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State |
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Reversal |
July 10, 2008 |
Ligation |
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Lengths |
5 cm |
4 cm |
Preg
1 |
|
Preg
2 |
|
HSG |
|
Age |
|
|
August 2008
I would like to share my story. I had my tubal reversal on Thursday,
July 10, 2008
First of all I had done quite a lot of research on tubal reversals
around the country and even around the world. I chose Dr. Perez
because of all the good things I read about him and honestly I felt
led to that decision. The day after my husband and I decided to go
to Rio Bravo for the surgery, we had an unexpected financial
miracle. We literally got the EXACT amount of money needed for the
surgery, the flight and a night or two at the hotel. The next
morning I woke up, still having a bit of anxiety, I had this vision
in my mind of Dr. Perez and Dr. Levi standing over me and telling me
that everything would be fine. It was a dream I guess, but I woke up
knowing that I would be in excellent hands. That same day I got a
phone call from an insurance claim I had submitted and they had
approved the amount of money I had requested (this was unexpected
and entirely unrelated to the tubal reversal). When I got off the
phone that day I reviewed our expenses and discovered that it was
literally the EXACT amount needed. God was really wanting this to
happen!
Marcos had our driver waiting for us within minutes of our arrival
to the airport in Mcallen. Going through the border was no problem.
I had been nervous about the cash, but we had no problems. We were
driven to the hospital in Rio Bravo then brought to our room where
we waited to talk with Dr. Levi. I cannot say enough good things
about this wonderful man! Dr. Levi is like a family friend to us
now. We really felt so comfortable talking with him and he really
cares a lot about what he is doing. He took all the time in the
world to talk with us, answer all our questions, he had a great,
warm personality and I felt as if we were part of his own family!
I had been very nervous about the epidural and the catheter because
I never had this before. I can’t specifically remember every detail
of what happened next, but I know that my husband was extremely
impressed with the food. They gave him lunch and dinner Thursday
night (the night of the surgery) and they gave him breakfast and
lunch on Friday. After a few hours it was time to go into the
surgery room. I was still very nervous about the epidural and
catheter. I felt a bit scared and they brought me into the room with
the big overhead lights. It was getting very real now! My husband
was brought in a bit later and I knew they would bring him in, but
it was at that moment all my fear came in. I started to have big
tears coming down my face and that’s when the anesthesiologist (I
wish I could remember his name) stroked my arm and told me “no
pain”, “don’t worry – no pain” I didn’t feel any pain with the
epidural or the catheter, then the next thing I remember is my
husband standing over me. I was so happy to have him there and I
just looked up at him and said: “Is it you?”. It was kind of a
magical moment. I mean, everything we’d been through together (he
never had any kids before and I had 3 from a previous marriage) We
were finally here in the hospital and the money came in to make the
surgery possible and there we were. It was really happening.
The next thing I remember is I’m back in my room, begging for pain
killers and then food! My legs were completely numb and it freaked
me out a bit. My left leg took forever to get back to normal and I
couldn’t move it at all. I had pain in my collar bone area but I
didn’t feel much pain at the surgery area. The nurses were highly
skilled. I mean, let me tell you, these nurses are HIGHLY SKILLED –
if anyone has ever been in the hospital before, you can tell when
someone knows what they are doing and that they care about you when
they are doing it. The nurses were extremely professional, quietly
compassionate and did the job they had to do in such a gentle and
amazingly painless way. When the nurse took the catheter out I could
barely even notice and I didn’t feel anything at all when she took
out the epidural. (They took me off on Friday afternoon).
Dr. Levi was so great. He explained everything to me and he was
honest. He didn’t sugar coat anything. I had to have some
reconstruction done on one tube where Dr. Perez had to sort of
“re-build” the “fingers” and this left me with 5 centimeters, then
the other tube had good “fingers”, but was shorter, leaving me with
4 centimeters. (Well, that’s the best I can do to explain what I
remember). Anyway, Dr. Levi wanted me to walk around the hospital on
Friday afternoon and it took me several hours of walking, then
resting, walking, then resting to feel like I was ready to go.
We got a shuttle to the pharmacy for some pain medications, then we
got a shuttle to the Holiday Inn Express where they had an outdoor
pool for my husband to swim in and an outdoor hot tub. (I put my
feet in on Saturday). We stayed at the hotel until Sunday night. I
wanted plenty of recovery time before flying. (I highly recommend at
least a full day if not more time to recover before flying).
Fortunately our flight was only about 5 hours in total, including
the connection.
We’re back at home now and I am still walking very stiffly and
needing to rest a lot. I’m not in any extreme pain, but there is a
soreness and stiffness that tells me to rest and it would be crazy
for anyone to think they can get back to normal activity in less
than a week. It’s been 4 days since my surgery on Thursday, July
10,2008 and we are going to wait a full 2 months before we try to
get pregnant because Dr. Levi said that the risk of an ectopic
pregnancy is much higher if you try too soon. I will update everyone
when we are pregnant (which I have no doubt will be in October 2008-
stay tuned). Again, if anyone is having any doubts about Dr. Perez
and Dr. Levi, just pray about it and follow your heart.
I didn’t really talk to Dr. Perez because Dr. Levi was the one
explaining everything and he was the one checking on me (which he
did many, many times). I never felt abandoned by the medical staff.
The anesthesiologist, the nurses, Dr. Levi, the lady that brought
the food, the lady that came in to the room twice a day to clean it,
Dr. Perez, everyone – THANK YOU – THANK YOU – THANK YOU! I have
absolutely no doubt that we will have our babies soon!
Also, two babies were delivered on Friday morning while we were
there! A boy and a girl! That was pretty cool!
Thanks again to everyone.
Kristine
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