OT - Plastics in Mexico - Long Post
Everyone: In case you are interested I'm posting here about my experience getting plastic surgery outside of the US. I posted this on another facebook page so there are some references to that group here.
My Experience - May 1-May 9: Long Post Hi Everyone I arrived on May 1st by myself for a LBL, AL, BL, Long TL, and considering neck lift and lower eye lift. The flight was shorter than I thought and I had no issues with passport stuff or anything. I transferred through Atlanta Georgia and even though the airport is big, it is easy to traverse since they have the train. Upon entry there is this form that says if you are bringing in greater than $10K in any form you have to declare it or risk them taking it. I didn't want to risk them taking it so I did declare it. There was about a 25 minute hold up while they found the right form for me to fill out, etc. A big issue for me was the language barrier. Alone, during the trip, I did feel quite isolated. The language issue came up in other areas as well in the clinic - I'll expand on that later. Arrival day, I just went to the hotel for an overnight stay. I showered with Hibiclens - an antimicrobial soap the night before. The next day Dr. arrived just before 7am to go to his office in the hospital for the consult and mark up. Luggage was kept in the car during surgery until I went to a room after surgery. It was then brought to my room. The consult went well - decided not to do the neck lift and to do an eye lift top and lower. We did mark up and that went well. Dr. does move right along so I was trotting to keep up LOL. Got to the clinic and got into a gown and buffont cap. Personnel at the OR did not speak any English so that was difficult - to just mime things. The one nurse?? handed me a pill to 'relax'. I was betadined - from the neck on down. I laid on the OR table and woke up after surgery was completed. I was disappointed to have not met the anesthesiologist and had missed that consult. I think this is an area that should be improved. I think it is important for all patients to have a face to face with the anesthesiologist prior to going under. One thing we do here in the states is to have a pre-cut 'time out' - where everyone is in the room with the patient awake and everyone agrees that we have the right patient and what is being done for the patient. Post surgery, I was EXTREMELY NAUSEATED. This is common for me after anesthesia. I had difficulty communicating with staff. I don't speak any spanish. One thing that would help if the goal of the program is to offer surgery to those in the US is to have a translator service. Again where I work - in a hospital - we have a service that we can utilize 24/7 to translate any language. I do think this is important given that it can affect the outcome and patient safety. During my first two days I was throwing up and not able to eat. One complication was that glucose was hung - rather than non-glucose fluids. This may have contributed to the nausea because post gastric bypass, I don't tolerate glucose. This was mimed to staff (by finger in the throat, and saying glucose a lot) but it was hung. Mid to late afternoon, staff came in and took down the last 100 mls of glucose fluids; staff was apologizing for this. Because of the nausea, I didn't feel strong enough to do anymore surgery. One other improvement area for the clinic is staff washing hands and wearing gloves. I didn't observe anyone washing hands in my view (may have happened out of my view). Paty and one of the rougher nurses wore gloves when handling the drains, but I didn't see anyone else doing that. I think this is important to reduce the chance of cross contamination between patients and patients and staff. Since no additional surgery, I went back to the hotel on Monday. Hotel was as others have described - extremely helpful (Mary hostess, Belen Housekeeping). English was again extremely limited. Being by myself, this was isolating. Paty, the nurse that visits daily, as everyone says, was lovely. I was very lonely. I got 5 drains out on day 7. I then left early and went home. I was way too homesick. The Dr's. work looks great to me - very much improved on the arms, legs, abdomen, and breasts. No infections or anything like that. All looks good. Just my opinion but some things that may help others: a working use of Spanish or a very good app. traveling with someone if they can afford the time off.
Update - 16 Days Post Op....LBL, AL, Long TL, BL & Follow up from other post....
Hi Folks....some comments from my other post about my experience....there was a question/comment about whether the glucose IV was causing the nausea. To answer, I really don't know. I just had cause and effect and the nursing staff apologizing for hanging it. The nausea could have been all related to anesthesia. The staff did point to the IV and say glucose and apologize and took it down. My nausea resolved after a couple more hours. Could be co-incidence....don't know.
Question about whether I met the anesthesiologist and didn't realize it. I don't think I did - because Dr. said that she was running late due to an emergency.
So how are things today....16 days post op. Things are going well. My hubby is helping me with the compression garment from hell and the dressing changes. I have no signs of infection on any of the incisions (knock on wood). My doctor (GP) pulled one of the 2 remaining drains about 4 days ago so I'm down to one drain. She gave me a once over and said that everything looks good. One drain is still active - got 75 cc out of it yesterday. My feet/calves are SWOLLEN! One forearm is swollen too but not as bad as my calves and feet. I am going back to work on Monday. I've been doing light things around the house - load the dishwasher, feed the cats, etc and haven't had any issues. I haven't been taking any pain meds or anything and I don't have much of any pain - just some general 'tightness' feeling.
Laura A. 5'3" BW299/CW135
