My surgery

Dec 02, 2009

I've been wanting to write about my surgery experience for some time now but either I didn't have the time or I didn't feel good. I'm feeling much better now. Dare I say I'm starting to feel human again. I know many of you are going to Dr. Almanza soon and are anxious to hear how things went so now let me spill things out, the way I seen them.

From the beginning when I decided to go to Dr. Almanza, it was mostly about the cost to me, I fully admit that. I did research and it looked as if he had quite a bit of experience doing these surgeries which put my mind at ease. I was nervous and the thoughts did creep into my mind, "Was I trading my life to save a few thousand dollars?". To me though, there was no other choice. A few thousand might as well have been a few million. Still, after reading many posts from people that have been to him, I felt confident.

The whole event was scary, no matter what doctor you go to. I was going to be flying for the first time since I was 13 years old. I was SCARED to death of that. Even more so then the surgery. I would be traving alone, to a forgein country to have a major operation. When I look back on it, I can't believe that I actually followed through. I'm such an anxious nervous person.

Everything seemed so surreal. Like I was looking into someone elses life. I didn't cry and amazingly, I didn't even feel that nervous.

So the morning of surgery, I was picked up at the airport at around 7 am. The driver Tony was nice enough, although very matter of fact. Not overly friendly or anything. Just all business. Plus the fact that I dont think he spoke very good english. We make the 20-30 min drive to the recovery house. The first thing that hit me when we got into Tijuana was all the graffiti everywhere. Litterally, everywhere. People in Mexico drive different than what I'm used to. To put it bluntly, they are drive crazy! I was so scared many times. I don't quite know how to express it but just be aware, they don't really stop at stop signs. They make quick stops almost touching the bumpers of people ahead of them.

So we get to the recovery house and meet Dr. Betancourt and one of the coordinators named Laurie, plus a few people that already had surgery. Dr. Betancourt is very friendly and speaks perfect english. As I said, I think I was still in shock about everything happening so fast that maybe I had a scared look on my face but anyway, Dr. Betancourt grabs my hand and looks me in the face and says, "Are you here for the sex change operation?". It kind of through me off course for a second and he started laughing and said, "I'm just kidding sweetie". It did help me relax quite a bit. I talked with another lady that just had the sleeve done a few days before and she was going home the next day and said everything went perfect and she had no regrets.

So we are at the recovery house only for about 15 mins or so and then we head to the clinic. Once at the clinic, my details are a bit more muffled and only because I was so nervous it was hard for me to concentrate on what was actually happening around me, I was merely going with the flow at that point. So they take me into a room. Take down some information. I give them the remainder of my payment. They weigh me. Then I wait for an EKG. Once that is complete I'm taken into a room which I'm sharing with Mitzi and her sister (that was there to help her). I'm told to put my gown on but to leave my panties on. I have to say, the clinic, the recovery house, everywhere was freezing all the time. So I get my gown on and get under the covers. The nurse comes in and she doesn't speak very good english but enough that we get through. So she starts the IV. Draws some blood samples and thats about it. I did make note that she was not wearing gloves and she went from person to person without washing her hands. I'm a germ freak and a health care worker and I did notice these things that maybe others might not have paid attention to.

I think Dr. Almanza comes in at some point before surgery but I don't remember for sure. I know when I did meet him though, he was very friendly. Doesn't speak very good english but always had Richardo following him around to help Translate.

I'm told Mitzi will be having surgery first. Her and I were the only ones scheduled for that day. So off she goes and I'm left to wait. At this point I'm getting nervous but not really to bad. Her surgery lasted about an hr. Before I know it the nurse comes in and says it's my turn. You walk to the operating room. I passed by Mitzi as she was in the recovery room and tried to catch a glimpse of her but couldn't really. Once in the operating room, I tried not to look around to much. Someone made the comment that I looked very nervous. The anesthesiologist said he wanted to ask me a few questions and before I knew it, I was out.

I woke up in the recovery room and immediantly wanted to get off the table. I had severe gas pains in my chest but the first thought on my mind was I did it! and I was alive and well. I'm not sure how long I was in the recovery room. Mitzi's sister Amy came to talk to me and told me later that I was wide awake and just wanted to walk. So when I finally did get up, I walked to my room and the pain wasn't to bad at all.

I did have a dizzy spell that night in the bathroom and almost passed out. Maybe I got up to fast or maybe it was the meds they put in my IV, I dont know but I yelled for help and they came and got me back in bed and rubbed alcohol or something all over my face and it helped make me feel better. The gas was pretty bad for the first 2-3 days. Walking really did help relieve it. I cannot tell you enough how happy I was to have listened and brought some Gas-X strips with me.

At this point I'm dying of thirst but not allowed water until the second night. They did let us rinse our mouth out and chew on some ice. 

So the first couple days are spent at the clinic. With the IV still attached. Doing a lot of walking. I tried to sleep as much as I could but it could be very noisy at times and I felt like I wasn't getting very much rest. The day we are set to leave the clinic to go to the recovery house, we are to do a couple leak tests. One of them is to drink a purple PURPLE drink. At first it's not to bad. Has no real taste but as you keep sipping it, it becomes disgusting. I tried to drink mine down as quick as possible. My teeth and tongue were stained purple. They were looking to see if any purple was going into our drain tube. The second leak test is done at the radiologist. You have to drink this liquid that looks like water. It doesn't taste quite as bad as the purple and you don't have to drink nearly as much. So once that is complete, they give you some x-rays of your new stomach.

So then it's off to the recovery house. To me, this is when things felt less professional. It was a nice house but not very warm and cozy. The leather furniture was hard to get out of, as were the beds that are very low to the ground. It was noisy almost all the time. Inside and outside of the house. I just wanted to rest and every time I tried to lay down, it was impossible to sleep at all during the day. It was nice to be out of the clinic and we did get to do some shopping the next day. I liked visiting with the other patients but was getting homesick like crazy. The drain tube was quite the burden to carry around all the time but I completely understood why it had to be there. Once at the recovery house, vitals were no longer checked, not even the day I left and I felt they should have been. I mean this is a major operation after all.

We were told to eat chicken broth and such for the first couple days but there was none to be found at the recovery house. Only creamy type soups. Luckily I brought my own chicken bouillon. We were given a gift bag with medicine and instructions in it. The medicine was hard to get down at first. One was a antibiotic, one a pain killer and one for nausea and gas. The pain killers were weak and I think I stopped taking them by the next day after I realized they didn't do much but luckily I wasn't in a lot of pain anyway.

So the day before I leave, the bed I was sleeping in was given to another girls husband. There are no more beds for me at the house so I got a room at Dr. Betancourts house right across the way. The bed over there was hard as a rock and I am not even kidding about that. I ended up having to go down and sleep on his couch. At each house there is always a bustle of activity and people running in and out all the time. Maybe thats okay with some people but I found it anxiety inducing and not relaxing.

I also got my drain tube removed the day before I was to leave. For me it didn't really hurt at all except at the incision site. I have a sneaky suspecion that the same tools were used to remove everyones drain tube without being sterilized but I cannot prove that. The morning I was set to leave, I pointed my incision out to Dr. Betancourt because to me one of them looked red. It was painful and I thought something was wrong with it. He looked at it quickly. Told Sylvia the caregiver/maid to clean it up and that was it.

I was taken to the airport 4 hours before my flight was set to depart and I was very upset about that. I was sore and did not want to sit around the airport for 4 hrs. It was also during that time that the incision I was speaking about above busted open and soaked my shirt with pus. At this point I go to the bathroom and I was crying. I just wanted to get home but had another 13 hrs or so before I'd see my husband and kids again. I arrive home at almost midnight. Never been so happy to sleep in my own bed.

The next morning I'm bawling because I'm scared about this infection and I feel like my concerns while I was there was not taken seriously. So I call Shirley and explain to her. She tells me to keep taking the antibiotics and if I run a fever to see my family Dr. Well I did run a low grade fever for a few days but I was also sick with a cold at the time so hard to know where the fever was coming from. So I did make an appointment that very day with my Dr and she starts me on some different antibiotic and today, almost 2 weeks out, it's looking much much better. The worse thing now is my tummy itches horribly from healing.

All in all, I have no regrets. I would go back again because I'm already seeing wonderful results from this surgery. Dr. Almanza will get the job done and you will be happy with the results. The nurses will take good care of you while you are there. It was once I made it to the recovery house that my opinion of the whole experience changed. I'm just one person and I see things my own way. Many people are happy and did not make note of some of the things I felt were off. Please form your own opinion. I think if I had someone to travel with me, things might have felt a little different.

I'm sure I missed some things but if you have a specific question for me, please let me know and i'll try to answer it.

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