"I had already put a review on here but it has disappeared so I will do it again. I had surgery 12/18/10. I am very pleased. My entire experience with Dr. Almanza and his staff was excellent. I was scared at first about going out of the country, but between Louise (his patient rep) and all of the research that I did I felt reassured. The clinic is clean and well run and the staff is wonderful. "
"I was very happy with Dr. Alamanza and would do it again in a heart beat! I will give some details below in an effort to give full disclosure. :)
I will try to be as detailed as possible. There were a few things that I wasn't happy about, but mostly ticky things and nothing that made me regret my choice.
My husband and I flew in the night before and spent the night at the Hampton Inn as suggested. The staff there were wonderful and the room was clean and comfortable.
Tony picked us up at the airport and we headed to Tijuana.
The first stop we made was to have labwork, which was uneventful. The only odd thing was that the lab tech did not wear gloves. This is more to protect her than me and since I am in the medical field and know that even in the states there are people that prefer to draw bloodwork without gloves, I didn't make a big deal about it.
After that we left and drove to the clinic. I was very surprised when we pulled in to a strip mall and stopped. I was not prepared for this. (As much as Louise was an awesome patient rep, I think that she should have told me this). We went right in. I filled out some paperwork (just like I would in the states) and after a short wait went back for my meeting with the cardiologist. He did an EKG and showed me the results were normal and cleared me for surgery. We went upstairs and met with another man who talked to me some more about what to expect and then the nurse Lupita (sweet sweet girl)gave me a gown to change in to. Amazingly the gown fit!!! In the states they are always too small. Lupita wrapped my legs and then came the fun of my IV. Dr. Alamnza came in and spoke to me for a few minutes, some through an interpreter, and after a few minutes we walked downstairs and to the Operating room. I climbed up on the table ( in the states it would have been wheeled there on a gurney, but this was not a big deal). They made me comfortable. I started to cry a bit because I got scared. The nurses were all very nice and comforting. They gave me something in my IV and I was out. I woke up with the rigors (uncontrollable shaking) but not nausea or vomiting. I almost always wake up from surgery with the Rigors so this was par for the course. They kept me comfortable with blankets and pain medication. The worst part of the whole experience was the blue dye and the contrast that is used to do the leak tests and since that was to make sure my stomach wasn't leaking, I have no complaints. They checked on me several times just like they would in the states, making sure my vitals were fine. On Monday after I passed the blue liquid leak test we went to radiology and after that went well, we went to the hospitality house. We left for San Diego the next morning and went back to the Hampton Inn. They were wonderful and allowed us to check in early. I absolutely do not regret my choice to use Dr. Almanza and would recommend him without reservation. "
