Excited Yet Nervous - Dominican Republic

Ok as of yesterday, I'm at Hotel Barcelo with my fam. First thing I did was sit at the poolside and relaxed. I highly recommend Virginia's House. They were attentive, clean and the food was excellent. On another note, Omg! I'm so bloated today and it's placing a lot of tension on my incision. I'm also noting some swelling throughout my body. I have to be honest though, I went shopping today at Agora Mall and I walked for over 4 hours without help. I am pleased with my results thus far but can't wait to go home and I can't wait to see the final outcome. Please be aware when you come here as the locals assume that everyone from America has money and tries to get over. An example of this was a cab driver trying to charge us 500 pesos for a 200 peso cab ride. Another example was a cab driver charging $36 US for a $9 cab ride. None of them got over :,). Ok ttyl.

Thank God I made it to the other side. I ended up having tummy tuck, breast lift with implants (350cc) and Lipo of chin and armpits. Must I tell you that this was one heck of a ride. The flight was great. No hiccups nor issues, that was until I got to the Dominican Republic. I flew here with my family and when I landed, the driver, Wilson was supposed to be at the airport with my name on a sign. Guess what? I saw everyone's name except for mine. We quickly decided to take a cab to the hotel. On my way to the hotel, I ended up asking the cab driver to use his phone to call Laura. I was unable to reach her and she soon called back. I then explained to her what happened and she tried to tell me that the driver was there. I said to her, " no he wasn't , I saw everyone's name but mine". As a matter of fact, I was not the only one looking for my name, there were three others. Later both her and the driver apologized. We had to pay $40 to go to the hotel. She then called me at the hotel and told me to take a shower and that the driver was going to pick me up. I then took a shower and one hour later he was there. I then got to CECIP and Laura, who is beautiful, came in the room and took pictures and sent us (4 girls) to the lab for blood work. She also told me that I would be first but when I got here, she told me that the Dr. decides who is first. She then asked for the money and then proceeds to tell me that the $500 which I sent on April 15th was not picked up yet and that I needed to call and check that it's still there and if it is, I should call to have it changed to her name, I said to her, "how do you not have time to pick up money. No one should be placed in this situation the day before surgery!" The next day I then called Western Union, who verified that the money was available for pick up, to make the changes and guess what? Western Union immediately, refunded the money me in the United States because they suspected fraud. Now I had every dollar on me budgeted because I did not want walk with too much money. I had already paid for 10 nights at the hotel and I was going to the recovery house for the first 3 nights to give my family a break. I then had to give her the remaining $300 that I had on me and will have to bring the remaining $200 to the first postoperative consultation. Thank God I brought my bank card as I contemplated a lot about bringing it. She also made everyone in my group get insurance, which was $150. She said that Dr Robles says its mandatory. Mind you, the quote says that insurance is optional. So in total, I gave them $5400 cash. This was when my whole positive outlook changed. There was a lot of shadiness going on. The day of surgery, I was given my blue pill at 1pm and was wheeled into surgery at approximately 2:30pm. I remember fighting not to go to sleep until surgery because I did not want to wake up during surgery. I was wheeled into surgery and met the anesthesiologist who was very sweet, she then inserted the needle into my right hand and rest was history until I got to the recovery room. I remember saying," I'm not going to die, I'm not going to die" as I continued to go in and out of consciousness. They then wheeled me back to my room where my I saw my mom standing. That was the most beautiful sight ever. That was my confirmation that I made it. Anyway, just wanted to update you guys. Will post again later. Going to take a nap.