feel a 100x better.

Would I do this again? Now that’s hard to answer, because to say yes would mean I would be willing to go back through the two days of hospital stay and I am not far enough out to say I’d do that again LOL. BUT now that I am home and can rely on myself for care I feel COMPLETELY better. I’m sure as I progress along and lose the weight and feel more and more better I will come to a point where I can whole heartedly say I would do this again. But at this moment, truthfully, I’m not so sure <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />

And finally, please remember, this was MY experience. MY feelings and MY opinion on things. What was horrible for me might be a breeze to another <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Thank you for sharing your story. I'm glad you're home and recovering. I'm also sorry to hear about your less than stellar. I hope to hear more about your successes going forward.

Amanda Rae

[albertamom 53]

I am sorry you had a rough time! This is hard enough without the added tension!! I am happy you are home and feeling good!!

[SanDiegoSunshine 55]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Did I meet you? Were you in the lobby with your Mom waiting to go to the airport while I was there for a post op visit?

[vickiczyk 16]

Oh dear now I'm really worried. I'm supposed to be there on Monday. Same doctor. Same hospital.

[prettynpink 110]

Thanks for being honest. I, like you, expect to get what I am told I will get. If something needs to happen, I expect it to happen. I suppose its the business woman in me that doesn't take kindly to people not keeping their word or miscommunicating vital information. I.will be using the same team, let's just say, I.know.enough Spanish to not take no for an answer. Hope your recovery at home is much better :-)

[fletcherette 203]

Sorry you had such a bad experience. Did I meet you? Were you in the lobby with your Mom waiting to go to the airport while I was there for a post op visit?

Oh yes that was us

[SanDiegoSunshine 55]

Oh dear now I'm really worried. I'm supposed to be there on Monday. Same doctor. Same hospital.

please read everyones experience. this was just one person. Most of us have no issues. I was sleeved on the 8th had only one issue with one day nurse. This is her experience. I believe her and you cant take away how someone feels. I really believe most of us on here tell our story and are truthful. You will read 90 percent all good stuff. There was construction when I was there not on my floor but I thought everu room had a heater. Mine did with a remote.

[No game 14,437]

I feel it's important to tell your story! I'm glad you did. I think that you should take it a step further and tell the doctors that you dealt with also. So they can be aware and perhaps improve! Just because you are in Mexico doesn't mean you deserve less than..

On the "untold story" thread a woman told of seeing a hospital worker "meditating" himself between his fingers with a needle! This is scary because others tell of asking for pain meds and not getting them because some nurses don't

"Understand" what they need.. It's more likely that they have a nice little side business going with other employees. Tell! Complain! When you are out and feel safe to say something call and tell them! I'm sure it's not ok. And if its brought to the surface there is a good chance it can be fixed

[SanDiegoSunshine 55]

Fletcherette I hope you r feeling better now that your home. I hope all ur skinny dreams come true. Tell ur mom hello she was such a sweet lady! Good luck

[gettinsleeved 39]

I also am glad you posted, the "everything was wonderful" experiances are great too, but lets be realistic... I am a nurse and I know that even in the BEST hospitals not everyone has a great experiance, it all depends on the people you are stuck with. It sounds like you got the crap crew, lol. I am going there in 3 weeks, and I BETTER be taken care of, cuz I am not shy and WILL cause a scene if I am not... lol, being a nurse I know what kind of care I should and will receive. I am sorry you went through that!

[prettynpink 110]

I also am glad you posted' date=' the "everything was wonderful" experiances are great too, but lets be realistic... I am a nurse and I know that even in the BEST hospitals not everyone has a great experiance, it all depends on the people you are stuck with. It sounds like you got the crap crew, lol. I am going there in 3 weeks, and I BETTER be taken care of, cuz I am not shy and WILL cause a scene if I am not... lol, being a nurse I know what kind of care I should and will receive. I am sorry you went through that![/quote']

I'm.not shy either, LOL! I had to laugh because I am the same way. Half way taking care of this chick would NOT be the way to go. I will be the one they will NEVER forget!!!!