PrettyPixieGirl
I am on the loser's bench!!
Sep 30, 2009
Hi guys. So due to bank error with my funding company they only posted half my payment for surgery. The Dr said to come on down like normal since I already flew out to San Diego. They picked me up around 6 and I was in Tijuana before 7am. Let me just say that the views are breathtaking. I live in flat ol florida so the mountains are beautiful. They took me to the recovery house to stay for the day while they work out the details with the bank. This house is better appointed than many hotels I have stayed at. There is no A/C but fans all around and the windows are open for the breeze. I was not uncomfortable once and I keep my house at 70 degrees. They had free wifi for me to use. A phone that was free to call whoever I like in the US or Canada for free whenever I wanted. They have a nice gentleman who is the house keeper/cook. It is like a party in this house. My room had two beds. One for me and one for my best friend. It has a walk in closet the size of most peoples bathrooms. It also had a tv with a few english speaking channels and a couch. Then there was the bathroom within the bedroom. The most beautiful and clean bathroom ever. I seriously want this bathroom.So I was first bummed out when I was told no surgery on the 29th but maybe the 30th or the 1st. I seriously wanted to cry. But Dr. Bentacourt (not sure the spelling) came and met me at the recovery house and immedately cheered me up. He is one of the most amusing and happiest person I have ever met. He took me and my best friend (who flew out with me) to a real mexican breakfast with the staff. Let me tell you. These guys are the most boisous and comical people ever. They are always smiling!! They told me they would take care of me and take me sight seeing or shopping. Whatever I wanted. I was their guest. They truely did care and treated me like family. So by the end of the day i get the good news. I would have my surgery on the 30th. YAY!!
I can hardly sleep. Finally about 2am I force myself to sleep. I wake up at 7:30 and can smell the cooking down stairs. So not fair! I am NPO people!! But I guess I will have to get use to this. But I do excuse myself back to my room as they all eat. I don't need to torment myself more when I am so nervous I am shaking. By 9:30 in the morning I was at the medical center ready for my blood work. Now for those of you considering Dr. Almanza but don't know what to expect, I was completely at ease with the center. It is not a huge hospital like you get in the states. It is more a multimedical center. There are plastic surgains, peds, dental, OB/GYN. I had visited the center on the 29th and met some other patients that had the surgery a few days ahead of me. They all looked good with the exception of one poor fellow who was still in pain. I watched as they quickly got him pain meds. I asked tons of questions about what they were doing to me and everyone explained every question with patience. I wanted to know what IV solution, will i have a foley cath (thankfully not). How long will i have a drain. ( 3 days for those wondering) I got my ekg and asked the cardiologist tons of questions as well. The list goes on. Free feel to PM me if you have questions I didnt cover and I will fill you in. They drew my blood and put in the IV. I noticed that they do not use IV pumps like we do in the states. They use the good old drip method with gravity. Different but not life threatening. They gave me ceftriaxone which is an anibiotic also known as Rocephin. I got some meds to help settle my stomach. I assume it was Zantac since I was told Zofran was for after. I was set. I had met everyone and asked everyone everything I could think of. Time for the surgery!
I walk into the OR and lay down on the table. It was nice and couchy.. not like a metal table or anything. I got one good look around and saw everything all nice and sterile with the autoclave tape on it and everything. The anesthesiologist told me he just put in the medicine to make me relax and I was out not 30 seconds later. I woke up to the recovery room with my best friend talking to me totally confused. Apparently I was loopy for most of the day and kept waking up and asking her the same thing over and over. LOL. I was told my surgery was 1 hour and 30 mins, though I met a woman who was only on the table 35 mins. Go figure?
The worst pain I remember was my back. My stomach hurt as well but it felt like something was pressing from the inside out through my back. Apparently this was gas. My best friend being the doll she is rubbed my back and helped ease the pain some. I was nausous everytime I got up and they quickly gave me zofran. My savior! I had one really bad time after coming back from the bathroom where it was just too much. I dry heaved but thankfully only gas came out. It hurt though. More pain meds.. YAY. I must meantion here that Magda, my nurse ,was an angel. Any sign of whimper on my part she was ready for more pain meds. I must have called her 5-6 times for the bathroom. She was there within 5 mins to help everytime. I don't know how she did it. I saw her here 24/7. I am a nurse myself so I can appreacate to the max everything she has done for me. Just a warning on the drain you get. You will see lots of bloody water coming out. They emptied my drain twice that I can tell. They apparently fill you up with water as part of the leak test so you are mostly seeing that water coming out now. I was told there was two leak tests in surgery. Blueish water and air to look for bubbles. On the 3rd day I will have another leak test with more blueish water and contrast for the xray.
Now i wouldn't consider the pain a walk in the park but it is do-able. Most of the gas pain in my back is gone. My stomach feels like i have done a million situps. The most trouble I am having now is I want to sleep on my stomach but that just isnt happening. I can manage laying on my side if I have good pillow support behind my back to help keep me up. You never know how much you use those stomach muscles. Having slept through most of the day I am painfully wide awake at 3am. Oh well. This I can handle if it all means I will be healthier in the future.
I can't wait to get home and see how I am doing. I lost 8lbs pre-op on my 7 day liquid diet. I hope the IV fluids dont bloat me too much. I would love to be in Onederland by New Years eve. But any lbs lost I will take and happily.
