Cheryl Lawler Phillips

I am typing this for my husband, so please be patient while I try to explain his concerns. He was sleeved on 8/23. His pre-op weight was 530 and lost 13 pounds prior to surgery. He is now down a total of 60.8 pounds. He has only lost a pound or two in the last week. He weighs daily which I think is a huge mistake. I am trying to convince him to stop doing that. When he decided that he was going to go through with the surgery one of the benefits was supposed to be that the "thing" that causes him to get hungry would be removed. It doesn't seem that that has happened. He is hungry all the time, and when he does eat his stomach rolls and grumbles and he is in pain. He is very frustrated at this point. Also, he is very frustrated because he is in ketosis and doesn't seem to be moving the scale. I realize that 61 pounds is a lot of weight to lose but because he has so much to lose the 61 pounds isn't really showing on him at this point. He wants people to notice, but they don't. Also, how do you handle telling people about your progress when it really doesn't show? When he tells people what he has lost, they said "well, how much did you freaking weigh to begin with?" He really isn't in a position of wanting to tell his starting weight. Anyway, any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance. Cheryl

Oh and he takes liquid vitamins every day, which is more than he has ever done in his life.

We are both well aware of the carb effect on his body. He always feels better when he is low carbing even prior to surgery. It's like he is allergic to sugar. We are keeping refined sugar to a minimum. But basically if he eats any solid meat (I am assuming this is what you mean by dense protein) he experiences pain. He is still getting his protein in via supplements. I too believe that he is experiencing some acid reflux and indigestion and just doesn't know it. Also, head hunger as well. I am going to make sure that he takes an antacid to keep that at bay. I really believe that his "hunger" problem is attributed to those two things. He is doing much better. Eating cottage cheese, peanut butter, beans, tuna, etc to keep the hunger/cravings away and to help get his protein in. Thank you all for your help and concern. He has a very long road ahead of him and any and all advice and suggestions are welcomed. We don't take offense to strong comments or hard advice. Thanks Again...Cheryl

He decided that "the rules" didn't apply to him, so he went directly into eating normal food. He still ate very small amounts and tried to chew everything well but it just didn't settle very well on his stomach. Since we went to the BRAT diet, bananas, rice, applesauce, and toast with added cottage cheese, he is having a much easier time with his stomach.

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I finally just told him to get a little prospective. Since the surgery he has lost over 60 pounds, his sleep apnea is GONE!, and he is virtually pain free. If he didn't lose another ounce, which he has since the original post, the quality of his life has improved so dramatically that the surgery is well worth the stomach issues and money spent x 10!!! He desperately wants people to say "WOW, look at you!!" but when you have 250 or so pounds to lose, 60 pounds doesn't make that much of a difference. I can really see the changes in his body but he doesn't believe me. Anyway, he has scaled back his eating to soft foods again to see if that helps with the pain. I will keep you posted on his progress! Good luck to y'all!!! Thanks, Cheryl

My husband was sleeved with Dr. Almanza on August 23rd and one of his incisions were open as well. One of the stitches popped prior to being removed and therefore the wound didn't close. He wanted me to remove the stitches and I just wasn't comfortable doing that. He went to our regular care physician today and he removed the stitches and them put three staples in the open wound. He gave us a staple remover and the staples have to be removed on Sunday. Hope this helps. He also put steri strips on the other incision sites.

My husband was sleeved on Aug. 23rd, 2012. He was 530 pre-op surgery with a BMI of 63. He was sleeved by Dr. Almanza in Tijuana Mexico. Surgery can be pretty scary for a lot of people, especially this surgery. It's permanent. She may just be scared and making excuses. Take care of you. You can't do it for her. Good luck!!!

He isn't following the post-op diet very well as far as how long to be on clear fluids, pureed foods, soft foods etc. He is only 10 days out from surgery and he is pretty much eating anything he wants but he is keeping things to low carb and high protein. He doesn't mind that diet at all, he actually feels better on it. He was on Atkins for a long time, on and off, but was unable to lose any weight. Now he is actually dropping weight! I am so excited for him.

Two-terville! Congrats on your 100lbs lost!!!

Thank you so much for sharing!!! My husband was sleeved on August 23, 2012 and is already down 40 pounds. He started his pre-op at 530 and surgery weight was 517, He is drinking high protein-low carb shakes, lean protein and taking liquid vitamins. The problem is that he is waiting for the other shoe to drop. He is convinced that any day now he is going to get on the scale and it will be up and continue to go up. He just can't enjoy the weight loss yet because he has never lost weight before. It's so good to hear of someone of his size that it has worked on. Again, thank you for sharing!!!

There were several people that were by themselves there and they didn't seem to have any problems with leaving their stuff with the staff. There is a small hallway way away from the waiting room where they put all the luggage while you are in surgery. I can promise you that when I was walking with my husband up and down the hallway the luggage looked like it completely safe. I heard no complaints at all about anything having to do with their belongings. Try and scale down your stuff as much as possible. You won't need your giant purse, etc. You won't need a bunch of cute clothes. You will need the basics. Something extremely comfortable to wear once you are able to take the gown off and comfortable shoes. Also, the clinic is extremely secure. There is an automatic lock on the door. If you are able to walk outside, you can't just come back in. They have to be able to buzz you in. This keeps the average guy from just walking in to the clinic as well.

A complete medical history, EKG and blood work to insure that you do not have blockages in your arteries.

NASTY!!!LOL Actually he said that the purple drink that you have to drink the morning of your xray is not that bad but the Barium you drink to take the xray, should have a warning label on it. WARNING: This may cause you to barf!!! Good luck to you. Be patient. There is a lot of waiting. My husband is down 30 pounds already and is eating solid food already. He was sleeved on August 23rd.

We both, myself and my husband's friend, went back and forth to the clinic with my husband for the first two days. There is a lot of sitting around for sure. Bring a book or something to do. There is free wifi in the hotel and the doctor's clinic. So the internet is available. After that, we stayed at the hotel. We did a little walking around. Pretty safe during the day. I am a chicken baby so I wasn't real comfortable walking around at night so we stayed at the hotel. You absolutely make friends with the other patients and patients companions. The food at the hotel is excellent and CHEAP!!! Once, we had 5 beers, 3 baskets of chips, and 2 bowls of salsa for $8.00 US. Filet mignon is $12.50. Not a lot of street vendors or beggars so she should be fine.

Hi, I'm Cheryl. My husband was sleeved on August 23rd. I plan on getting sleeved as soon as we can come up with another $4500. And I plan on getting sleeved at Dr. Almanza's clinic. Let me preface the information on the clinic with this...Hospital Jeruselum is probably the cleanest place you will ever find. They have a staff of about 5 that absolutely never stop cleaning. It is not a "clean it at 7:00 and not again till the next shift" kind of clean. I mean they have a routine, they go from room to room cleaning everything from floor to walls, then come back and do it again, 24 hours a day. They do an average of 10-14 surgeries per day, 6 days a week, every week, Their rate of infection is less than 1% and that is saying something. Much better than the hospitals in the United States. Now, Hospital Jeruselum is a clinic, not a hospital. By that, I mean that this clinic is literally located in a strip center. Along with a mattress store, commercial cleaning supply store, a paint store, and a lingerie store. Next door is an Office Depot and behind the strip center is a Home Depot and a Costco. A LOT of people were shocked to see that it is located in a strip center. Do not let this put you off. They are professional and like I said, it is clean. I am only telling you this so that you are prepared. There were no hidden fees or charges. Not once did they come to ask us for additional money for anything. The price we were quoted is the price we paid. My husband is hypoglycemic so I asked if he could be one of the first ones to be sleeved that day because I didn't believe he could sit around until 2:00 or more without eating anything since midnight the previous night. They accommodated us so that when we were to arrive in San Diego at 3:00 last Wednesday we were going to be picked up at the airport and taken directly to the clinic to have the pre-op testing done so he could have his surgery first thing Thursday morning. We missed our flight so we didn't get into San Diego until 8:00. The van was there to pick us up and we went directly to the clinic where he got his pre-op testing done. I would have never thought in a million years that they would have bent over backwards to do that for him. They even had to call the cardiologist in just to give him his EKG. If we were in the U.S., there would have been no way that a cardiologist would have made a special trip just to accommodate my husband. And if they did, the charges would have been astronomical. Anyway, after the pre-op testing they took us to the Hotel Ticuan (I will tell you about that in a minute). By the way, my husband's best friend lives in San Diego and I asked them if he could accompany us. They allowed him to ride the transport van and to do everything I was allowed to do as his spouse. Thursday morning, they came to pick us up at the hotel at 6:00am. We went to the clinic and they prepped my husband for surgery. They gave him a hospital gown, a bag to put his clothes in, and then inserted the IV catheter. They hung a bag of saline and muscle relaxer and had my husband sit in a waiting area with a TV and started his IV fluids. He was feeling mighty good when I made it up to see him. There was one other lady that was to have surgery before him. She had some other stomach issues that Dr. Almanza was taking care of so he did her surgery first. My husband went in at 9:30 after a consultation with Dr. Almanza. Dr. Almanza has had the VSG. His english is not perfect but he is very engaging and will explain every detail to you and they have a translator there to help the language barrier. The surgery takes approximately 1 to 1 1/2 hours to perform. They do not allow you to sit in recovery too long. They wake you up because they want you up and moving around as soon as possible. They fill your stomach cavity with air because of the laparoscopic surgery procedure. You have to move to get rid of the gas. Most people just give a "blanket" excuse me and then burp, belch, or otherwise release gas without worry. When my husband woke up from the anesthesia, he was in a world of pain. He was convinced that he was having a heart attack because the pressure of the gas was so severe. Please know that the first two days after surgery are a complete and total miserable experience. (at least for my husband they were) In fact, on day two when they were going to the clinic for testing and IV fluids, not one person said they were happy they did the surgery. They all said it is not worth the pain and discomfort you go through. Remember, that is day two! Day three is a completely different story. Every one is bouncing around and wanting to do it again. Also, there is a drain attached to the inside of your stomach. It is a tube the is attached to a little bottle that actually fills up with stomach fluids. (A little gross, I gotta tell you, but everyone has them) Some of the tricks that we used to help him are GasX strips (which I gave him even though they told me no) and Riopan. I bought this at a pharmacy in Tijuana. It is similar to Pepcid, but a gel pouch. It's only like a tablespoon or so worth of medicine but it really helped my husband with the indigestion he experienced. The physical pain from the surgical wounds was nil compared to the gas and indigestion pain he experienced. I didn't give him the Riopan in the hospital but in the hotel after he was released. They give you pain meds and antacids and nausea medicine via the IV port in the hospital and the hotel. They also give you something to make you sleep. Thursday night my husband stayed at the hospital. They would not allow anyone other than patients stay in the hospital overnight. Don't even try, they won't let anyone stay no matter what. As soon as you are able you need to walk. I cannot stress this enough. WALK, WALK, WALK! Most of the men that were feeling pretty good were up walking the women looked like zombies because they wouldn't get up and walk. We stayed at Hotel Ticuan in downtown Tijuana. All I can say about that hotel is 4 or 5 star hotel, no doubt. Very, very, very nice. Food was awesome, even though you aren't going to eat it. And there is a nurse on staff 24/7. All in all it was a good experience. We definitely agree that when I get my sleeve done with will do it the same way. I can endure a couple of days of misery to have guaranteed portion control for the rest of my life. Please let me know if I left anything out. I will be glad to answer any questions you have. By the way, my husband has lost 30.4 pounds since last Monday. So, I would say it's worth it. And I asked him yesterday if he still regretted doing the surgery, his response?... Oh HEEEELLLL NOOOO! Good Luck, Cheryl

Hi, I am not being sleeved on Sept 17th but just got back on Sunday night from Tijuana. My husband was sleeved with Dr. Almanza on 8/23/2012. If you are interested in some insider information, let me know. I will give you the straight poop. Good luck to you.