5DogMa

Doxieville. You didn't ask me but I'll tell you my experience with wigs. I love my wigs. I've bought a couple wigs from www.beautytrends.com and www.wilshirewigs.com and then the first one I bought at a wig store in Sacramento. Wig stores can be expensive but a good place to go to try them on to see what style and color you like. On line is much cheaper and you can return them if you don't like them. Order color swatches before you order on line as the color you see on the computer monitor isn't exactly the color it is. On the acrylic wigs you can't change the color or use heat on them. Trying to match your hair color to the wig can be difficult especially if your a red head like me. BTW the dog in your profile pic is beautiful!!!! I've never seen one that color.

We saw my daughters and even took a picture of it. It was huge! They have it filled with gas. They said her's was extra long and it took 2 more staple cartridges than normal and an extra 15 minutes in the OR. So we figure that's why she can eat more than I can can and she never felt full before the VSG. Let me know if you want to see the picture of it. Kinda cool to see that came out.

I'm one of those who cut off my hair because of the extreme hair loss due to having this surgery. I cut it about down to about 1 1/2" all over. I've also taken to wearing wigs. I am almost 11 months post-op and I'm still loosing hair, but I think it has slowed down a bit - maybe. I tried everything including all the Nioxin products and all the various Vitamins. I'm taking 10,000 mcg of Biotin along with other hair, skin and nail formula's. I've spent hundreds of dollars trying to help this situation. Including the wigs over $1,000. I think not everyone will experience the hair loss as bad as I have and some probably hardly at all. I actually like the wigs. They look natural and I bought wigs that look the style and length like I usually wore my hair and the same color. Don't stress over this too much. You may be lucky and not experience much hair loss at all. It's a small price to pay for, in my case, saving my life. My sleep apena is gone, my blood pressure is normal and so is my blood sugar and heart rate. My resting heart rate use to be in the 90's and in the 100's sometimes. Last week at the doctors my BP was 117/76 and my pulse 73. YAY! For me It's worth the hair loss from all the health benefits I've realized from loosing this extra weight that was killing me.

Today Woot has this Homedics SC-545 Tony Little HealthStation Plus Body Composition Scale & Scanner for $29.99 plus $5 shipping. http://www.woot.com/offers/homedics-healthstation-plus-scale?utm_source=Daily+Digest&utm_campaign=8057a5398c-Daily+Digest+-+20121007+-+Woot&utm_medium=email#tracked It says - "Get a more complete picture of your fitness level and gauge your progress with the Tony Little Body Express Body Fat Scale with Voice Assist by HoMedics This scale displays more than just your weight - When you stand on this multifunctional scale in bare feet it uses Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis to calculate estimates of your body fat, body water and muscle mass Records data for up to 6 individual users, making it a great fitness tool for the entire family Daily Calorie Predictor Function - estimates the number of calories needed based on your body composition and personal data; may be used as a guide when setting daily calorie goals during weight loss and exercise programs" Does anyone have any experience with these type of scales and do they really do what it says they do? It would be pretty cool if it could really do all that. Expecially water weight since that changes every day.

Yes, intubation happens during the surgery, it's part of general anesthesia. It's when they take you off intubation while you are still recovering in the recovery room and you are breathing on your own again you may need your c-pap. I know they monitored my breathing in recovery and when I got into my room the c-pap was put on. I don't know how bad your sleep apena is, mine wasn't super bad. Sleep apena is a pretty common condition with WLS patients. Our obesity plays a big part is us having it. They know what to do. BTW my sleep apena is gone with the 70+ weight loss I've had. Yay!

As long as they know about your conditionin advance they will be looking out for it. Take your C-Pap with you and they'll put it on in recovery.

I'm loosing a lot of hair for months now and been using Nioxin. I bought like 5 different Nioxin products now. I have very thin, fine and oily hair. The products haven't helped much if at all. If your body is inclined, nothing will actually stop the hair loss all you can do is use products that coat the hair to make it seem fuller and thicker. I also had been taking biotin since before surgery but only 1,000 mg a day. My hairdresser said to use a natural brush and brush the scalp every night to stimulate the hair re-growth. She also told me to take 5,000-10,000 mg of biotin. Biotin is water soluable and our body will take what it needs and discard the rest. I've actually bought 2 wigs now that look pretty good. It's very depressing to lose your hair especially when it started out thin and fine. I hear the loss will stop but it's been months now for me and I don't see a slow down at all. I just started taking 10,000 mg of biotin daily so hopefully in a month or two it will start to help. The hair loss is caused from internal neutrant loss so it's from inside and hair care products only treat what's already outside your body.

Your coordinator can tell you everything you need to know. We used Alma at Ready 4 A Change. We paid $4,500 and put down a $1,000 deposit and the balance in a cashier check when we checked into the hospital. The deposit reserved the date. I've heard you can give as little as $500 deposit.

Thanks, I'll look her up.

I'm looking to get plastic surgery in TJ - facelift. Did you like your surgeon? Would you recommend her for a facelift?

Good luck! You'll love Garcia, the hospital and staff there. You're in good hands! We loved our experience in TJ Mexico and my daughter could not be happier with her fast recovery and the weight loss.

If your surgeon is Garcia you'll love him too! The hospital and staff are also wonderful. Good luck and let us know how it goes.

We love Alma. She's a real professional. She talked me off a ledge one time and I'm so glad I listened to her. Good luck in your journey.

Awesome! Congrats on your success so far. You look amazing!!!

This higher your BMI the longer the pre-op diet. Shrinking the fatty liver helps with the surgery. So the more you have to shrink, the longer the pre-op. Ask the coordinator or doctor and they will tell you for sure. My daughter had a lower BMI. I think it was 36 and she only had a 3 day pre-op with Garcia. I had a 42 BMI and my doctor wanted me to lose 10% of my body weight before surgery which I did and he said my anatomy was perfect the the pre-op weight loss helped a lot. In my opnion, lose as much as possible before surgery to help make things easier for everyone. The quiker your in and out of surgery the better.

Garcia because of his experience, he's done over 2,000 WLS and it's 2 nights in a hospital not a recovery house. We thought Dr. Garcia, the facility, the staff and the whole experience was fantastic and we'd choose him again. Also our coordinator Alma at Ready 4 A change was really great. We love her.

A leak test is basically an upper GI and knowing what to look for. You'll get a couple leak tests in MX before you go home and a video of the test to give your follow-up doctor.

Yes, that correct. No such thing as a stupid question.

You need to let your PCP know what you are doing if you go to Mexico for surgery and set them up for any follow up as you may feel necessary. Mind you they might not be supportive of your decision to go to MX. If they aren't, find one who is. My daughter had surgery in MX in January and hasn't felt the need to see a doctor since then. She's doing great, feels great and looks incredible. My American bariatric surgeon wants to see you every 3 months for follow-up and does blood work to make sure you're doing okay with vitamin levels, liver and kidney function etc. I've only done it once and everything check out so I haven't gone back since. I know he's not happy about that but well that's just me. I won't see a doctor unless I feel I need to. My share of cost on the blood work is $120 plus his office visit another $80. So I don't see a need to spend $200 just so he can review the blood work, see me for 2 minutes and can say I'm doing okay. I'll do follow up with my PCP if I feel I need to. She supported me having the surgery.

Good luck to you. I don't think you will regret your choice of Dr. Garcia at Hospital Mi Doctor. He and his staff were wonderful and the hospital was very clean and the nurses sweet and caring. We will go back to TJ for other medical procedures. We felt totally safe and in good hands with the doctors and staff there.

We never felt like we needed to worry about our things at Hospital Mi Doctor. You can put your things in the closet and also in a locked suite case if that makes you feel better. I walked around the hospital with my I Pad, I Phone and Laptop sitting out. When my daughter was sleeping I'd go downstairs to the cafe to eat leaving everything out in the room. Never felt worried about my things being stolen. A theft there would really hurt their reputation so you can be sure they don't want that to happen.

Next day. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and spent the first night at the hotel and the next morning around 7 am they drove us to the hospital, did blood work, chest xray and ekg and surgery was around 10 - 11 am. Surgery took 1 hour 15 minutes. because she had an extra long stomach it took 2 additional staple cartridges. Stayed 2 nights in hospital then 2 nights a hotel. It all went by very fast the people were wonderful. We will go back for plastic surgery. My daughter is down to a size 6-8 from a size 20. Her surgery was Jan 23rd by Dr. Garcia.

We loved Garcia and the whole exerience with him and his staff at Hospital Mi Doctor. I think most of them are pretty good in TJ. I've heard a lot of good things about Kelly also. Rarely do you hear any bad things about any of them.

We used Alma at Ready 4 A Change was our coordinator and Dr. Garcia the surgeon for my daughters VSG. Both were fantastic and the hospital clean with great nurses. Depending on you BMI will determine your pre-op diet and the coordinator will tell you. The lighter you are the less pre-op diet ttime. You'll do fine alone they take good care of you. Know that the people in TJ know your kinda scared about going there alone and having surgery so they really cater to you and make you feel comfortable and safe. You'll love Garcia. Such a nice sweet man with lot's of experience.

Dr Garcia is awesome and he's done a couple thousand surgeries. I'd say he's pretty experienced and the hospital was great. 2 nights in a real hospital with Garcia.