MY A LIGHTER ME EXPERIENCE – SURGERY DAY

Aug 27, 2017

I had gastric sleeve surgery (VSG – Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy) on 8/21/17 through the medical tourism company, A Lighter Me, at the Mi Doctor Hospital which is in Tijuana, Mexico.

The hubby and I flew out of Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta on Saturday (8/20/17) at noon. I was a nervous wreck before we boarded the plane because we were running later than I wanted. We were running late all because of our decision to take Marta to the airport instead of getting a ride from family or using Uber. We thought riding Marta to the airport would be best since we were getting home late on our return flight and didn’t want to inconvenience anyone and Uber costs money. Marta was slower than we anticipated since we had to stop for them to do some kind of maintenance to the track we were on. We ended up getting to the gate in time but we were still some of the last people to board the plane. They ran out of overhead bin space as we were about to board so we got to check our luggage for free which I thought was pretty sweet.

There were a couple of asshole guys walking behind us as we boarded the plane and they were making jokes to each other about how they were probably going to get stuck between us. My husband and I are both heavy people but we know this so we bought an entire row of seats to be alone and have plenty of room. I was nervous about this too since I had read that sometimes even if you purchase an extra seat it may not be honored if the flight is oversold. The flight from Atlanta to San Diego was pretty packed so I was worried we might lose our extra seat. Thankfully we kept our seat both going and coming home. Needless to say I was pissed off about what those guys were saying & I wish I were more aggressive/assertive because I wanted to turn around and tell them to eff off.

Once we sat down I panicked a bit because I realized that I had left my seat belt extender in my carry-on luggage that we had checked. I was so upset because I didn’t want to have to ask a flight attendant for a seat belt extender. I figured I’d try the seat belt and see how short it was and lo and behold it actually fit around me! I was so relieved! The seat belt had been so far from fitting me when we went to Paris for our honeymoon so I assumed it would still be the same. I don’t know if it was because we flew on a different kind of plane or if my losing 45 pounds made the difference. Either way I was overjoyed to not have to ask for the extender.

We landed a bit early in San Diego so we went in a few gift shops before we texted our driver, Jack, with A Lighter Me to let him know which loading zone we were closest to. Jack had a few other people to pick up before us so we were stuck waiting for about 30-45 minutes outside the airport. The weather and temperature were perfect so we didn’t mind too much. Jack picked us up in a van and the people he had picked up before us sat in the front seats so it was a little tough to get to the back of the van. We picked up a couple more people after us and then we were headed to the border.

Once we got to the border everyone had to get off the van, grab their luggage and go through a small building where you had to show your passport to a border patrol officer. You then go through a metal detector and your luggage is x-rayed. After we were all boarded back on the van we made our way to the hospital.

At the hospital we all had to sign some paperwork, get blood drawn and have an EKG. Full disclosure, I did not have the best time with the nurses taking blood or running my IVs at the hospital. I have a huge vein in my right arm that never rolls and is the easiest thing in the world to hit but for some reason the nurses decided to draw blood from the vein further up and ended up giving me a pretty big bruise & I don’t even bruise easily. The EKG was a little awkward for me because I’m an awkward person. My boob was just hanging out and the guy was trying to make small talk with me to make things less awkward but small talk is awkward for me so it was a mess. When we finished all our pre-op testing they took us to the hotel, The Grand Hotel Tijuana.

The Grand Hotel Tijuana is a very nice hotel for the area. A Lighter Me has a welcome center on the C level floor of the hotel where we all went when we first arrived at the hotel. They talked to us about what to expect the next day and gave us our room keys. As soon as we got to our room I ordered two chicken broths and a lime popsicle. You are allowed 3 broths, 3 popsicles & 3 apple juices a day for no extra charge. It was around 7pm when we got to our room and I hadn’t eaten anything but a mug of chicken broth for breakfast before we left for the airport that morning around 9am so I was HANGRY! Hubby ordered room service. We brought our Roku and tried to watch an episode of The Defenders but I couldn’t make it. I fell asleep super early. That first night in the hotel we had a king sized bed and the mattress was a little flat and I always lay on my side so I felt the bottom of the mattress hitting the platform the bed was on which was a little uncomfortable but I still slept really well.

We woke up super early (for me) the next morning (6am) and headed back to ALMs welcome center to wait on the other guests so we could all head to the hospital. Once we arrived at the hospital we all went to the waiting area. I wasn’t waiting long when they came and got me to let me know I was the 4^th surgery scheduled that day. They took me to my room a little while later where I changed into my hospital gown and put on the compression socks they provide. The gown was large enough to cover my backside which was nice. I had a heck of a time getting the compression socks on. They were super tight! I guess that is the point but these were supposed to be thigh high and I couldn’t get them to stay up that high so I just folded them over and made them knee high.

The room itself was tiny! I've seen inside the rooms of other people and they were much bigger. The room felt cluttered too because they had two sitting chairs, a recliner, the hospital bed & my hubbys bed - a gurney, in the room. I couldn't take my IV into the bathroom with me and close the door so anytime I had to use the bathroom it had to be with the door open. My husbands bed, the gurney, was behind the room door in a short little nook. I didn't mind the size, as it was plenty big for the two of us. My room was on the 2nd floor, the same floor as the waiting room, but I can't remember my room number at all.

A little while after I got settled in my room the nurse came to put in my IV. I asked her about the compression socks since I couldn’t pull them higher than knee high and she told me that was fine. I have vasovagal syncope which basically means when I see my own blood or a needle going into my skin my heart rate and blood pressure drop super low which makes me really lightheaded and feel like I’m going to faint. Luckily I haven’t actually fainted yet, but I’ve been close. Usually as long as I don’t look and it doesn’t take a long time I’m fine. When I had my blood drawn the day before I was fine. This time I wasn’t so lucky.

The nurse tried the back of my right hand first and blew my vein completely. I think she must have went all the way through because of how much blood pooled up under my skin. I made the mistake of looking when she kept digging and I got lightheaded and told her I had to lay down. I laid down and she waved some alcohol under my nose to try to keep me from passing out. Then she got the IV in the back of my left hand and we were in business. My surgeon, Dr. Covarrubias, came to meet with me before my surgery to chat and see if I had any questions for him before the surgery. I couldn’t think of any questions because I’m a researcher and I had read TONS of stuff about the surgery. He seemed very sweet and genuine and I am glad I picked him to be my surgeon. He made me feel totally comfortable with my surgery and I was ready to go. Hubby and I played Phase Ten until they came to get me a few hours later.

They came and got me with a wheelchair and wheeled me to the operating room. I got up on the operating table and they had me take my arms out of the sleeves of the gown and just allowed it to drape over me. I guess they let you lay the gown over yourself to make you feel better because I heard from one of the other patients that when they were wheeled in the waiting area before the operating room the room to the operating room was open and there was a lady on the operating table buck naked. Thank goodness I was under anesthesia for the whole thing because I would die if I knew someone had seen me buck naked lying on a table. The anesthesiologist and nurses were very nice and made me feel comfortable when I was getting settled on the table. The anesthesiologist complemented my eye color right before he knocked me out which put me in a good mood before it was lights out.

Next thing I remember I was waking up in the recovery area. I felt alert pretty quickly after I woke up. I looked to my left and there was a lady beside me just starting to wake up. When I got back to my room I was fully alert and called my mom straight away to let her know I was okay. After speaking to some of the other patients the next day I was glad that I was alert right away. Most of them said they didn’t remember anything until they were in their room. I know I was intubated and they placed a catheter while I was out but they had removed both of those before I woke up and I honestly never would have noticed they were there at all if I didn’t know it was mandatory.

My throat was dry when I woke up from the intubation and anesthesia but I wasn’t allowed to drink anything which felt like torture! I was given a tiny cup of ice chips to suck on every few hours. That first day I wasn’t in too much pain. The anesthesia must have still been working a bit and they kept bringing me pain medicine every few hours so I never felt much pain. The only time I felt any pain at all was when I was getting up from bed to go to the bathroom. It felt like I had done 1,000 crunches and my abs were super sore!

I got up maybe an hour or two after surgery and the hubby and I did some hospital exploring so I could get some walking done. My husband is very friendly and outgoing so he had made friends with some of the ALM staff people and they told us we should go walk downstairs in the covered parking lot. We went down there and it was perfect & no one else was there. I walked 15-20 minutes and we went back upstairs. I kept walking 15 minutes every 2-3 hours the two days I was in the hospital. I only walked twice that first day and I kept falling asleep and taking little naps on and off all day. We figured out how to hook our Roku up to the TV so when I was awake I was catching up on some TV shows. I ended up going to bed early that night & slept pretty well despite the nurses coming in several times to check my vitals and give me meds.

Everything went really well!

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