My experience with a cardiac surgeon in Monterrey

Kurt Schaefer on November 24, 2021. Visit author social media

My name is G.S.U., I am 36 years old, I live in El Paso, TX and I do social media management. I’m what most people consider “healthy”; I don’t drink or do drugs, and I exercise daily. My workouts usually consist of 3-mile runs 3 times a week and yoga in-between days. 4 months ago, I was doing my Sunday run, and ended up a little dehydrated due to a late-night, knowing that I had to go run some errands, I decided to stop by a coffee shop to get my usual black decaffeinated coffee. I placed the order but forgot to specify to the barista to make it decaf, so by the time I noticed, I had already finished it. Immediately, I began to feel my heart pounding and felt very anxious, so I decided to go to my family to tell them what was happening to me and see if I could get it under control.

A neighbor of my mother who happened to be visiting suggested I might have high blood pressure due to being dehydrated and drinking coffee, so they checked my blood pressure, and it came out high. Both my mother and neighbor recommended that I visit an internal medicine doctor for a check-up. The next day I had my doctor appointment, who performed an electrocardiogram that showed signs of something unusual. He referred me to an interventional cardiologist, who performed an echocardiogram and a cardiac CT scan (two very expensive tests). The results came back and showed that my heart valve was almost calcified and that my aortic valve had an aneurysm.

Finding and getting in touch with the specialist

The specialist told me that I was in very good time to treat my condition, but he did let me know that if left untreated, it would be like having two ticking bombs in my chest. The cost for surgery was very high, and the doctor did not specialize in this type of procedure, so I decided to look into better options, and thankfully I was able to find an interventional cardiologist in Monterrey with the help of www.medicaltourismex.com. I first scheduled a virtual consultation and immediately felt a sense of security and that he really cared about my well-being and safety.

I sent him all my lab results by email and he explained everything about the procedure over video chat, showing me the different valve options available, explaining in detail the differences between choosing a mechanical or biological valve. What I really liked is that my family was able to be present during the call, which gave me even more peace of mind knowing that they could be informed about the entire process. Regarding the procedure, the cost was approximately $60,000, using the same aortic valves and as in the United States. Considering it was a good price, I scheduled the procedure and prepared to travel to Monterrey. I had never been to Monterrey, so my mother and brother joined me for moral support.

Traveling to Monterrey for heart surgery

The city is beautiful, we arrived on Sunday but I had to be in the hospital by 8 am on Monday for admission, so we had almost a whole day to explore the city. On Monday, the doctor took me to his office, went through an overview of the procedure, and introduced me to the thoracic specialist who would perform the surgery, and to his team of doctors; there were 7 specialists in total. They ran tests to ensure everything was fine and did a CT scan to map my heart and veins so that they could have a better idea of what to expect and how to approach it. I must say that I really liked the way they thought of everything, such as the fact that they asked me to visit a dentist prior to surgery for an oral cleaning to minimize complications from mouth bacteria. It was a very comforting experience.

To keep it short, everything came back fine, so my surgery was scheduled for the next day. After surgery, I stayed in the hospital in the intensive care area for two days, then got moved to the intermediate intensive care room, where I was monitored 24/7 for seven days. They ran tests almost every day just to make sure everything was ok. By the eighth day, I was told I was clear to leave the hospital, but that I had to stay 4 more days in Monterrey for my follow-up, then I was free to fly. For the entirety of our trip we stayed at the hotel recommended by Medical Tourism, which met all our expectations, since it was 6 minutes away from the hospital, included breakfast and was located in a very nice area. It’s been a month since my open-heart surgery in Monterrey, and it made me very happy when Medical Tourism reached out to me to share my experience. Hope this helps people who are like me, who need surgery, and want the best at a reasonable price.
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Key words: medical tourism, Mexico, Monterrey, cardiology, cardiologist, heart surgery, heart surgeon, cardiovascular health, travel, heart valve repair, aneurysm

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