I will start with a little, tiny bit of information about myself. My name is Allyssa, I am a 20 year old girl from Alberta, Canada ! I operate heavy equipment as my occupation for now in the beautiful oilsands (haha). I like to longboard, party and do pretty much any typical thing any 20 year old nonsense a 20 year old gets into.

I first began my struggle with weight at the young age of 8 years old, being an asthmatic I was put on hardcore steroids very young that caused a whopping 30 pound weight gain in just a short month and a half. With such a dramatic change, so quickly, I turned to food to cope. By time I was 13 I weighed 150 pounds. By 17, 220 pounds. Hard to believe, hard to imagine, even harder to deal with.

I was bounced from Jenny Craig, to Herbal Magic, to stress filled, painful no food diets, and intense workout.

In my opinion Herbal Magic was the only diet that worked. I went from 220 to a small 160! It was a fantastic loss, and I was doing so well, when I stuck to my program. With being such a young age, it was hard to stay away from alcohol, and occasionally eating what I wanted.

This past January I unfortunately lost a very important figure in my life, which caused me to plummet to the very low that made me re-gain most of my weight. In just a month, I had reached 180 pounds. So February I had decided I want the gastric sleeve, so I hit the internet in search of a doctor

I came to a conclusion that Mexico was where I would have my surgery. My surgeons name is Dr. Roldolfo Natera. And my surgery is Hosptial Star Medica. Finally booked for June 1/2012.

I am a little nervous as I assume anyone would be. I am looking for support, advice, and knowledge from anyone who has also , decided to have surgery in Mexico, I would like to know all about your experience, dealing with the hospital stay, healing time, diets etc.

Thank you so much.