"I had my surgery in Mexico and arranged follow up and fills with Dr. Beltre. The office staff and nurse were very nice and helpful, and Dr. Beltre was very nice as well. Unfortunately, this is where the positive ended for me....
I went in for a fill 6 weeks after surgery. Dr. Beltre could not feel my port, and after numbing the area, began to probe my abdomen with the needle in an effort to locate my port. After about 20 minutes of probing in my abdomen, he informed me I would need to go get an x-ray because he was unable to locate the port. I went to another medical office and paid for an x-ray and then returned to Dr. Beltre. He looked at the x-ray, compared it to my abdomen, marked my skin where the port was shown ont he x-ray, then stuck the needle in again. This time, he probed so much and so deep that I was in terrible PAIN (I tolorate pain pretty well... this HURT). After poking and prodding my abdomen for about 30 more minutes, he finally announced he could not find my port. We tried laying down, standing, stretching etc. He told me "it's not where it shows on the x-ray". This didn't make any sense to me, because I was staring at the x-ray of the port that was taken less than an hour earlier. He recommended I go see a provider that used flouro, and of course blamed my surgeon for him not being able to find my port. He first told me that it was placed incorrectly beneath the incision, then said it wasn't there. He told me that since I had surgery in Mexico, the surgeons sometimes don't feel the need to place the port carefully because they don't have to worry about follow up. I found this strange, since my surgeon offers free fills for life to all of his patients (I just didn't want to fly back to Mexico since I live in Florida, but I know many of his patients, especially the ones that live closer and can drive, DO return for the fills). After he blamed my surgeon for his inability to find my port, I got a refund and left. I was so upset and disappointed. I was scared that something was wrong with my port or it was placed wrong. I was so looking forward to the next step on my journey, and now I had to find another provider, wait for an appointment, etc. I was worried I would start to gain weight back. Thankfully, I had read on the internet about a fill provider in the Tampa area on the internet. This provider was slightly more expensive, but highly rated and used flouro. I called the office on my drive home, and thanks to a cancellation, I was able to go in the next morning! I drove all the way to Tampa with my abdomen bruised and sore from the day before with Dr. Beltre, and TERRIFIED of the thought of more needles in my stomach! When I got there, the office staff was wonderful, and the provider was extremely thorough and had a great "bedside manner". She gave me a lot of information, and answered a lot of my questions. I explained that I was very nervous and the circumstances of my visit the day prior with Dr. Beltre. She comforted me and told me I'd be fine....I layed down and she began explaining the procedure. The nurse numbed me and the next thing I knew, the provider was helping me sit up. When I sat up, I noticed the needle in my stomach! To my surprise and delight, she had the needle in my port on the first try, and I didn't feel it. After about 5 minutes, we were done! No pain! She was very concerned about the bruising on my abdomen from the previous day. She told me that the port location and band were perfect, and didn't understand why (even without flouro), there had been such an issue finding my port the day prior. Having had this experience, I HIGHLY recommend the fills with flouro... Trust me... it's WELL worth the extra money!"
