Beware of 'un-coordinated' coordinators

[irunwithscissors 0]

I had Gastric Sleeve surgery on Feb 22, 2014 in Tijuana, MX performed by Dr Lopez. I want to comment that the Dr and his staff was very professional and the surgery went well, but be advised...the coordinators were not very coordinated. Just be certain to ask the same question over and over to get to the actual truth as each person will give you a different answer.
I have lost 13 lbs and remain hopeful that this will be my solution to my lifetime problem.

[Patricia Tate Johnson 43]

Thanks for the information on Dr. Lopez; I'm scheduled with him on August 4th in Puerto Vallerta. When you refer to "coordinators", are you referring to the person that we have first contact with in regards to completing the paperwork and scheduling? My interaction has been limited this far and has involved the forms and approval emails. Should I be asking more questions??

[lynn2win 142]

Yes give us more info...other ppl will be using this establishment

[irunwithscissors 0]

Well, keep in mind my experience was in Tijuana. My husband and I were met quickly at the airport and driven to the Marriott hotel without incident. Our room was not ready because we were early, which was fine, but as the hours ticked by, we were never approached by our coordinator who was supposed to meet with us. I had to continue asking hotel staff if they knew where he was as we needed to hear the arrangements for the surgery. Finally a hotel staff person pointed him out and we were able to connect.

The next morning again I had to keep asking how/when/what shuttle bus was going to transport us to the hospital. If I hadn't been vocal and hadn't asked numerous questions, I am pretty sure we would have missed some or all connections.

Again, the hospital staff was easy to work with and I did not feel nervous that mistakes would be made. (Except in the middle of the night I needed additional pain medication and had to hunt for help as the nurses' station was empty. I found her asleep in an unused room)

The day we get back to the hotel, we needed to go down the street to Walmart to get Protein shakes and other items that my stomach could tolerate and was dropped off by our coordinator who gave us a time of his return and the spot that he could find us. We waited and waited and it was evening and getting cold and I needed to lie down in the room when we spotted Raul walking toward us in the mall with another woman that had surgery. Raul asked if we could wait longer as he was going to walk this woman to the local liquor store and back. My husband protested as he knew how tired I was, but I told them to go ahead if it would not be too much longer. (and aren't we not supposed to drink alcohol for 6 weeks?) By the time they returned we were exhausted and cold.

The next day, I was tired and apprehensive to have Raul drop us in 'downtown Tijuana' so we asked to stay back at the room and rest that day if we could make the trip the following day and was told that would be just fine. But in the morning, we were told that there was only one morning van available to transport us to the airport. (consequently, we had a 9 hour wait for our flight home in the San Diego airport)

Hope this helps, and again, I am glad I had the surgery and the Doctors were very professional and courteous.