tonibugg

I have a pool at home so I can't wait to get to use it!! I'm only 6 days post op and have to wait a minimum of 2 weeks to be able to go!! I floated around the other day though lol I just used giant waterproof bandages!!

I experienced the same emotions up until surgery date!!! I was sleeved 6/29 and am so happy to finally be on the other side! While in the hospital those crazy emotions and doubt about whether this was the right thing for me raised their ugly heads LOL! I almost backed out! However, those emotions did not win and I am now on the other side of the surgery Woo Hoo!! I am doing really well, no pains, no gas, getting fluids down ok and walking and walking! I've lost some weight and can't wait to get to my full liquid stage! I would love some potato soup right now! lol

Debbie!!!! It's Toni!!!! We were in Juarez together!! So happy to find you on here! My husband and daughter came with me?! lol just making sure you know who I am!! Anyway, so happy to find you =) I know you will be fine, are you still wanting to do the surgery in December?

Did the doc say why?? There was a lady having the revision surgery in Mexico when I went and they removed hers.. strange?!

I was told I had to lose 80lbs in a year or have a knee replacement at the age of 41... Done! Which surgery is worse?!? Too much I wanna do in life, sky dive, parasail, zip line, hike in the mountains!!! I have to have good knees and a healthy weight to do all of those things.. I was sleeved 6/29 and I couldn't have made a better decision! Good luck with your journey!!!

Congrats! My hubby and I are going on a 3 month "surgiversay" cruise on Sept 24-29th!! My goal is to be down 50 lbs but as long as I am down 30 I will not be upset =) Just want to be less than 200 before going! I am 6 days post op and have lost 11lbs, 6 from surgery and 5 from pre op weight =) Congrats on your success!!! btw, have you noticed any hair loss? I think 12 weeks is about the time I notice people talking about it.. blahh!!!

We went to Star Medica in Juarez Mexico with Dr Rodriguez. My husband and my daughter went with me and then my mom and her boyfriend came to visit for 2 days. Star Medica hospital had what I refer to as a hotel suite lol My husband and daughter had a separate room with leather couches, plasma tvs and refrigerator and phone then there was a glass french doors that opened into my side of the room with my bed, large bathroom, big fluffy futon couch and a recliner with another TV and phone. Really nice, clean and the cleaning crew was there daily changing sheets, cleaning the floors and bathrooms etc. After I got out of surgery my family went to the restaurant next door, went to the mall across the street and ventured out places for me to walk when I would do my rounds =) There was a nice sitting area and cafeteria on the 1st and 2nd floors where the "family members" would meet up while us patients were sleeping or resting. There was 6 other patients getting their surgeries done within a 2 day time frame and we all arrived at the same time so we got to know each other and that helped my family with extra time they had too. Of course, there is always wifi to get on the internet as well!! Only on my 4th day there, the day I went home, did any of us get bored lol So for us, it wasn't an issue with what to do with time!! Good luck!

I had my gall bladder removed back in 2009 and was just sleeved June 29th. He used almost the exact incisions, it was almost the same laproscopic surgery! I had the same type of pains, everything. My recovery has been a little faster with the sleeve though, only difference is I can't eat as much now as I did when I had the gallbladder surgery! lol

I am 41 and when I ran this by my dad he freaked out on me and forbid me to do the surgery!! LOL! I understand the feelings though, I was just sleeved June 29th by Dr Rod in Juarez and have not regretted a single minute of it! My husband went with me and my mom came to visit and the hospital arranged her visit for me! I told my dad the day before surgery and he fussed but ultimately apologized and sent me messages the whole time apologizing. My mom is now having the surgery and I couldn't be happier at this point=) Dr Rod was great, Juarez was not half as bad as I thought it would be, and the hospital and staff were amazing. Great choice! do this for you and your quality of life, don't look back in 5 years and wish you had done it!!

I just had the sleeve June 29th in Juarez =) with Dr Rod. Loved him, the hospital, the staff!! The outskirts of Juarez are a little scary but everything by the hospital was great. Enjoy your "night before surgery last meal" at the Mexican restaurant next to the hospital!! So good! Check out my blog on my homepage if you want to dig for more info, or send me a message =) Good luck on your journey!!

I was sleeved 6/29 and thought I was alone in my "almost regretting" stage LOL! I am ready for something to eat though. Not hungry but miss chewing my food....

HI!! I just had my surgery with Dr Rodriguez in Juarez June 29th. I was soooo apprehensive because of the news coverage and just the uncertainty! I chose to go through Belite for the exact same reasons! I am self employed so I had a hard time getting financed and I had the $4K down so I could do the surgery without having to save for another 6 months! OK, so I'll give you the good bad and the ugly about my Juarez experience!! First, when we got to El Paso we waited for a few minutes for our Amigo Taxi to pick us up. I traveled with my husband and my daughter. El Paso is great, sandy and empty but good =) After we went through the border I freaked a little because of the outskirts of Juarez! Very poor area, and that doesn't even describe it well! I was very relieved when we got to the hospital and it was super nice! All of the employees wear the same crisp uniforms, the nurses still wear white uniforms with little nurse hats lol Most everyone spoke some level of English which made it easier. After pre op I was admitted and my room was like a spa hotel room! leather couches, plasma tv's, hardwood floors, sooo nice =) I met Dr Rodriguez that same day and he was so informative. He sat down with me and my family for about 30 min and went over the details of the surgery and how everything would play out over the next couple of days. He recommended a restaurant next door for my last dinner before surgery and it was great! The area we were in was very safe and we felt comfortable enough to walk around without worry. My mom and daughter went to the mall across the street the next day (yes, my mother came to visit me as well lol) I met with the entire bariatric team the next morning, surgery day, and they all answered any questions any of us had. I had my freak out moment and thought about backing out LOL but so happy I didn't! I had the best experience ever and all of the apprehension seems so silly now that I look back. We didn't even have any trouble getting across the border, I was concerned because I chose the date and didn't have time to get passports for the 3 of us much less the $$, so we used our birth certificates and drivers licenses. They worked with absolutely no issues!! If you want my advice, I would say go for it! I loved the hospital, the staff, and especially the doctors! My incisions look great, I have no complications, no nausea, no pain etc. I had a great experience and would recommend Belite, Star Medica, and Dr Rod any time =) Dr Calderon was amazing too, he was my go to Dr whenever I needed anything! He even got everything together to get my mom across the border so she could come visit for 2 days without having to drive her car across. Great guy! I could go on and on but won't! If you have any questions just shoot me a message and I'll answer as best as I can =) Good luck on your journey and don't think twice about going to Juarez, you will be great!

Love this Amy!! You rock! I have been in and out of working, napping and sleeping today LOL! I love you already! JLOR - So happy to have you! Hope this helps your sleeve journey like it did mine!!

So after much consideration I decided I would go ahead and blog my sleeve journey.... I wasn't going to because of keeping up with it but after surgery I find myself on this forum 3 and 4 times a day! So I guess I'll start out with why I decided to even get the sleeve and go from there This first blog will be long!! sorry!! In May this year, I had a meeting with my knee doc who explained to me that if I did not lose at least 60 to 80 lbs in the next year I would have to have a knee replacement because it was simply not holding up to my weight requirements. I cried and complained, went on yet another diet and failed and then ran across an ad for Dr Nicholson's weight loss seminar. I thought yay! I'll get the lap band and get this weight off! Well, I went to the seminar and loved him and all of the information, if you can possibly absorb all of that info in one setting! Anyway, after hearing the info I went home off on my own new journey to find the best option for me because what he was saying about the lap band was definitely going to be a no go. I did not want to deal with the fills and unfills and the possible erosion complication just from the info he was giving me. I started to look at video blogs of people with the lap band and couldn't believe it! There were problems with food getting stuck, vomiting if your food didn't like your band (ex: a piece of lettuce covering your opening), NOPE! the band was def a no go for me.. I did not like the extreme of the RNY or Gastric Bypass but the sleeve seemed like a good fit for me! Low complication rate, quick recovery, back to normal (albeit smaller portions) food after a couple of months and people are keeping the weight off! So I sent off my paperwork to Dr Nicholson's clinic!! Now for the Doom and gloom .. lol My Aetna policy has a weight loss surgery exclusion on my policy, as I am self employed so if I was going to consider going on with the surgery I was going to have to self pay. I contacted several medical financing companies and even my bank but for what I was doing and the associated costs it was just simply not going to happen. As I said before, I am self employed, as is my husband so those are hard circumstances to get financed for a large unsecured loan like I was talking about, approx $14K. Now, you have to know my personality, if I want something, I don't just sit back, I am a go getter and something like financing was not going to hold me back! I researched and dug and found a couple of companies would either 1) finance me or 2) do it for much cheaper. I was thrilled! Until I learned that these surgeries were in Mexico AHHHH!!! Are you kidding me?!?! Surgery in Mexico?!?! Don't they harvest your organs there?!?! I know, I went a bit overboard but I couldn't believe I could afford it so it was at least looking into right? Well, I researched lots of Dr's in Mexico and decided on Dr Jose Rodriguez in Juarez. He operated out Star Medica hospital. I researched his credentials, his staff, the hospital, the area and on and on. I found out that he had been doing these surgeries longer than Dr Nicholson and had a low complication rate. He was out of a company called Belite Weight and they would finance half of the surgery for me as long as I could cover the other half up front! Woo Hoo! So Mexico it was!!! Now for the surgery My surgery was scheduled for June 29th and I was completely prepared. I did the preop diet of Dr Rod's choice, basically the Atkins diet but with 50 carbs a day. I could handle that, as a matter of fact my husband and daughter (21 yrs) went on it with me and we lost weight! I lost 19.2, my husband 30 and my daughter 10.4. I was so stoked to get on with this surgery! I had bought our airline tickets in the early part of June and gotten our birth certificates to cross the border (don't believe the hype, the birth certificates worked just fine, no problems!) finance documents signed, family doc here on board with my journey, and so on and so on. I was prepared! We landed in El Paso and the hospital sent a shuttle for us to take us across the border to the hospital. We crossed the border and Juarez was a pit... a desolate pit. Scary as a matter of fact, sand lots with kids playing in them, people living in conditions I couldn't even fathom! They lived in cinder block houses!! businesses boarded up, people driving like idiots, I freaked completely out! I thought, what the HELL have I gotten myself into?!? Now, please know at this point that my husband and my daughter insisted on going with me so I am not alone but there were 2 other women there who were alone! I couldn't imagine being alone! Well, we finally got to the hospital and man was I relieved!! It was so nice! It was super clean, modern, smelled nice (not hospitally lol) so completely different from the outskirts of Juarez! There was mall across the street, nice restaurants within walking distance, the US Consolates office was 2 blocks away. Couldn't have been more pleased! Anyway, we did a brief stay at the front desk (I was with 4 other patients) to get our arm bands, checked in, pre op, etc. All went well and we headed up to our rooms. I was completely floored! It looked like a spa hotel room with 2 rooms, leather couches, cushy futon with giant pillows and a really nice bathroom. So nice! I was calming down at this point and happy we were in a safe area!! Day of Surgery!! I was so nervous the morning of the surgery! They came in and drew blood and took my vitals and EKG the day before so the day of surgery you don't have much to do or think of except that you are about to embark on a journey of a lifetime! Your choice! The thoughts that went through my mind were... 1) What if I am not one of those people who recovers quickly? 2) What if I die on the operating table? 3) What if I need a blood transfusion? How does that work in Mexico? Do they have the same strict testing as the US? (the answer is yes by the way lol I asked!) 4) What if I don't get to see my grandson ever again? CRAZY questions!! My mind was playing tricks on me and I was doing this surgery electively!! What the crap was wrong with me? doing this in Mexico no less?! My husband was wonderful in calming me down and so I just cried instead of backing out =) When they finally came and got me around 11:30 I was about ready to just back out, call it quits and go back home, stomach in tow! lol They got me down to preop and I was praying (along with my husband :wub: ) that everything would be fine, quick recovery, the whole bit! I remember them giving me something to "relax" me and off I went..... I woke up in recovery and they wheeled me back up to my room quickly so I was with my family. I had a little gas under my shoulder blade and a little pain from the drain site but great other than that! I got up after about and hour and walked walked walked! The gas pain went away after the first day and I never really had any nausea problems so I was a lucky one!! God is good!! My mom and her boyfriend came to the hospital to see me, yep! they drove in my Dallas and came to Juarez for 2 days to spend some time with me! I love my supportive family <3 My whole family and all of my friends were so supportive and good to me the whole time! I love them all!! Anyway, fast forward a couple of days to going home!! Home again, Home again, jiggity jog!! We left for the airport around 9:30 am although our flight wasn't until 1:30pm. We needed to make sure we got across the border in time to catch our flight and had heard horror stories about it taking sometimes 3 hours to get across. Lucky for us, it was the Mexican Election day!! There were only 3 people ahead of us to get through the border so less then 20 min to get across! Woo Hoo! We got to the airport with plenty of time to shop, go through security and time for me to sit down and rest for a while. The flight home was uneventful and once home I was content to take a nap =) Happy to see my kitties (Bella and Momma) and my 12 year old lab Buddy. I have a grandson that is 1 year old and lives with us and seeing him made me melt!! There is nothing better than a grandbaby!! I love him dearly!! Well, after all that, I am home! I work from home so it is nice to be able to work, nap, sip sip, work, sip sip, nap lol I feel like one of the cats! I feel good though! I have walked, done some laundry, cleaned and even cooked a little. I will venture out tomorrow!!! Thanks for reading!!! They will be shorter here on out! PROMISE!! Oh by the way, my weight!!! 6/15/2012 247 lbs 6/29/2012 227 lbs -19.2 lbs 7/1/2012 229 lbs (gotta love the IV fluid and being swollen!0

Things are going great for me! I have these odd hiccups that show up randomly that hurt like crazy but other than that I am great! walk walk walk, sip sip sip and so goes my day! lol Look so forward to meeting you!!

I just had my surgery on June 29th and am having almost the exact same weird pains! I hate those weird hiccup things!! AHHHH they hurt! I am doing only clear liquids this week and moving on to protein shakes etc next week. I haven't had the head hunger either. My husband and my daughter stopped and got chinese on the way home from the hospital, they were starving lol, and I honestly did not want anything, NOTHING! It was weird to not feel tempted, hungry, something anyway! I am happy with my broth, water and peach SF jello =) and I don't even want that half the time. Anyway, I really enjoyed your post! I felt the same way going into surgery, nervous is not even a good adjective to use lol then the weird pains (I had gas pains under my shoulder blade for a day but Gas X got rid of that quick like!) the hiccups and the diaphram odd pain. Crazy! I hope your next couple of days goes well and hope you find time to post another blog! Thanks again!

Can't imagine not liking my surgeon,or not caring so much for him, this is hard enough without that! lol I was just sleeved June 29th so I understand the anxious feelings, I was so nervous the night before, cried the morning of and cried and tried to back out in preop! they gave me something to relax me and off I went! I do not regret it, I was just so nervous at the permanence of the decision and really I guess, the unknown! Some people do well with no pain and no complications yet others have a hard time so not knowing how my body was going to react was almost to much for my head to wrap around. I am one of the lucky ones with very little pain, easy to get water and broth down and walking like a maniac! Couldn't have asked for a better recovery! I know I'm only 3 days out but goodness, I have heard some stories so I feel lucky! Anyway, just look forward and know that these feelings are very normal and you made this decision for your new life! Good luck!!

Lessofme - This is for sleevers in the DFW area regardless of when they were sleeved. I would love to have a group of all different journeys so that we can have a good support system with where everyone is at! You are more than welcome to join =) We are in the beginning stages and have had a great response so I'm hoping this is going to be a successful group!! Thank you for your interest! We will be contacting everyone this week to get things in motion for a first meeting! Woo Hoo!! By the way!! How is your journey coming so far??

So excited to have all of you join up!! I am going to work with Amy tomorrow and get a date set, I'd like to go for July 21 if that works for everyone =) I can't wait to meet everyone! Everyone keep your spirits up and know that we are all here for you! I know we are all in different parts of our journey and can really help uplift and encourage each other along the way

I'm so sorry! Was it partially because of the surgery? I hear it is sometimes considered a casualty of the surgery. It doesn't make it any better though... I will be praying for you <3

I just left the hospital and was soooo freaking out the day before and the day of. Crying and nervous, sitting in front of the window writing down questions to ask the doc like, what happens in case of a needed transfusion, what is the complication rate, on and on!!! I think your mind plays tricks on you and all of the research and preparedness you have done seems to go out the window!!! I totally get it! As a matter of fact when I was rolled into the preop area I asked the nurse if it was too late to back out LOL She said "here here, this is some meds to help you relax" and off I went to la la land!! So I'm on the losers bench!! I have had no complications, a little bit of nausea and a little bit of gas pain but so far great!! I'm so glad I didn't back out but let me tell you it was a close one! I'm sure you will know when the time is right but don't think it doesn't happen to almost all of us! You will be fine =) I, and I know others on this forum ,will be praying for you to you to have a safe and fabulous journey!!! Get back on the saddle girl!!

I just left the hospital where my doc took the drain out and he told me the drain site would drain for a couple of days and then start to heal over and maybe even turn a few lovely colors. If you have any concern though, if it doesn't feel right or look right to you definitely call your Dr's office just to make sure =)

My only take on the carbs is like the Atkins diet and if there are more than 5 protein in anything shake, fruit, veggie, etc then you take that amount from the carbs. So like your Atkins shake says 10 carbs but it also has 10 protein so your "net" carbs are 0. I hope that wasn't too confusing! LOL I do like the taste of the Atkins shake, yummy! I haven't tried the other and the pure protein whey is so yummy with 2 strawberries, 1/4 of a banana and a splenda packet. My favorite!!

hahaha! so funny!! I do have the same problem with my suit, although I have my own pool so if I flash anyone it's only family LOL!!