I recently had the vsg surgery june3rd and im 19. First off let me just tell you if you think your prepared for it your wrong lol i thought i was well prepared for what was to come. My mom had the vsg a few months before i did and drilled all the information into my head, i read the forums read the books. Im not going to sugar coat it, this will probably be one of the hardest things you will EVER do in your life. You can never fully prepare yourself for this surgery until you go through it. I dont regret having my surgery for one second im dropping the weight like crazy! But its not going to be all fun and easy. I had mt surgery in tijuana mexcio with dr.kelly. I got there a day early and stayed in a hotel in san deigo the next day our driver came and picked us up at 8am and took me to the hospital i got admitted and was settled into my room (my mom went with me). They took me to go get an xray done, it only took like 5 minutes tops and the cardiologist came into the room and listened to my heart and hooked me up to a machine for a second to make sure everything was okay. it all checked out good. Then the IV lady came in and put an IV in my arm im not going to lie it hurt like hell lol ive never had to have one. Dr. Kelly then came in to see me and go over everything that was going to happen and to answer any last minute questions i had and told me i would be having my surgery in 2 hours. When the time came they loaded me onto a strecher and wheeled me out into the hallway where i got onto a different bed then they rolled that one into the operating room where i got onto another bed (it was weird lol) and there was like 3 people in the room and i layed there, i thought they would put a gas mask on me like in the movies but i guess not lol. I started feeling like i was going to pass out and i tried to ask them if i should be feeling like this but before i could get my sentence out i was out for the count. Next thing i knew i was waking up in my bed in horriable horriable pain it was probably the worst pain ive ever felt in my life it felt like someone was stabbing me in my stomach all i remember is yelling a few curse words and yelling out to my mom "mom it hurts, it hurts soo bad" over and over again. They gave me some pain medicine and i clamed down a little bit. That first night was the worst but the pain was managable. I was up walking to the bathroom with some help from my mom about an hour or two after surgery. The next day it really is alot better i was up walking the halls like a champ, still a little pain but nothing like the day before. I was not able to eat or drink anything the 2 days i was in the hospital all i could have was ice chips. The whole second day was pretty uneventful all i did was walk around as much as i could and it really did help. The next day i was discharged and went to a hotel to stay for 2 more days the first day in the hotel Dr.Kelly's son came and took me to a different hotel to get my leak test done everything checked out good but that stuff they made me drink for it was god awful lol very very nasty! They took us back to the hotel and Dr.Kellys son went to go pick up my medicine he brought back some spray for my incisions to keep them clean, some antibiotics and some pian medicine that i havent used because i havent needed it. The 2 days in the hotel were alright we pretty much did our own thing Dr.Kelly visited me like 3 or 4 times a day. When the 2 days were finally up we were home bound and boy were we glad to get home those 5 days will wear you down lol. Well there goes my story of my trip to mexico. My journey is still not over now that i look back the hospital stay was a breeze its when you get home and are on your own is when the real test sets in you have to be sure to get in ALL your protein in and ALL your fluids. by the end of the day you feel like your drowning in fluids. The hardest part is seeing everyone else around you still moving on with their lives eating and enjoying food while your sipping on your wonderful fluids (in being sarcastic) lol. This journey has its ups and its down you will feel happy and on top of the world one mintue and depressed and down in the dumps the next. But you will get though it. I havent made it through it yet but i will and am still trucking though it. I hope this helps and good luck on your journey. If you wanna know anything else just let me know. --Jessica