Surgery Day!

So after months of waiting, worrying and wondering if this day would ever come, it was finally July 23rd!

The driver from the hospital told us he would pick us up at 6am the next morning, so my oldest son (Joshua) and I got showered and dressed and headed for the lobby promptly at 6. Surprisingly, I had slept pretty well on a hotel mattress with nerves that should have been a mess, but I was pretty calm all in all. Sitting in the lobby, we met and talked to two other women who had had the surgery and were flying home that day. They  were very nice and offered many good suggestions on comfort after surgery and they told me to walk and sip - just as all of the other "sleevers" on Vertical Sleeve Talk online that I had met and talked to. They looked pretty strong and that gave me some confidence too. I also met a woman that had come in Sunday as well and was having the surgery early that morning alongside me. Her name was Sandy. We were to be the first two patients that morning and we were getting picked up early so that the doctor could start on us while the other patients were getting picked up at the airport. Sandy was older - nearly 60 and really didn't look like she had much weight to lose, but I wasn't about to judge. If the doctor had agreed to sleeve her, she was good to go.

We waited for the driver and pretty soon 7am rolled around and he still hadn't shown up. The patients getting ready to go home told us that the drivers are never on time, so we didn't worry - just waited.

By 8am I was getting a little bit irritated. I could've been sleeping all of that time! :(  Finally around 8:15am the driver rolled in and we were on our way to Jerusalem "hospital". It was a pretty quick 15-20 minute ride over there. I didn't see any armed guards that morning which was a little relieving, but they do unlock the doors to let you in the clinic and lock them behind you which is just not something that we experience in the USA at a medical facility. We sat down in the very small lobby and they checked us in. They tagged our luggage with our names and made sure we were paid in full. It was only a few more minutes and they called us back to be prepped for surgery. I hugged and kissed my son goodbye not knowing how long it might be until I saw him again. He looked a little worried, but I trudged on. By this time, I was nervous myself and questioning my choice in establishments a bit, but I moved on. They had taken my blood the day before upon arriving in Tijuana, so they needed only to weigh me in, take my vitals and do an EKG. I weighed in at a proud 305 that morning, meaning I had lost 28 pounds before surgery which was pretty darn close to my goal! I put on the hospital gown, and they gave me a hat for my head and they wrapped my legs tightly in wraps (to prevent blood clots) and taped those and booties onto my feet. Soon I was given an IV in my hand (they don't seem to do them anywhere else) which wasn't the most comfortable but the nurse was a young man that had probably a little less experience than what I am used to here at home. Within minutes of that, the Cardiologist who spoke no English arrived and they hooked me up for the EKG. Luckily I speak some Spanish and I was able to ask him how my heart looked. He said it was "strong and healthy". Hmmm... not so strong when I kept having chest pains here at home, but I'm sure it was strong enough for surgery and that's all that really mattered.

Once cleared officially for surgery, the surgeon himself - Dr. Almanza - came and introduced himself. He explained briefly what he was going to do and that we should expect some gas pain from the gas they inject into the abdominal cavity to be able to work in there laparoscopically. He then turned to Sandy and asked her how much weight she had lost before surgery. She replied "Three pounds, doctor". He looked at her without any expression briefly, before then asking me the same question. When I replied with an excited, "Twenty-eight pounds!" he smiled and said that he was proud of me and impressed by my "passion for weight loss". In my joking way, I said, "Just make sure and sew my tummy a little bit tighter then, ok"? I had been thinking that a smaller "bougie" as it's called would sure be nice. The "bougie" is the tube that is inserted down the throat by the anesthesiologist to measure against while stapling off the stomach from the part that will be removed. It's a sizing tool, basically. This surgeon almost always uses the same size bougie on all patients. When I said that he smiled and said in his broken English, "I am going to do just that. I will give you a smaller bougie for your passion." I was SO excited! A smaller stomach makes for a tough road as far as eating but I also believe it will make for faster weight loss and I was almost in tears with excitement.  :) Dr. Almanza is also known for taking the smaller patients first and doing the bigger ones later, so I knew I would be #2 since Sandy was so much smaller than me.

Dr. Almanza excused himself and it was only moments then before the nurse came and got me for surgery! Number one! We walked down the narrow stairs carrying my IV bag back toward the lobby and I almost asked to say goodbye to my son, but decided to just keep walking and get this done! I saw the swinging OR doors ahead and on them it clearly said in Spanish, Operating Room, no admittance, no food or drink. "Here I go!" I thought as the nurse pushed the doors open. Immediately inside the doors, I was strongly flooded with the delicious smell of Mexican food and I couldn't help but think it was some cruel last joke before surgery. There inside the doors sat about 4-5 Mexican in surgical scrubs, downing what looked like heavenly fajitas! Ok... NOT something you would see in the USA. Weird at best, right? The nurse kind of pushed me gently forward through the next doors which lead into the OR outright. It looked pretty simple, but clean and adequate. She had me lay on the table and started to strap down my arms. I HATE THIS PART. This is the part of surgery I could live without. Feeling a little trapped and totally vulnerable is not a good feeling. I was relieved to immediately see the anesthesiologist. I recognized him from their website. He's a big man with a gentle face. I explained to him that I have horrible nausea and vomiting after surgery and asked if he could please dose me strongly with anti-nausea meds before I wake up to avoid that. Vomiting after stomach surgery sounded so painful....  :(   He told me he would and that's the last thing I remember. OUT like a light.