"I turned 24 about a month ago, two weeks before my surgery which was two weeks and one day ago tomorrow. I had my VSG done in Mexicali Mexico at the Almater hospital by Dr. Aceves. 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!"
