Well, this day was pretty uneventful. I woke up about 7 and screwed around on the internet for a bit. Then a nurse comes in and tells me it's shower time. She unhooks me from the IV and covers my left hand in a plastic back then tapes it tight. I go take a shower without and problems, carefully scrubbing around the incisions. I still had a bunch of that yellow stuff that they put on you when you have incisions. I scrubbed like hell trying to get that crap off with only limited success. They provided shampoo but no conditioner which I didn't bring so my hair turned into the gnarliest puffball that I've ever had. I dry off and get dressed then walk the halls for a bit. When I come back, my "breakfast" was in my room. It consisted of a drinkable yogurt, watered-down apple juice, bottled water, and hot tea. The watered-down apple juice was nasty but the yogurt drink was quite nice.
It's a little before 10 now and another nurse comes in and tells me it's time to go. I was still plugging away at my "breakfast" when she came. Dr. Horacio came to see how I was doing and determined I was ready for discharge. (I forgot to mention that he visited me the night before. He was the assistant surgeon on the procedure. Dr. Rumbaut had to leave town right after the procedure to a bariatric conference in Cancun.) I started packing and I realized that I couldn't find my wallet or passport. She comes back a few minutes later and says "Vamanos!" and I tell her that I can't find my wallet or passport. I'm frantically searching everything, under the bed, under the couch, all my bags, etc. with no luck. She goes and starts making calls at the nurses station. I go through all my stuff yet again and I finally find them in a pocket of a pocket of my laptop bag. When we have a collective sigh of relief, I get all my bags and she leads me downstairs to the waiting shuttle driver. I make a pitstop at the gift shop before I leave since I wanted to send some postcards to everyone but they didn't have any so I head back to the hotel empty-handed.
Dr. Richard was waiting for me at the hotel when I got there to see how I was doing. I spent most of the remainder of the day killing time. I head back over to the H-E-B for another calling card since mine was basically used up. The second attempt to buy one was no less easy and I left the other card in the hotel so I couldn't just point to what I wanted. The rest of the day was occupied by surfing the net and watching TV.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Day 2, Surgery Day
Well, this day could have turned into another disaster. Since Dr. Rumbaut wanted me at the hospital at 7AM, I would have to take a taxi since the hotel doesn't offer shuttle rides that early. So the hotel arranges a taxi for me the night before and told me that he'd be there at 6:20AM. Well, I wake up at 5:40AM since my 5:30AM wake up call never came that I requested. I get ready in time and get to my cab. The driver first takes me to San Jose Hospital which I knew was wrong so I show him the printout I had with me saying that my surgery was at Christus Muguerza Hospital so he took me there. I go in and try to check in with the front desk. They have no idea who I am or who Dr. Rumbaut is. After about an hour after they made a bunch of calls, they determined that I needed to be at Christus Muguerza Sur Hospital. (Sur means south for those who don't understand Spanish.) So they call me a taxi and explain to him where I needed to go. He shows up in an unmarked taxi which I was like "oh great, I'm going to taken somewhere remote to be mugged" but I was too desperate to not take it. He gets me there with maneuvers that would put even the craziest New York City cabbie to shame.
Here are some pictures of the lobby of Christus Muguerza Sur Hospital.
I get there and go to the front counter. The lady starts checking me in then she calls a doctor who speaks English to translate for the info that she doesn't understand. The doctor then leads me to the elevator and up to the floor that I need to be on. They get me to a prep area, I guess you would call it, have me get out of my clothes, put on a gown, and lay on the bed. They take my wallet, passport, and cell phone and put in an envelope to take it somewhere for safe keeping. They get me hooked up to an IV, they wrap my calves in ace bandages to prevent blood clots, then wheel me down to the operating room. They have like a half dozen people waiting for me. They make me slide onto the operating table from the bed. Then they have me extend my right arm out. I assume this is to get it out of the way during surgery.
After that, I wake up in a recovery room feeling really drunk wondering where I was and what was going on. I had some pain in my chest area and my shoulders. The shoulder pain is interesting since it's a "referred" pain. The nerve that causes it is in my gut but my brain interpreted the pain as coming from my shoulders. After being in there a bit to basically sober up, I get taken to my actual room.
Here are some pics of my room.
I get settled in and get my laptop out since the hospital has free WiFi. Once I felt up to it, I made a couple of calls back to the States. Around dinner time, my "dinner" shows up consisting of some chicken broth, bottled water, and hot tea.
Everything goes down fine. After I eat, I walked the halls for a bit to prevent blood clots in my legs and since I was getting a little stir-crazy. Here are some pics that I took wandering around.
I finally get bored with that and go back to my room. The nurse comes and injects more pain medication in me through my IV and gives me a sleeping pill. That's how I ended my first day as a "bandster".
Here are some pictures of the lobby of Christus Muguerza Sur Hospital.
I get there and go to the front counter. The lady starts checking me in then she calls a doctor who speaks English to translate for the info that she doesn't understand. The doctor then leads me to the elevator and up to the floor that I need to be on. They get me to a prep area, I guess you would call it, have me get out of my clothes, put on a gown, and lay on the bed. They take my wallet, passport, and cell phone and put in an envelope to take it somewhere for safe keeping. They get me hooked up to an IV, they wrap my calves in ace bandages to prevent blood clots, then wheel me down to the operating room. They have like a half dozen people waiting for me. They make me slide onto the operating table from the bed. Then they have me extend my right arm out. I assume this is to get it out of the way during surgery.
After that, I wake up in a recovery room feeling really drunk wondering where I was and what was going on. I had some pain in my chest area and my shoulders. The shoulder pain is interesting since it's a "referred" pain. The nerve that causes it is in my gut but my brain interpreted the pain as coming from my shoulders. After being in there a bit to basically sober up, I get taken to my actual room.
Here are some pics of my room.
I get settled in and get my laptop out since the hospital has free WiFi. Once I felt up to it, I made a couple of calls back to the States. Around dinner time, my "dinner" shows up consisting of some chicken broth, bottled water, and hot tea.
Everything goes down fine. After I eat, I walked the halls for a bit to prevent blood clots in my legs and since I was getting a little stir-crazy. Here are some pics that I took wandering around.
I finally get bored with that and go back to my room. The nurse comes and injects more pain medication in me through my IV and gives me a sleeping pill. That's how I ended my first day as a "bandster".
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Day 1 of Mexico, Part 2
This picture is from the drive on the way to Dr. Rumbaut's office. There must be elections coming up since half the billboards has campaign ads on them. These people on stilts appeared to be passing out flyers for some candidate.
Other than that, I arrive to Dr. Rumbaut's office uneventfully. His office is very nice and sleek. He was with some other patients and I had to fill out some paperwork while him and Dr. Richard were with other people. I meet with Dr. Richard first, who is Dr. Rumbaut's assistant. He is a younger guy and a cool guy. He spent a couple years as an exchange student in Oklahoma. He interviews me and talks about the procedure. He gives me a book prepared by Dr. Rumbaut with everything you need to know post-operation. He also gives me a "gift box" with Gatorade, bottled water, tea packets, Splenda, Isopure protein drink, Augmentin(antibiotic), and Norflex(muscle relaxer) to use after hospital discharge while I'm in Mexico.
I then meet with Dr. Rumbaut. He shows me a Power Point of the procedure and asked if I had any questions. I didn't since I've researched this to death. He spent part of his childhood in Akron, Ohio so we spent more time talking about how he likes the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Cleveland Browns and baseball more than anything else.
Once I'm done, I wait for the hotel shuttle to pick me up. I get picked up and arrive at the hotel uneventfully. While I check in, I buy $20USD worth of Pesos. The hotel was exchanging them at $12.50MXN to $1USD. After I get my room and get situated, I decide to wander to the H-E-B to get a calling card and to look around. This place was a foodie's paradise! I so wish I could have tried some of the meats and cheeses that they had in their deli section and the seafood at the seafood counter.
Zucaritas, Son grandes!
I looked all over the place for calling cards since they are usually displays of calling cards, gift cards and the like at grocery stores in the US. Since H-E-B is an American-owned grocery chain, I figured that that would be the case but it wasn't the case. I finally figured out that I had to get one from the cashier. I get in line and try to ask for a calling card and since I speak like 10-15 words of Spanish and that the cashier didn't speak any English, I was struggling. Luckily, a guy about 18-20 was right behind me and spoke English, he translated and told the cashier what I wanted and finally got my $100MXN calling card which is about $8USD which gave me about 130 minutes of talk time to the US. I got back to the hotel and called it an evening. That concludes my first day of the trip.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Day 1 of Mexico, Part 1
Well, the past three days have been a long journey. Wednesday morning I woke up at 4AM to get ready since my flight out of Birmingham was at 6:55. By the time I got through security at the airport (they didn't like my bottle of aloe (for my sunburn from swimming Tuesday), they just started boarding the plane. This was also due to American Airlines' computer system being down for like 15 minutes so I couldn't check in right away. I requested an exit row seat at check in which I got. When the boarding agent saw my boarding pass, he said he had a better place to sit and changed my ticket. I was like "great, that's nice". When I get to the seat, however, it's the first row right after first class which has no where to store a laptop bag and since there where no seats directly in front of that row, the tray tables come out of the middle arm rest which meant the middle armrest doesn't folds up. I was like "oh shit!". There isn't enough Crisco in the world to get me to fit in that seat. I notified a flight attendant and she told me to go speak with the boarding agent again since she didn't know what seats were open. So I ran back up the tunnel and told the gate agent and he reassigned me to the last row of the plane which only had an aisle and window seat which was good. The only drawback was the engines where right on the other side of the window and that the bathrooms were right next to me.
Once I got settled in, the flight was uneventful. I mentioned to the flight attendant sitting near me for takeoff that I was going to Mexico for to get a Lapband and he mentioned that he had a family member who had full gastric bypass and that they lost a ton of weight. He was real nice and wished me the best of luck.
We land in Dallas/Fort Worth early so the gate wasn't ready for us; we had to sit in the plane 15-20 minutes until we could get to the gate. We deplane and I find the monitors with the departures and discover that the flight to Monterrey departs from another terminal on the other side of the airport. I catch the tram and get to the gate uneventfully.
The picture above was taken before any announced delays. First we get an announcement stating that there was a maintenance delay on the plane. Then we get another about having to do an international flight security check. I'm frantically trying to reach the patient coordinator and the doctor's office in Monterrey to let them know of the delay so I can still make my pre-ops that day and so the taxi driver isn't waiting there for hours unnecessarily. Finally, they stated that the plane had a cracked windshield and that they had to find another plane. They finally have another plane for us but it's like 10 gates down so everyone heads down to that gate like a herd of cattle. We eventually take of at 11:44AM, the time we were supposed to land in Monterrey. I had the same seat issue on this flight so they put me in the same row but the other side so once we took off, the rest was uneventful.
Getting through customs and immigration was easy other than most of the forms they had were Spanish only. I got help on the plane for some of them and for the swine flu form they hand you when you get off the plane, I got help in the immigration line. Once I got past customs, I saw my driver holding the sign with my name on it; I felt special. Too bad I was carrying too much crap to stop and take a picture. Below are some pics of the outside of the airport when I was waiting for the driver to get the car and pics on the way to the cardiologist. The Home Depot pic was taken especially for my dad, btw.
The driver takes me to the cardiologist's office and the door is locked! I frantically call the Surgery Center's office and finally reached someone who speaks English and explained what was going on. They finally reach someone and said that they'll be there in ten minutes; they said that they will call back in 10-15 minutes to see if everything is ok. The medical assistant/nurse/secretary lady shows up about 10 minutes later and starts with drawing three viles of blood for the blood work. She then does an EKG on me. Then she does a chest X-ray. The cardiologist shows up and interviews me to make sure I have no preexisting problems to prevent me from having surgery and to make sure that I don't have a case of the crazies. He then does some breathing tests on me with his stethoscope and says I'm good to go. The lady calls for the hotel shuttle to take me to Dr. Rumbaut's office. Below are some scenic pics that I took from the windows while waiting for the cardiologist's office to open.
Well, I am getting tired and hungry so I will post Part 2 later...
Once I got settled in, the flight was uneventful. I mentioned to the flight attendant sitting near me for takeoff that I was going to Mexico for to get a Lapband and he mentioned that he had a family member who had full gastric bypass and that they lost a ton of weight. He was real nice and wished me the best of luck.
We land in Dallas/Fort Worth early so the gate wasn't ready for us; we had to sit in the plane 15-20 minutes until we could get to the gate. We deplane and I find the monitors with the departures and discover that the flight to Monterrey departs from another terminal on the other side of the airport. I catch the tram and get to the gate uneventfully.
The picture above was taken before any announced delays. First we get an announcement stating that there was a maintenance delay on the plane. Then we get another about having to do an international flight security check. I'm frantically trying to reach the patient coordinator and the doctor's office in Monterrey to let them know of the delay so I can still make my pre-ops that day and so the taxi driver isn't waiting there for hours unnecessarily. Finally, they stated that the plane had a cracked windshield and that they had to find another plane. They finally have another plane for us but it's like 10 gates down so everyone heads down to that gate like a herd of cattle. We eventually take of at 11:44AM, the time we were supposed to land in Monterrey. I had the same seat issue on this flight so they put me in the same row but the other side so once we took off, the rest was uneventful.
Getting through customs and immigration was easy other than most of the forms they had were Spanish only. I got help on the plane for some of them and for the swine flu form they hand you when you get off the plane, I got help in the immigration line. Once I got past customs, I saw my driver holding the sign with my name on it; I felt special. Too bad I was carrying too much crap to stop and take a picture. Below are some pics of the outside of the airport when I was waiting for the driver to get the car and pics on the way to the cardiologist. The Home Depot pic was taken especially for my dad, btw.
The driver takes me to the cardiologist's office and the door is locked! I frantically call the Surgery Center's office and finally reached someone who speaks English and explained what was going on. They finally reach someone and said that they'll be there in ten minutes; they said that they will call back in 10-15 minutes to see if everything is ok. The medical assistant/nurse/secretary lady shows up about 10 minutes later and starts with drawing three viles of blood for the blood work. She then does an EKG on me. Then she does a chest X-ray. The cardiologist shows up and interviews me to make sure I have no preexisting problems to prevent me from having surgery and to make sure that I don't have a case of the crazies. He then does some breathing tests on me with his stethoscope and says I'm good to go. The lady calls for the hotel shuttle to take me to Dr. Rumbaut's office. Below are some scenic pics that I took from the windows while waiting for the cardiologist's office to open.
Well, I am getting tired and hungry so I will post Part 2 later...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
One week to go...
So a week from today I will be in Monterrey to get prepped for my surgery. I'm on day three of the liquid diet right now and I really miss real food. I went to the bank today and got the cashiers checks for the surgery so that is taken care of. I just need to call Verizon and find out about the costs to use my phone in Mehico in case of an emergency.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Two days until the dreaded diet
So I start the dreaded pre-op diet Monday. I have five days of "full liquids" and then five days of "clear liquids". Full liquids include Jello, light yogurt, skim milk, tomato soup, etc. Clear liquids are things like broth, tea, sugar free popsicles, Crystal light, and the like. I will also have to drink 2-3 protein shakes a day. The goal of this crazy diet is to shrink my liver in order for the surgery to be easier and have a lower risk of complications. After the surgery, I will be on the full liquid diet for a month. I can slowly after a couple weeks start adding things like mashed potatoes, sugar-free pudding, scrambled eggs, etc. The next six weeks are going to suck!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Another step closer...
I just received an e-mail from the State Department stating that my passport is complete and is being mailed today. Yet another piece in the puzzle is put in place. I'm excited!
Monday, May 18, 2009
A present in the mail today...
Well, I checked the mail when I got home tonight there was an envelope from my Grandparents. I open it and there's a letter written by my Grandma along with a check for $8000. This is the other $7400 that I need for the surgery along with expense money for my trip. I am so thrilled to have this arrive. I planned on mailing out the deposit check this week so that will put me one step closer to the procedure.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Regarding the swine flu hysteria
Here is an e-mail that I got the other day from my patient coordinator in case any of you are worried about me heading over the border in a couple months:
Hello! Knowing there is some concern here in the states regarding the Swine Flu being reported I did some researching today for an update after speaking with Dr Rumbaut yesterday. The links and comments below confirm how it actually is at this time – As Dr Rumbaut described it there. When you read comments you will find some people who have actually just come from Mexico. I think - perhaps a key point would be that Mexico City has 22 million inhabitants – one of the largest cities in the world and Metropolitan New York – almost 19 million. Monterrey has a population 3.8 million for the whole metro area. Hence the opportunity for higher statistics in these more populated areas. I cannot help but wonder what the stats are for last year during the flu season and if they are similar. I have not been able to find this information online. (*note the second comment below).
Dr Rumbaut told me yesterday there are 10 reported ‘flu’ cases currently in Monterrey and they are waiting for test results to see if it is actually the current swine flu being reported. He knows one of the 10 people - a friend who is actually recovering – were this swine flu she probably would not be getting better day by day so he seemed to think this was not a swine flu case with her but she is being assessed and isolated. They have closed the schools as a precaution but he seemed to think that it was an easy decision given the upcoming Friday is a holiday anyway. People there are buying lots of masks as a precaution though the best precaution in my research is to cover your mouth when you cough and wash your hands – a lot. So, not many cases in the state of Nuevo Leon at this point (less than New York) and strong measures are being taken to prevent it city wide in Monterrey and the state of Nuevo Leon. However, in Dr Rumbaut's office and most others in Monterrey are reporting to work and such, so life is going on as normal for many people – they are looking for updates, just like we are.
Dr Rumbaut is extremely cautious – it is why he has no mortality rate with his surgeries – if he is at any point concerned he will inform me immediately and we will let all scheduled patients know right away to reschedule.
I think personal research is important but sometimes the media gets a little carried away I admit. However, I do agree with one comment on the website below – one person said “they are damned if they hype it and damned if they don’t”.
So we need to rely on honest information wherever we can find it. Hope this helps if you are feeling frightened no matter where you live or where you are traveling.
Hello! Knowing there is some concern here in the states regarding the Swine Flu being reported I did some researching today for an update after speaking with Dr Rumbaut yesterday. The links and comments below confirm how it actually is at this time – As Dr Rumbaut described it there. When you read comments you will find some people who have actually just come from Mexico. I think - perhaps a key point would be that Mexico City has 22 million inhabitants – one of the largest cities in the world and Metropolitan New York – almost 19 million. Monterrey has a population 3.8 million for the whole metro area. Hence the opportunity for higher statistics in these more populated areas. I cannot help but wonder what the stats are for last year during the flu season and if they are similar. I have not been able to find this information online. (*note the second comment below).
Dr Rumbaut told me yesterday there are 10 reported ‘flu’ cases currently in Monterrey and they are waiting for test results to see if it is actually the current swine flu being reported. He knows one of the 10 people - a friend who is actually recovering – were this swine flu she probably would not be getting better day by day so he seemed to think this was not a swine flu case with her but she is being assessed and isolated. They have closed the schools as a precaution but he seemed to think that it was an easy decision given the upcoming Friday is a holiday anyway. People there are buying lots of masks as a precaution though the best precaution in my research is to cover your mouth when you cough and wash your hands – a lot. So, not many cases in the state of Nuevo Leon at this point (less than New York) and strong measures are being taken to prevent it city wide in Monterrey and the state of Nuevo Leon. However, in Dr Rumbaut's office and most others in Monterrey are reporting to work and such, so life is going on as normal for many people – they are looking for updates, just like we are.
Dr Rumbaut is extremely cautious – it is why he has no mortality rate with his surgeries – if he is at any point concerned he will inform me immediately and we will let all scheduled patients know right away to reschedule.
I think personal research is important but sometimes the media gets a little carried away I admit. However, I do agree with one comment on the website below – one person said “they are damned if they hype it and damned if they don’t”.
So we need to rely on honest information wherever we can find it. Hope this helps if you are feeling frightened no matter where you live or where you are traveling.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Airfare Booked
I took a break at work and checked out airfares real quick for this trip. I checked Orbitz, Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline, Hotwire, and aa.com. I saw that prices were climbing above the $600 mark for tickets for the days I needed to fly (Wednesday and Sunday). Priceline had one ticket left for a price of $525 round trip which I attempted to book. When it was processing my transaction with my credit card number it came back as saying that the price changed and it was now over $560 or so. Travelocity was still listing the same itinerary for $526 with one ticket left so I gave it the college try and my order went through. Here is my itinerary in case anyone cares:
AMERICAN AIRLINES 1643 BHM
Birmingham Wed 01 Jul
06:55 AM DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth 08:53 AM Q None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 575 DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth Wed 01 Jul
10:10 AM MTY
Monterrey 11:44 AM O None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 604 MTY
Monterrey Sun 05 Jul
09:25 AM DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth 11:14 AM O None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 1412 DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth Sun 05 Jul
03:20 PM BHM
Birmingham 05:00 PM N None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 1643 BHM
Birmingham Wed 01 Jul
06:55 AM DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth 08:53 AM Q None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 575 DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth Wed 01 Jul
10:10 AM MTY
Monterrey 11:44 AM O None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 604 MTY
Monterrey Sun 05 Jul
09:25 AM DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth 11:14 AM O None
AMERICAN AIRLINES 1412 DFW
Dallas/ Fort Worth Sun 05 Jul
03:20 PM BHM
Birmingham 05:00 PM N None
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Airfare
So my grandma was very nice and sent me a check for the airfare which at the time (last Thursday) was $500. I received the check in the mail yesterday and put it in the bank this morning. I have a look at the airfare this morning and it jumped to $556! That extra $56 is a lot of money to me. Hopefully by some miracle, the prices go back down some between now and tomorrow. Hell, they did when we all booked our tickets to get to my sister's wedding. More to come...
Monday, April 20, 2009
Passport applied for
While I was out getting an oil change and getting my tags renewed, I made a pitstop at the post office to apply for my passport. Since I filled the form out online and brought the printed copy with me. It was pretty easy and fast. The post office did the pictures and converted my money into a money order for the State Department. The only possible glitch is that the clerk thinks that since my passport was from the County Clerk in Michigan versus the Michigan Department of Vital Statistics that the State Department is going to have a problem with that. According to everything I read on the State Department's website, my birth certificate should be fine but we shall see. All in all, after the money order fee and pictures fee, I'm out $116 today.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
First Post
I started this blog to document the events that will lead to me going to Mexico for Lapband surgery. As anyone who's known me for a long time has known that I've always been overweight. I progressed from cute and chubby as a kid to an obese adult. I felt I was in decent shape for someone my size back when I was studying martial arts and later playing lacrosse in college. Then getting married, divorced, and moving to the South led my weight to get really out of hand.
When my grandmother offered me the opportunity to get a Lapband installed, I jumped at the chance. For the past two months, I've been researching my options and doctors. At first, I decided on a doctor in Tijuana but with the escalating drug violence taking place there and after reading a couple bad reviews on the doctor, I decided to look further. After talking to a lot of prior patients, I decided on Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey.
You all must be thinking: "You're insane to get surgery done in Mexico!". Well, I was somewhat apprehensive but after the research and talking to people who've done it, I am no more concerned as I would be if I had it done in this country. The cost savings and lack of bureaucracy makes getting the surgery done in Mexico very appealing. Everyone knows the US health system and insurance system is broken and bureaucracy would make the Soviet Union blush.
Last week, we set a date for my surgery, July 2nd. I will be spending Independence Day in Mexico but it was the best time for me since the work holiday means one less day I'm off from work and it'll be slow at work so I was able to get the time off. This week, I will have to apply for my passport and book my airfare to Monterrey. Here is what I have to do before the surgery:
- Before two weeks before surgery: mail $500 deposit to surgery coordinator
- Ten days before surgery: start pre-op liquid diet
- Five days before surgery: switch to clear liquid diet
- July 1: fly from Birmingham to Monterrey
- Later that day: pre-op tests like ultrasound, blood work, etc.
- July 2: surgery
- July 5: fly back to Alabama
- July 6: Return to work - no physical labor!!!
- Four to six weeks after surgery: get first Lapband fill
When my grandmother offered me the opportunity to get a Lapband installed, I jumped at the chance. For the past two months, I've been researching my options and doctors. At first, I decided on a doctor in Tijuana but with the escalating drug violence taking place there and after reading a couple bad reviews on the doctor, I decided to look further. After talking to a lot of prior patients, I decided on Dr. Roberto Rumbaut in Monterrey.
You all must be thinking: "You're insane to get surgery done in Mexico!". Well, I was somewhat apprehensive but after the research and talking to people who've done it, I am no more concerned as I would be if I had it done in this country. The cost savings and lack of bureaucracy makes getting the surgery done in Mexico very appealing. Everyone knows the US health system and insurance system is broken and bureaucracy would make the Soviet Union blush.
Last week, we set a date for my surgery, July 2nd. I will be spending Independence Day in Mexico but it was the best time for me since the work holiday means one less day I'm off from work and it'll be slow at work so I was able to get the time off. This week, I will have to apply for my passport and book my airfare to Monterrey. Here is what I have to do before the surgery:
- Before two weeks before surgery: mail $500 deposit to surgery coordinator
- Ten days before surgery: start pre-op liquid diet
- Five days before surgery: switch to clear liquid diet
- July 1: fly from Birmingham to Monterrey
- Later that day: pre-op tests like ultrasound, blood work, etc.
- July 2: surgery
- July 5: fly back to Alabama
- July 6: Return to work - no physical labor!!!
- Four to six weeks after surgery: get first Lapband fill
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