Breaks My Heart to Have This Poor, Muddled Review- I Wanted a Different Story - Mexico

I spent over 4 years researching options for my face. I tried many non-surgical approaches. Although relatively young (currently 47), I went into menopause at 41 years old and feel that my face took a pretty rough hit. Starting in 2012 I spoke with a variety of doctors at home and abroad. Everyone had something different to say about what I "needed". I went around and around, talking to many different patients, and thinking and researching extensively. I almost made the decision to go with an expensive plastic surgeon in my home town but ultimately and in the last moment decided not to when I went a final "pre" appointment and the receptionist had neglected to tell me the doctor would have to be in surgery. I had cancelled patients of my own to see him and worked my whole day around this appointment. It was important to me. When I showed up to the fancy top-shelf office it was clear she had just neglected to call me. She was on the phone making a personal call and was surprised to see me. This really upset me. It was at this point I decided to go go full circle and return to Pat Marino and FaceLift Mexico. I had been carrying a torch for this destination site for a variety of reasons including- recovery away from home (did not want my husband and kids involved AT ALL), use of local anesthesia (I had a terrible reaction to general previously), 2 day hospital stay (this should be mandatory in the USA!) and the conservative results. I did not want to look pulled, like my cheeks were kissing my ears. I just wanted to look refreshed. I didn't want to always look tired and sad. I corresponded with two amazing women who had fantastic results. Conservative, but nice. So I finally settled on FaceLift Mexico. My husband was really not on board but finally gave in.
I still can't believe it happened, and more than that I can't believe how badly it ended when it didn't have to. For whatever reason- although I followed all the rules to the letter and primarily slept and rested, I had a difficult recovery. A few days into my stay at the casa I had to be driven back to the hospital because there was something in my neck. Dr. K removed it, but everything happened so fast and in Spanish I don't really know what happened. Nonetheless the left side of my neck still looks bad. I am embarrassed by it and hide it with my hair. The worst part though was that I ended up with an exterior aneurysm next to my stitches under my hair on the right side of my head. It was a lump. I went to many doctors and eventually found myself with a plastic surgeon at home who took pity on me and assisted me with this issue. First he tried to drain it and (sorry, but true) it started energetically spurting blood. The surgeon applied pressure and it calmed down. He said he had never seen anything like it but thought it was the product of a nicked artery in surgery. This fancy SF surgeon never once blamed the original surgeon Dr. K. In fact, he said it was not the surgeon's fault (he said, this is just what I warn patients about, meaning if an issue comes up and the surgeon is not there). I had been trying to keep all this from my husband because I didn't want to upset him or cause him to think poorly of my decision. So the issue was just that I was home and did not have Dr. K to assist me, a REAL risk with going abroad). I didn't know what to do. I missed a lot of work trying to sort it out. And I felt that Pat and Dr. K were not understanding- instead of asking me how they could help me in this terrible situation I was accused of being naive. After a week of waiting the lump had not changed and I was due to fly on a long-planned trip to to London with my mother on Sept 5. It had been exceedingly difficult to have anybody take me on at home as I was having troubles (let's not even talk about behind my left ear). Finally, when I broke down sobbing in the local surgeon's office he agreed to fit me into his surgery schedule the next day so I could go to NY on the 5th. The added cost?? 350 initial visit and 4,500 surgery. I had been communicating with Pat and even Dr. K up until this point. They were in complete disagreement with my course of action. They felt it was a cyst. Pat questioned my intelligence and stated that this surgeon should be reported to the board for charging that much and not running CT Scan. I felt utterly lost and attacked. I did not have the 4500 dollars for surgery but what was I to do? When you have an exterior aneurism on your head, and you can feel it pulsing, and you've seen the surgeon jump back when he tried to drain it, and finally the plastic surgeon says: Well, if it starts to bleed unexpectedly quickly apply compress and get quickly to the nearest ER, when all of this is happening and the people you trusted in Mexico are becoming attacking and hysterical, well, it is the worst. I could have waited and had more evaluations etc. for this lump but it would have meant more time off work, more begging to get into see people, more quizzical medical assistants looking over their heads. I chose surgery. I feel horrible, sad that things were left so poorly with Pat and Dr. K, sad I had to manage this on my own (and then bring my husband in when more surgery was required). Also sad about the money. But it's the relationships that feel the worst right now.

I'm so sad and upset about this. I feel just broken-hearted. I used all my money, I'm one of the unlucky ones here. I know some people have had good results.