Costa Rica forum < Paying for Plastic Surgery In Costa Rica

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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

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