Hi Debbest,
I felt pretty good on the day of surgery. I did my tests the day before surgery and met with the nutritionist. On the day of surgery they take you to your private room, you change into your gown and put on some compression stockings, the nurse starts your IV. You meet with the surgeon and get a chance to ask all of your questions. The nurse gives you an IV antibiotic before surgery. Then you get a medication to prevent nausea and an anti-anxiety med. I didn't ask her what it was but it worked really well. You have to go to the bathroom before surgery because they don't give you a catheter, which I thought was great. Then you walk to the OR. I only remember the nurse starting to put on some additional pneumatic compression stockings and the anesthetist telling me he was giving me Versed and Fentanyl in the IV - then I was out.
I briefly remember being transferred onto my bed and then I didn't wake up until the evening. The other two women who had surgery after me were already up and walking in the hallway and their voices woke me up. I actually felt surprisingly good and walked up and down the hall a bit. There was a physician who came and talked to me briefly to see how I was feeling. He said he was staying there overnight which was reassuring. I wondered if maybe he was the equivalent of a medical resident but didn't ask him. The nurse came and gave me a pain med in my IV even though I was pain free at that time and a crushed sleeping pill to put under my tongue. I fell asleep almost immediately and they woke me up in the AM around 6:30 because they want to discharge you by 7:00 ish.
Before you leave, you have to pay for your prescription meds (180 US dollars - plus an extra 25% if you use a credit card). You get non-narcotic pain pills (you crush it), a liquid antibiotic, and pill (which you crush) that helps the stomach empty faster, and an antacid. The next day you have to return to the clinic around noon and have a leak test. You only have to have a few small sips of barium while the physician watches it empty from your stomach on the fluoroscopy X-ray. After that you are officially discharged.
I stayed at Hotel Lucerne but the others were staying at the Marriott, which they said was a great place. On the day after surgery, I was able to walk 6 blocks to find a store to buy water (my hotel only provided 2 bottles per day), vitamin water, and Pedialyte. If you are staying at the Marriott, I believe there is a Walmart nearby. If you are arriving early, you may want to get some drinks in advance. Pedialyte tastes lousy but I tried to drink some for the electrolytes but I'm not sure it's necessary. You can get chicken broth from room service. I used the coffee maker to warm it up when needed.
I stayed for 2 nights and can honestly say that I didn't ever feel any pain. They put surgical glue on your incisions so that helped to prevent my pants from rubbing on them. I didn't have any nausea or any problems at all. I felt well enough to sit in the shade at the pool and to walk a few blocks at a time.
Getting across the border was pretty easy and they give you a letter that you show so that you can go to the front of the line and don't have to stand so long. After you cross the border (going home) you have to walk one block to the place where you wait for the driver. This is the only time that I felt kind of unwell because it was hot out and the other person who was going home at the same time as me was a really fast walker! I think the combination of walking faster than I was comfortable with, the heat, and pulling the suitcase made me feel a little light headed. Also, I hadn't taken any water along because I thought they would have the 3 ounce fluid rule at the Mexico/US border. They must not have because the other person with me had a litre of water and took it across the border. I'd recommend that you have some water so that you can keep drinking until you get to the airport as this helps you feel better.
I took 10 days off of work and felt great the whole time. You are eating very few. calories so I found that if I walked uphill, even slight inclines, I felt a bit weak. I also found that I was a bit tired in the morning on the first few days that I returned to work.
I have never felt hungry and it's hard to determine when you are full. At first, it takes a long time to get in your 8 cups of liquids as you can feel the restriction when you swallow. It seems like you spend your whole day drinking small sips. I assume it is from the postoperative swelling of the stomach. I found this initially kind of discouraging but it only takes a few days and then you can swallow a bit more volume at a time, so drinking gets easier. Now it's not hard to drink 8 cups a day and I don't feel like it's my full time job. I think it's really important to get your 8 cups per day in no matter what or you can become dehydrated easily and can be quite serious. You'll find that the sleeve makes a lot of really loud gurgling noises with each sip at first but I have found that this is getting less over time.
I think the most important advice is that if you get back to your hotel and have any concerns at all about how you are feeling, make sure you call the clinic right away. Also, make sure you drink, drink, drink.
Your plans to stay in Tijuana until Thursday sound completely adequate. I stayed 2 nights but would have loved to have been able to stay longer as my hotel was great and the weather was fantastic. I didn't do any sight seeing in Tijuana but my hotel shuttle driver told me there are tours you can take. I believe there are places to shop near the Marriott. I traveled alone and didn't really feel like doing these things by myself. I felt so good that I was able to fly to Calgary, go and visit my son for a couple of hours, and then drive myself to my home town, which was a 2 hour drive.
The most troubling thing for me was that the 3 week pre-surgery liquid diet made me very constipated. I contacted the nutritionist for advice but eventually had to resort to using glycerin suppositories. I had to use them before surgery and then a couple of times since coming home, but now things are normal. I only tell you this because it was the only thing that made me really uncomfortable and I have read on some of the other online forums about people getting so constipated that they had to go to the emergency department.
I'm sorry for the really long reply but I'm giving it because I would have appreciating knowing what to expect and I want to reassure you that it was a very positive experience and you can feel confident that you are making a good decision for yourself. I'd love to hear about your experience once you come back. I'll keep checking your blog to see how you're doing.
