Donna & Ozzie Hoeme

October  2003

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Tubal reversal  Oct 20, 2003

October 2003

Thought I'd better get my testimony out there so the new families that are waiting to go will know what a wonderful doctor Dr. Perez is. Dr. Perez is very gifted and I am so thrilled the God led me to him.

On Oct. 17th, my husband and I left Minnesota for our long drive to McAllen, TX. We had a wonderful trip down there...the weather was perfect...it was pretty exciting all around. We arrived at the McAllen airport at 8:30 Sunday evening (we picked the airport to park our van at because we knew it would be safe, etc). After that, Aimee came to get us and drive us to Rio Bravo (btw...Aimee is so nice and it was a pleasure to finally meet her). For those of you that don't know, Aimee provides transportation to the hospital to and from McAllen for those that need it. We arrived at the hospital and Aimee, bless her heart, got us checked in (she speaks Spanish) and the nurse took me to my room, where I changed into the nightgown and my husband and I tried to get some sleep (I didn't sleep to well because I was pretty keyed up/anxious).

At 6am, Monday morning (Oct. 20th), a nurse came in and got my IV started and at 8:20am, Dr. Levi came in and got some medical information and then off I went to the OR. The anesthesiologist prepped me for the epidural, Dr. Levi put some sleepy meds into my IV and off I went. I woke up a little while later to see my husband on one side of me, the anesthesiologist on the other and Dr. Perez and Dr. Levi working on me (couldn't see them, but heard them). I felt no pain at all, just an abundant peace. It was incredible. After the surgery was done, they brought me back to my room and my husband told me what happened during surgery. Apparently Dr. Perez started on the left side and had a very hard time finding the spot at my uterus that used to be where the fallopian tube was. There was nothing to attached to, so he had to do reconstruction on that side (tubal uterine implant). The whole surgery took 2 hours total (longer than normal because of that left side giving him such a hard time). My lengths are 6 cm on the right and 5 cm on the left. Dr. Levi came in afterwards and told us that Dr. Perez gave us a 70% chance if I ovulate off the right and a little less then that if I ovulate on the left. I was THRILLED to say the least and thanked God over and over again for this miracle!!! I had no discomfort at all other then some cramping. The only thing that "bothered" me was the catheter and the epidural line...I sure wanted them out so I could get out of bed and walk around once the epidural wore off...but Dr. Levi said no, I had to leave them in over night...oh well, I survived...LOL!

The next morning, at 4:30 am, Dr. Levi came in with a nurse and she removed the epidural line, the catheter and an hour later my IV!! I got up almost immediately and walked around...which felt sooooo good to do!!! At 8:00 am, Dr. Levi came in and released me and at 9:00 am, Aimee came to get us and we were on our way back to McAllen. We did stop at a flea market of sorts in Reynosa (next to Rio Bravo) so we could pick up some souvenirs of Mexico. We walked around there for about an hour or so before we headed back into the states. Our crossing the boarder was very easy and we had no problems at all. We arrived back at our van later that morning and then we were off to head back home. The trip home wasn't bad at all, just felt longer because I had to get out a little more to stretch and walk around. We finally got home Thursday morning...my family was very excited to see me.

I can honestly say that this whole journey has been so fulfilling and uplifting for me. It has brought me closer to God, it has opened my eyes to miracles, and I have learned so much about myself. Dr. Perez's hands are touched by God because he is truly a gifted doctor. Dr. Levi is just a fantastic person and assistant to Dr. Perez. With him there, you don't feel as though you are so alone in another country. The staff at the hospital are very nice and the hospital itself is wonderful. No complaints at all!!! If someone were to ask me if I would do this over again, I would in a heart beat!!!

I am 8 days post-op today and I feel great...no pain, no cramps, nothing. I am about as active as I was before, being careful to not over do and I would say that life is pretty terrific. This whole journey was blessed by God and I am so thankful to Him for everything!!!! It's been in His hands and that's where it stays!!!

Added:

I wanted to add that I had a wonderful experience when I had my TR surgery a little over a week ago (Oct. 20th). I feel absolutely fantastic...no complications whatsoever. I also had a few bad experiences with surgeries...all within my abdomen and uterus (between a c-section, the tubal ligation, etc), I ended up having awful recoveries (long and painful), so I expected that I would be laid up after this one and I am so happy to say that I am feeling great, my incision looks terrific, no burning, no pain, nothing but awesome results. I was truly impressed by everything!!!

message from Ozzie:

I too felt nervous about going to Mexico. I had heard not so good things and wasn't sure I wanted my wife to have surgery there. We prayed about it and even though I was still nervous (and that is normal considering everything), we made our plans to go to Mexico and I am here to say that I was wrong in my thoughts. I was very, very impressed by the whole experience. Dr. Perez is wonderful and extremely articulate with his work. Dr. Levy is great and a wonderful assistant to Dr. Perez. I couldn't be happier with the way everything turned out.

I might add also that here in the states, because of a surgery my wife endured 3 years ago, she was told that her tubes weren't going to be long enough and IVF was the only way to go (although one doctor was going to attempt a reversal, but told her not to get her hopes up). We were told that her odds of having a child were very, very low or not at all. Well Dr. Perez did the surgery, she ended up with 6 cm on the right side (awesome) and 5 cm on the left side (way cool) AND he gave her a 70% chance at getting pregnant . More then we ever hoped for and thrilled with the results.

Dr. Perez is a gifted man and, if God willing, we will have the baby we both have wanted for a long time. Just had to add my 2 cents!

Blessing to all,

Donna & Ozzie H