Testimonial for Rotator Cuff Repair – Bill Lutjens

Bill Lutjens, McKinleyville, CA

I fell off of my bicycle onto an outstretched arm and after two weeks of not being able to raise my arm above my shoulder. I went to my family practitioner who sent me to a therapist. The therapist didn’t improve the situation, and the doctor sent me for an MRI. The doctor being a family practitioner couldn’t decipher the report from the MRI and was going to sent me to an orthopedic consultant.

I had been in pain for two and a half months. I sent the x-rays, MRIs, and reports to Janet Kwan of WorldMed Assist and Dr. Garin in Tijuana sent a report saying torn rotator cuff with bursitis, and slap tear. Just over a week later I was on a plane and had surgery the same day.

The travel agent who works for WorldMed (Jo-Ann) arranged everything for me. I was met at San Diego airport, shuttled to Hospital Angeles in Tijuana, where I was met by Paulina the foreign patient coordinator. I had a blood draw, prepped with an IV and wheeled to the OR.

The hospital is very nice, I was there for two nights. Dr. Garin was checking on me and told me how the operation went and had some good news that the injury would only take six weeks to return to work instead of six months as I had expected. Paulina was also checking that everything was alright. The staff mostly didn’t speak English, but gesturing and pointing broke up the tedium of just lying there. By the way, I traveled alone and I don’t think it was a drawback except not hearing people speak English.

I was then moved to the Camino Real, a five star hotel for two nights at a very reasonable cost. Janet and Paulina were calling me to make sure everything was good. Directly across the street from the hotel is the Plaza Rio Tijuana a large outdoor shopping mall, I found the food court there more affordable than a restaurant with food like Hawaiian, sushi, Chinese, Mexican.

The last day I was there Dr. Garin removed the bandage for a wound check and told me I could contact him if I needed to. I was taken by shuttle to San Diego, Holiday Inn Express where I spent the night and they have a complimentary breakfast and airport shuttle.

In my opinion this was a bit of an adventure, but it was nice to have a professional service make all the arrangements for me.