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I am very glad I chose Mexico and Dr Alvarez. He just had this aura that was so confident and comforting. He wasn’t hard on the eyes either. That never hurts Ha Ha!! And as Lisa pointed out in her post on the message board, he smelled good and had such soft hands. Speaking of hands, he was a very hands on Dr. He took us to our hospital room, he showed us where everything was. He always wanted to make sure we had everything we needed. He stopped in at least 3 or 4 times a day. He showed Rog where to go and eat. He even gave him Pesos for the coke machine because he didn’t exchange any money. He walked us out to the van when we left and gave me a big goodbye hug. I told him thanks so much and he was telling my how great I was gonna do. I felt so emotional. He had given me a second chance at life. I felt like he was family, that’s just how they treat you. I have never had a doctor like him in the states. I highly recommend anyone to go see him. I wouldn’t have changed a thing about it.  

We left Wednesday night around 5:00 pm. We drove for about 5 hrs to Texarkana and stopped for the night. We left Thursday morning at 7:00 am. On our first gas stop, I got two dunkin donuts mmmmm……..( I know not a good choice but I had to do it)A little later we stopped Whataburger for lunch, I had my last chicken sandwich and French fries. We arrived at Eagle Pass around 5:00. We checked in our hotel (we had a HUGE room) and then we went to Wal-Mart to get some dinner and Rog some snacks for the hospital. Then we settled into our room for the night. Friday morning we met Stephanie,the other patient who was having lap-band, and her husband Jody. We exchanged travel stories. (they drove from Georgia) Rosey came to get us at around 11:30. After a short drive across the border, we arrived at Dr Alvarez’s office. We each had a chance to have a private meeting with him so we could ask any questions we had. I automatically felt comfortable after meeting him. He then led us across the breezeway to the hospital. He immediately took us to our rooms and the nurse came and took blood for the pre-op labs. In about 30 minutes, he came to the room and said the results were perfect. He said I would be second. So I waited anxiously for my turn. Finally they came to get me and rolled me to the OR. But not before I got to pass through the famous window. It was really kind of funny.  When I got to the OR, Dr A wasn’t in there yet. I guess they could tell I was kind of nervous because they just kept looking at me and smiling. The little guy that put in my IV patted me and told me “it’s ok” bless his heart,that is probably the only English he knew. Finally, Dr A came in and patted me on the shoulder and talked to me while I went to sleep. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my room. I wasn’t in a lot of pain just mainly felt a lot of pressure. I was up and going to the bathroom in a couple of hours. I couldn’t walk around much yet because I was very groggy from anesthesia. The first night was pretty rough, I had to go to the bathroom a lot because of all the IV fluids. And I did throw up quite a bit of blood. It almost scared Rog to death. But I told him that because of my OH friends, I knew that would happen. Now let me tell you about the hospital. It was old, but really clean. I really liked it. It was really quaint. The nurses were very nice. Communication was a little difficult. But DH knew a little Spanish so we managed just fine. Saturday, I woke up feeling better. I met Lisa that was having surgery that day. My day was spent walking and talking on the phone. Dr A provides phones with free long distance and encourages us to use it as much as we want. The hospital also has wireless internet so Rog was happy. Saturday night I slept pretty well. Dr A came and checked on me early Sunday morning. He came back around 11:00 and brought my bin of meds and gave me after care instructions. He and Rosey walked us to the “fat van”. We went back across the border to Eagle Pass and started our trip home.  Our trip was smooth. I actually was more comfortable in the car than in the hospital bed. We stopped every couple of hours to walk. We spent the night in Hillsboro, TX and finished the trip Monday. We got home around 5:30.Everything has been going pretty well since!!