Posted in Costa Rica forum
Hi,
So I have almost completed the process of scheduling a tummy tuck in Costa Rica With Dr Rodrigo Araya... when his office tells me that the only way he will accept payment is via Deposit into his bank account.
And I froze, Warning lights and sirens start up all over the place in my brain.
AM I crazy? Is this standard procedure? How have you all paid for plastic surgery in costa rica?
Please advise me ! Dr Araya and his office staff are very nice and personable but the idea of depositing directly into someone's bank account ( when their website clearly states that they do accept credit cards) seems fishy.
Thank you!
Deleted user
Ellery B
posted by Ellery B in Costa Rica forum
Hi Linda,
Your post definitely rang home. I work for a healthcare startup called HuliHealth (www.hulihealth.com) that is working on creating more transparency around the doctor searching process.
If possible I'd be interested to hear more about what your process was for finding a doctor abroad. My email address is [...]
You can see a bit more about HuliHealth here:
http://tech.li/2011/07/find-doctors-without-borders-using-hu
lihealth/
http://blog.hulihealth.com/2011/08/were-in-it-to-change-the-
world/All the best,
ElleryARE YOU KIDDING ME AMIE??
posted by eve baldwin in Costa Rica forum
AFTER FOLLOWING ALL OF YOUR EXTENSIVE RESEARCH AND ALL YOUR POSTS YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO GO THROUGH ALL OF THAT SUFFERING BUT NOT POST WHO YOUR SURGEON WAS??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THIS POST IS ALL ABOUT?? NO WONDER YOU DELETE ALL YOUR RESPONSES, THANKS A LOT FOR COMPLAINING TO EVERYONE AND HELPING NO ONE OUT BY SHARING WHO IS THE SURGEON THAT DID THIS TO YOU!! WHAT A JOKE, YOU SUCK.
best medical center
posted by Deleted user in Costa Rica forum
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Dr. Arguello (continued)
posted by Amie Davis in Costa Rica forum
I went to Las Cumbres and they were just wonderful and if I had to do it all over again, I would have just left the facility that night and went straight to Elke's and had her take care of me. Sonya and Lucy and Elke were WONDERFUL! Everybody was wonderful there.
I got sicker and sicker as time went by. I had brought some meds with me but not what I needed. I had fentanyl here at my house, but it is so strong. I was thinking CR was like Mexico and you could walk into any pharmacy and could acquire Soma like chicklets. NOT THE CASE.
I was hoping the surgeons "out of town" trip was going to last longer than it did. Every time I saw him he screamed at me. One of the last times he saw me was for putting my DAMN SHOES ON.....Really.....Not kidding.
There was one time he was in surgery when I showed up his office for a post op appointment, his receptionist informed me he would be unable to see me I said "Damn, you mean I won't get yelled at today?" she said "Amie, you are a bad girl". I didn't care. My "give a damn" was broken by then. All I wanted was drugs and to be back in the USA (just because of the drugs)
On my last day in CR I woke up sick and just wanted to get on a plane and get home. I had acquired pneumonia. I saw my PCP here the following business day. I got on cipro as did my husband since he had it too. This was the beginning of the end.
I had told the surgeon I was fat, again I got eyes rolled at me. I was. I was about a size 10 when I went there. I am 5" 5 and was almost 160 pounds. I told him I looked best at a size 5-6 and that was the size I was when I got married and what I wanted to be after surgery (140 pounds). I was starting a new job two days after getting home. I worked 7 1/2 hours a day, the rest of the time was spent in bed resting and on my days off I was in bed. Weight started literally falling off of me. I am at 120 pounds and a size 0-2 now.
One week after I got home I got a headache, and it never went away.....No matter how many meds I took. My migraine medication no longer worked.
I was hospitalized in March because I had lost my ability to speak and walk. Both of my parents are RN's (step mom too) My dad (He is a Neuro ICU nurse) freaked out thinking I was having a stroke. I was pretty sure I wasn't as I worked in the medical field for 20 years as well. My husband has epilepsy and he has walked me through what a seizure is like after he has had one, that is what I felt like I was having. I had two MRI's done, one with and without contrast. I had and have SEVERE swelling in my cervical spine. I was put on IV steroids for 3 days, my blood sugar shot up to about 300 and then dropped to 120 which made me feel like I had been hit by a truck. I went into renal failure, then adrenal failure. I am now in FULL BLOWN MENOPAUSE. I have seen psychologists, neurologists. I have had a spinal tap done. I have had MRI's of my brain, neck, and spine. We have NO ANSWERS. I am on topomax to control the headaches and clonazepam for the nystagmus (this rules out the psychosomatic). It was not Menengitis, no weird tropical things......we have no idea. I still suffer from nystagmus on occasion. Tonight is pretty bad. I have even retested for HIV, it is not that.
I lost my job since I had no sick time built up and live in Colorado. I have acquired over $25,000 in medical bills since the beginning of the year. I am so thankful for insurance. My portion has still been over $600 and when you are not working, it is a lot.
In addition I also had to spend 2 months in physical therapy and saw a chiropractor for 6 weeks.
My insurance covers IVF and I had planned on doing egg donation for myself. Obviously, that is not going to happen now. I had my hormone levels checked in November before I went to CR and my resting egg count done and both were perfectly normal.
I just bought a really cute Carmen Marc Valco swimsuit that I have wanted for a long time. I couldn't get it before because I had no breasts, not that there is much there now. At best now, I am a 34 C. I wanted to be and was for about a minute a 34 D. I was a 34 B before surgery. My sacrum sticks out of my back in the suit. You can see the spinous tubercles, dorsal sacral foramina and EASILY my pubic bone, in addition you can see the Ala and the superior articular facet. One word: Gross. I don't see how my husband can find me attractive. In addition, the skin is starting to"hang" off of my thighs and I look like a bat from the waist down.
I hope to get back to work here soon, but in addition to all of this I have managed to tear my right hip labrum and need that fixed and I just don't want to. I am not afraid of dying.....I am afraid of going through what I have just been through. I have come to the conclusion there are worse things than dying.
I wish I would have been better prepared and followed my instinct. Doctors do not always know best. I have also learned it is one thing to be educated, it is another thing to pay attention. I wish I would have been on websites, I wish I would have not gone through a medical tourism place, I wish I could have talked to someone like me.....Someone who knows the drugs, knows medical supplies and knows what is there and what isn't and how to save a few $$ by taking things with you so you don't have to buy them there.
CR pain meds SUCK. There are no other words to put it. I know drugs, I have given my share out over 20 years.
My last piece of advise is that you google the surgeons name + CNN or FOX news. Know that there are 3 sides to every story. The doctors side, the patients side, and what really happened. Any time a US or Canadian patient dies from overseas surgery, it usually makes at least the local news. The story I was told when I was there is COMPLETELY different from what actually happened. Had I known what had REALLY happened, I would have chosen a different surgeon. BELIEVE ME, there is more than 1 doctor down there that has made the news.
I have not said who my surgeon was and I will not say who it was. I am simply posting my experience and agreeing with Mona. Do your research.
Amie
Dr. Arguello
posted by Amie Davis in Costa Rica forum
Mona hit it on the head! Consult with more than one doctor! ALWAYS! If it means you have to make two trips so be it. Dr. Victor Urzola is an excellent surgeon there, he is not ASPS certified, but did work in the US, France, Spain, CR and I think Brazil (don't quote me on that one)
$$ was not my influence, a piece of paper from the ASPS was. I regret who I went to, it almost cost me my life. We clashed from the beginning. I have been in the medical field for 20 years. I was yelled at for driving in CR, then he made a stupid comment about only children being "spoiled brats" and how horrible they are. I informed him I was an only child. He kind of rolled his eyes and I did not elaborate and inform him that my two siblings had died at birth in 1969 (I could pretty much tell he was not interested in my life) Things went down hill from there (if you can imagine)
I knew he was going to go out of town for a conference. I had no idea how long he would be gone for but I LOVED HIS ASSISTANT! HE IS A CUTIE PIE! I figured "how bad can it be"? UUUUUGGGGGHHHHHH. If there was a day in my life I could take back.....This would be the day.
I had sent down all of my medical history information and surgical information (which was pretty complex) He was aware of all of my Autoimmune diseases. He was insistent that HE COULD manage them and there would be nothing to worry about as far as pain wise (if pain gets out of control, my auto immune diseases flare up) BIG MISTAKE ON MY PART. All of my surgeons here make me manage them. As soon as I came out of surgery, I knew I was in trouble.
I remember my nurse walking in that night. She asked me what I was doing, as best as I could in broken Spanish I said "rezando para que me muera". And she said "No, don't say that!" I had phenobarbital at my bedside, if I would have had alcohol of any kind, I would have drank it. Fortunately, after I woke up I had enough in me to know better to LIE about what was in my bottles so they would not take them from me. I would take the phenobarb for migraines. Since this surgery, it no longer works.
My back started hurting but I figured that was from the lipo I had. It wasn't. My Mono I had contracted 5 years prior had reactivated (since my autoimmune diseases, it won't go away) I just tested positive for it as recently as 2 weeks ago. I was shaking and vomiting the early morning hours following surgery. I stayed that way for the next 24 hours, so even after being discharged I was still puking and shaking. I had asked for Fentanyl for post op pain meds and this is what I am ALWAYS given for the first 24 hours. I was denied, never given a reason why, but denied.
Dr. Arguello
posted by Mona Chromatica in Costa Rica forum
I consulted with Dr. Arguello. I did not choose him because he would not do multiple procedures. Why? Because he lost a patient, at his own admission, and that was devastating to him, as you might imagine. I deeply respect him for his honesty and his unwillingness to risk my life.
After my consultation, I was waiting for a ride, and was hanging out in the lobby where food was available. Since I had just flown in, I had not yet gotten any C.R. $$. He bought me lunch.
I never heard of the other surgeon. I have heard lots of good things about Dr. Alexandro Lev....an artist, and works out of Villa Plentitude. I also feel that Dr. Alfaro Davilia is a very good option....very experienced....Denver, burn unit in C.R., Board Certified (check it out via the Boards website...make sure they are listed!!), etc. He also had a very large "book" of pictures of his previous clients
Do visit more than one or two doctors. Don't let the $$ be the final decision maker. Trust your intuition. Don't let anyone rush you into a decision. . I let $$ & my desire for multiple proceedures influence me. I was lucky. Many others are not.
Payment
posted by Mona Chromatica in Costa Rica forum
I paid just before my surgery....that morning! Part in cash & part on VISA I went to the Rosenstock Clinic. I got a seroma. My friend went to a very well known and expensive surgeon in San Francisco. She got a hematoma. Another friend got a face lift in Thailand, she got an infection. It's a crap shoot, no matter who you go to. It's and art, a science, and of course, a risk. Make sure your surgeon is Board Certified. Go the certificater web-site. If their name isn't listed, move on!
Sorry for the problems Irene
posted by Amie Davis in Costa Rica forum
Elke was there when I was there. I am so sorry for the problems you had. What a disaster. You are supposed to get a ride in from the airport as long as it is within certain hours and the dentist ride is supposed to be free as well. Email Elke. She is great about issuing credits. She does not like it when things like this go wrong when she is gone. Make sure you give her the names of whomever made the mistake as well.
Aims
as cumbres
posted by irene golden in Costa Rica forum
I just stayed there and I was unhappy with office and the manager. they overcharged my account by $855 which created problem using the funds from the bank as they were held. Had to make calls. Also found them to be rude. They made the mistakes and instead of apology told me I was "disrespectful" because I was upset. Also, promised free trip from airport and to dentist first time but charged me anyway. Elke out of town. If you stay there, make sure she will be there.
I had lipo and augmentation
posted by Amie Davis in Costa Rica forum
And got NO NARCOTICS for pain. He knew I could have fentanyl and REFUSED to give it to me. Pain was so bad I was shaking and vomiting. It was off the scale. I can tell you that pain killers suck down there. I used to recommend the surgeon that I used until he accused me of stalking him. Then I fired him and blocked him from ever contacting me again. Does that sound like a stalker? I think not!
TAKE YOUR OWN DRUGS.....TAKE LOTS OF THEM WITH YOU.
I did NOT have surgery at Rosenstock. I have seen one person that had a facelift and they looked great. We both stayed at Las Cumbres.