Chopstick_Chick
Two Weeks (and one day) Out!
Jun 13, 2014
Sorry I haven't updated this sooner, things have been crazy since I got back! Anyway I figured now would be a good time to post my experience in the hospital and everything and just talk about how my life has been these past two weeks.
I had my VSG done in Mexicali Mexico at the Almater hospital by Dr. Aceves on May 29th. For those nervous about going to him DON'T BE. I was so scared, but I did my research and chose the very best surgeon I could find. When I got there everything went smooth as silk. Dr. Aceves and Dr. Campos (who, among other things, is also a bariatric nutritionist who has also gone through VSG surgery himself) took excellent care of us. They do a limited number of surgeries per day and keep everyone together in the hospital where everyone there is having bariatric surgery. You get to know your neighbors as you do laps around the nurses station to get your blood flowing and your trapped gas moving on out.
Everyone (The surgeons, internal medicine doc, anesthesiologist, most of the nurses and the surgery coordinators Nina and Carla) all speak wonderful English and I had no instance where I felt that I didn't understand something that was going on due to language barriers. They let you ask tons of questions and always explain what they are doing to before they do it and let you ask questions before hand if you have any (I wanted to know if having my drain taken out would hurt and Dr. Campos said no, and it didn't hurt ^_^). Both surgeons were very warm and had great bedside manner. They stopped in multiple times a day to see how I was feeling and were very supportive. Dr. Campos always seemed very warm and sincere and always accompanied his entrance to my room with a kind "How you feeling sweetie?"
It was a very clean hospital, they are moping and emptying garbage and changing your bed linens all the time! The room was private, and very comfortable with a leather couch and chair, mounted flat screen, wifi and private bathroom. The driver who takes you from San Diego to Mexicali (which is like 5 minutes over the border) Earnesto, is little bit hard to understand, but he is a super nice guy and a very safe driver. He showed us lots of really neat things (like pointing out cool shaped rocks, UFO spotter locations and even pointing out the location of a Nudist colony!) on the drive down and back.
The resort we stayed at the night before surgery was also amazing. T, way nicer than almost any I've stayed in. It had two pools, some private villas and four restaurants with amazing food. Your "last meal" will definitely be delicious, mine certainly was!
The worst part of the whole thing was honestly getting my IV put in and taken out. Honestly. I was hardly in any pain at all and they are very liberal with the pain medication there. Also I find having my blood pressure taken to be very painful and they worked with me to calm me down and eventually found a bigger cuff to use that helped ease the pain. Not everyone has this problem, but if you do don't worry they will help you out.
Two weeks and a day out of surgery and I am feeling no pain, my stitches and drain incision are healed and causing me no pain or itchiness. I'm just sip sip sipping on my protein and watching the pounds melt off. I have lost 22 pounds including what I lost on the Pre-op diet to date and I can already feel a difference in the fit of my clothes. After hearing about the experience a family member had with one of the strip mall clinic surgeons, (I couldn't believe they made her walk up stairs out of the operating room and didn't give her dissolving stitches!!) I am so so glad I decided to spend the extra money and do things right with the best surgery team and hospital around. Would do it again in a second!
I struggled with head hunger coming home to recover at my mom's house because she cooks and stuff and I don't get to eat any of the tasty foods I am smelling, but I think it was good training. I realized that it was head hunger and have been working to get over that. It hasn't been easy, but I can already feel improvement and that's a huge thing for me since I have always struggled with that. The first meal she made was bad, and the second, meat loaf which is one of my favorite foods, was the worst. I broke down and cried the day before I could get off my liquids and was depressed all night, but after that things have been looking so far up I cannot believe it. Now that I'm able to have more variety of foods in my thick liquids and soups phase (I had a small icecream cone from dairy queen but shhh don't tell) it has gotten much better. I have been chewing up bites of food and spitting them out into the garbage to help quell my mental desire to eat and so far that has been helping. The act of chewing and the taste of food helps get rid of the mental push to eat and I have found that that is necessary less and less as each day passes. I actually went out yesterday to McDonalds and bought a Big Mac meal just to bring home and chew up and spit in the garbage. I knew it was a waste of money, but I needed to do it and actually after the first few tastes of it came in and went out of my mouth I was over my craving and I didn't even finish chewing it up I just threw the whole thing out. I kept the drink though, since I can have iced-tea. More sugar than I should have, but at the rate it will take me to finish a regular drink from McDonalds I'm not worried. I always have two or three drinks on the go for variety anyway. I feel like that break down and waste of money, only to find that I didn't even want to chew it up anymore, was a mental turning point for me. It made me truly realize that it is all in my head. I'm sure I'll have weak days, but I don't think I'll do that again.
