Mexican Surgery and Going it Alone

[BebeZed]

I thought I'd post an update that yes, I am going to Mexico with Ungson's protege Esquerra. But no, I will not go alone and will take my husband (although he doesn't know about surgery as yet.) I do plan to stay a full 10 days, either in Mexicali or San Diego.

FYI: Perhaps because they are trying to promote Esquerra, a virgin DS is "on sale" for $11k vs the usual $14k. If I had it in USA, it would have been $40k with air fare. That's a lot of extra cash for complications (which insurance may not cover no matter where it is done) or for plastics.

OMG I am so happy for you! As you know, I got back yesterday - today I was greeting my son and the dog as they returned home from a visit (actually babysitting for big bro) and cleaning house because grumpy boy managed to leave both sides of the kitchen sink full of stinky dirty dishes and I couldn't handle any broth until it was done

So the surgery report says the surgery went for 4 hours, 50 minutes . They got rid of adhesions from my crap band, then removed said band (they cleaned and packaged it just for me! w000t!), did the sleeve and removed the excess stomach. Alimentary limb: 200cm, bilopancreatic limb: 240cm, common channel: 100cm. We discussed this later and the 100cm was not only based on bowel length but also my age (pushing 60), BMI, etc. I was hoping for maybe a tad more aggressive but I'm no doctor... They also fixed a hiatal hernia and found Meckel's diverticulum (a congenital defect).

Pain level immediately after surgery on morphine was a 2-3
The following day it was a 1 or 2, mostly when I tried to get up. The drain hurts a bit. Once they took out the drain, pain level was staying at 0-1; the 1 was only if I got a little too energetic in getting out of bed or strolling around.

The day I left, I was at 0 pain. I did walk entirely too much at the San Diego airport (about 2.5 solid hours of wandering around doing leisurely laps) so I got a bit uncomfortable and popped a pain pill. I was in lala land for the entire flight and had no further pain. And today, zero pain, although I got a bit tired after cleaning the kitchen. I also put in about 4 hours of work (computer based). I have made myself available for a full day's work starting Monday. I truly feel *that* well!

So my take on this experience was:

(a) Dr Esquerra was quite happy to discuss his methods and thoroughly answered all my questions and concerns. Dr Campos handles the day-to-day visits but Dr Esquerra did come in several times to check on me. ALL of the doctors from MBC came to see me at least twice during my stay.

(b) the hospital is very good and most speak English - a couple of nurses didn't but had translation apps and we got along quite well. The housekeeping and dietary staff usually didn't speak English but understood basics and were very polite. You will very quickly learn the meaning of "listo" though... LOL

(c) bring plenty of entertainment because there's very little in the way of good English-language tv programming. I watched the same episodes of Top Gear, Graham Norton, and Masterchef about 3 times... and I did watch some Spanish-language TV as well. "Los Simpson" is hilarious in Spanish They also have some decent cooking shows. I loaded up my Kindle too... "The Martian" is rather an entertaining book

(d) Those accompanying patients will be very, very bored and will be forced to sleep on rather uncomfortable couches if staying at the hospital the entire time. The recliner in my room was really comfy but I never did get it to recline properly... (maybe it was the drugs I had on board at the time LOL) Anyway, you might consider having them stay at the hotel at night and come during the day. That way everyone keeps their sanity. I considered bringing my daughter (who went with me when I had my lapband) but TBH I didn't want to have to be concerned about her happiness and well-being... I selfishly (and rightly!) wanted to concentrate on me. YMMV, and as others have said it IS good to have an advocate on hand - just in case. However, they might be a bit more cheerful during the day if they go to the hotel at night. BTW, there were two other MBC patients there while I was there and one came by herself and one brought her husband. Her husband looked bored to tears but again, YMMV

(e) If you truly want to stay extra days, Calexico is just across the border so you may want to consider staying there instead of San Diego (which is quite the drive) if you don't want to stay in Mexicali. I have no idea what kind of accommodations they have in town though... all I remember is that there's a notary public and a 7-11. LOL In Mexicali, however, the Hotel Lucerna has it going on... very nice hotel, good restaurants from what I hear (I missed my ONE chance to have a "last meal" but slept through it!!), comfy room, English speaking desk clerks and bell staff.

(f) When you go, don't forget basic toiletries like freakin' soap for the shower or shampoo because they sure didn't give me any. I snagged the soap and shampoo from the hotel and brought conditioner so I was set, but then I forgot a comb. A comb!! I had brushes but trying to brush out waist length wet hair that tangles easily was not fun.

(g) It's quite helpful to bring a short extension cord if you have electronics to charge. I was able to use one so my two-port charger could be placed on the bedside table, keeping my phone and Kindle close enough to use even while charging.


Well shoot, I've read novellas that were shorter than this, so I'll stop right here. Feel free to contact me privately if you want more info. I'm pretty doggone happy with how everything turned out.

WARNING: GROSS SUBJECT
ps - why didn't someone TELL me that my first poops would be rather comical looking? The first one went in the bedpan they kept in the toilet to measure liquid output and it was... "interesting" LOL Sorry, that was gross. But it was hilarious to me LOL Yeah, I'm a bit weird....

 

[southernlady]

WARNING: GROSS SUBJECT
ps - why didn't someone TELL me that my first poops would be rather comical looking? The first one went in the bedpan they kept in the toilet to measure liquid output and it was... "interesting" LOL Sorry, that was gross. But it was hilarious to me LOL Yeah, I'm a bit weird....

LOL, I didn't poop for the first time til I was home...and honestly do not remember exactly what it looked like.

Sounds like Dr Esquerra is a well trained DS surgeon...good to know.

 

[Clematis]

Thanks for all that detail @BebeZed It's very helpful. Sounds like he did a lot of work in there and yet you felt/feel great. So good to know.

I had wondered if he would repair hernias while he was in there. I have no knowledge as to whether I have one but good to know he's looking out for that. Did he take out your gall bladder?

The Hotel Lucerna is where you stayed for the pre-op night? Is it next to the hospital? My very tall husband would definitely stay the nights in the hotel and honestly I don't want him around all that much during the day.

Apparently as a virgin DS, I would only be kept in the hospital 4 nights vs your 6. But I want to hang around a little longer in case of complications before I fly (with a plane change) across the country. Instead of San Diego, perhaps we'd just stay in Mexicali a few extra days although not sure what we would do there. It has a large Chinese population and so that food is supposed to be wonderful -- fat lot of good it will do me immediately post surgery tho. I realize you were in the hospital but did you get the impression that it was safe to walk around Mexicali? Lonely Planet says it is not. Trip Advisor doesn't make it sound as dangerous but neither does anyone give it a glowing review.

From my HS Spanish, I thought listo meant ready. Why were they asking you that all the time?

I'm unsuccessful in imagining a poop that looks comical so will have to wait until my surgery to be enlightened.

Perhaps you should put the lap band in a shadow box frame as art.

 

[BebeZed]

@Clematis - no, he didn't take out my gall bladder and that's probably one thing I should have discussed with him prior to surgery since he was going in there anyway LOL I was really surprised how thorough he was with checking my small bowel - I'd never known about the congenital issue I have and that could be a really good thing to know later on if it decides to create a problem (chances are it won't).

Yes, Hotel Lucerna is where I stayed and no, it's not close to the hospital. Your husband would have to cab it back and forth between hotel and hospital. I'm sure Nina or Karla could give you more info on that if you asked (or Yolanda if you wait until you get there. Yolanda's a trip! Love her to death LOL)

Like anywhere else, there are areas of town you want to stay out of, but there is supposed to be absolutely fabulous Chinese food there. You will have one chance to partake - for lunch just after the pre-op tests. Dinner has to be something light. Silly me...I was so exhausted from the trip (I started at 2am) that I fell asleep and missed my opportunity. Bummer. Anyway, as far as border cities go, Mexicali is actually safer than Tijuana and Nogales. Like all cities, you have to keep situational awareness and keep to the touristy areas unless accompanied by someone local who you trust. I honestly wouldn't have much of an issue sightseeing and such if I went with someone else.

You'll probably have a chance to put that high school Spanish to work for you. Yes, "listo" means "ready" ... and you will hear it a bunch of times as you do your whirlwind pre-op hospital test routine, as you are handed off from one person to another and you go from one test to another. I think it was the word of the day on the day before my surgery

Funny story... I was trying to keep it on the down low that I understand Spanish because while I can usually keep up with most of what is said, my speaking skills are really rather rusty. And by rusty I mean horribly broken and my accent is horrendous. So we get in there and in the midst of testing at the hospital and everyone is talking at once and I was taking it all in while trying not to show I knew what they were saying when Dr. Campos called me out on it and I laughed. He said he could see that I understood in my eyes. LOL After that, I didn't hesitate to use my rusty Spanish with non-English speakers and they seemed to appreciate my efforts. They didn't even laugh

About the poop... it was so comical that I really should have snapped a pic to share with my family (yeah ummm... we're a bit weird! lol) but I was so upset about leaving that...that... THING... in the bedpan for someone else to clean up that I didn't really think of it. I've never heard anyone else say anything about that sort of thing so maybe it's just me but aside from being terribly sorry for the poor person who had to clean it up, I got a real kick out of it

As for the lap bad, I briefly considered making a dart board out of it but soon reconsidered. The shadow box idea is much more practical and gives me something to sneer at when I feel grumpy LOL

 

[DSRIGGS]

BTW Dr K's staff told me the cost would be between $19 - $26K and that included hospital, anesthesia and his services. I would throw another $3K on that for travel, food and hotel. Expensive but way less than $40K

 

[DSRIGGS]

@BebeZed I guess I missed it. What congenital defect did you have? A Meckel's divirticulum? My son had one of those on a surgery did on my son Cameron (not weight loss). It sounds like your Dr did the Hess method and measured your small bowel, so it would be easy to find if doing that.

@Clematis I can not imagine a surgeon going in and not repairing a hernia or anything else they found. That would be extremely negligent on there part, IMO.

 

[BebeZed]

I just found this little blog gem by Nina that mentions Dr. Esquerra last year. http://duodenal-switch-mexico.blogspot.com/2014/09/choosing-right-duodenal-switch-surgeon.html

BTW Dr K's staff told me the cost would be between $19 - $26K and that included hospital, anesthesia and his services. I would throw another $3K on that for travel, food and hotel. Expensive but way less than $40K

That's not bad, it really isn't. It was beyond MY means but if I'd had the money I most likely would have gone to him because he seems to be THE go-to guy. I *definitely* would have had my insurance covered it. (deleted rant about stupid insurance companies and how bariatrics should be covered across the board)

 

[BebeZed]

@BebeZed I guess I missed it. What congenital defect did you have? A Meckel's divirticulum? My son had one of those on a surgery did on my son Cameron (not weight loss). It sounds like your Dr did the Hess method and measured your small bowel, so it would be easy to find if doing that.

@Clematis I can not imagine a surgeon going in and not repairing a hernia or anything else they found. That would be extremely negligent on there part, IMO.

Scott, you are correct - it was Meckel's diverticulum. And yes, Dr. Esquerra does do the Hess method - that was one of the first things we discussed when I talked to him.

 

[DSRIGGS]

Scott, you are correct - it was Meckel's diverticulum. And yes, Dr. Esquerra does do the Hess method - that was one of the first things we discussed when I talked to him.

Good deal all around.

 

[Clematis]

BTW Dr K's staff told me the cost would be between $19 - $26K and that included hospital, anesthesia and his services. I would throw another $3K on that for travel, food and hotel. Expensive but way less than $40K

Wow. I find $19k hard to believe. Even $26k seems low for CA. Cleveland Clinic is $34k (and they only do 2-3 a year); Rabin about the same (plus airfare and hotel in SF). I'm guessing the $19k is for the lap band and $26k is for RNY (RNY at Cleveland Clinic is $26k). If it was $19k, I would definitely go to Dr. K as I think my husband and PCP would be more comfortable with a US doctor. But at this point I think it would be months before I'd be able to meet his nutritionist and psychological requirements -- as a reminder, my PCP doesn't "believe" in WLS so it would be a challenge if not impossible to get her to refer me if he requires that. And from what I can see on his website, he expects out-of-towners to have an in-person pre-op consult a month before surgery. Add another thousand for airfare each time.

MX just seems easier and far less costly.

 

[Clematis]

@BebeZed Did you have lap or open?

About the poop... it was so comical that I really should have snapped a pic to share with my family

Was it wearing a clown nose? Was it Tina, er, Feh?

 

[DSRIGGS]

Wow. I find $19k hard to believe. Even $26k seems low for CA. Cleveland Clinic is $34k (and they only do 2-3 a year); Rabin about the same (plus airfare and hotel in SF). I'm guessing the $19k is for the lap band and $26k is for RNY (RNY at Cleveland Clinic is $26k). If it was $19k, I would definitely go to Dr. K as I think my husband and PCP would be more comfortable with a US doctor. But at this point I think it would be months before I'd be able to meet his nutritionist and psychological requirements -- as a reminder, my PCP doesn't "believe" in WLS so it would be a challenge if not impossible to get her to refer me if he requires that. And from what I can see on his website, he expects out-of-towners to have an in-person pre-op consult a month before surgery. Add another thousand for airfare each time.

MX just seems easier and far less costly.

Dr k does not do lap band or RnY.

$19k is for Open
$26k is for Lap

And Dr K could not be easier or better to deal with

 

[Clematis]

@BebeZed Did he tell you what size he made your sleeve?

 

[Clematis]

@DSRIGGS I was not suggesting that Dr K was anything other than easy to work with and a great surgeon. I would like to go to him... I would not like to pay $26k.

 

[DSRIGGS]

@DSRIGGS I was not suggesting that Dr K was anything other than easy to work with and a great surgeon. I would like to go to him... I would not like to pay $26k.

Oh no, I understand that. I wouldn't want to pay that out of pocket either. My brother is very close to making the decision to get the DS and I am not sure if he will end up with Dr K or Mexicali. Dr k is obviously the preference but $15k is a good chunk of money