julielle

Good luck Amy

I've only ever had VSG and a C-section, I didn't find either surgery particularly painful. The gas pain of the VSG was worse than the incisions for sure and those went away fairly quickly (though at the time it certainly didn't feel quick). I'll need a lower body lift, thighs, arms and breasts done in the future probably, not looking forward to it. Probably an upper body lift too, bleh.

I had surgery on November 8th with him and he's awesome. He does not speak english well but he always has another doctor with him that does, so the other doctor translates. It really wasn't a problem. Trish will give you a list of spanish phrases too for things like "I have pain" etc, some of the nurses did not speak english but again it wasn't a problem, they just gestured that they wanted to change my bandage or change my IV bag and it was easy to understand Some of the nurses there were really awesome! I had a great experience, and the recovery was easy for me.

I figured I'd do a little update. 3 months ago today I had VSG with Dr Ponce de Leon in Tijuana. I'm down 51 pounds since surgery day. Seriously best decision I've ever made. No regrets whatsoever. None. I was SO scared pre surgery. I knew that the odds were in my favor but it's hard not to go into a surgery without thinking "what if". I hardly slept the night before. But it went very well for me, I woke up in recovery a little uncomfortable but ready to start walking asap. There was pain, but not cry out loud pain. And even that was gone within 2 days. I remember sleeping a lot the first few weeks, but I will use any excuse for a nap The post op diet went well, I'm now on full solids and I can tolerate mostly anything. My body does let me know if I eat too fast or too much, it's not very pleasant. I've gotten the "slimies" a few times, blech. Food wise, a small quantity of protein fills me up quickly. Sometimes I can't eat an entire egg. A few bites of chicken and I'm full. I can pack in a lot of carbs though, they go through very easily so I have to stay away or carefully portion them out. Other than that, my energy is good, my back has stopped hurting me when I walk, I can now walk miles without pain, and I can stand in place without my lower back screaming at me. I'm sure my spine thanks me.

You can check out seatguru.com to find out if your row has outlets/personal entertainment thingies in the backs of the seat or stuff like that. Some do and some don't. If it's a small tiny plane chances are it won't. Usually when they have the seat back entertainment they also have outlets, sometimes they have outlets with no entertainment thing. Usually in the airports you can find charging stations to charge your phone too so you can plop down beside one during your layover if your flight doesn't have one. Oh and you do need to call your airline and let them know you require wheelchair assistance, they probably won't have someone waiting for you at San Diego (you'll have to ask them since they have no idea at what time you'll arrive) but they WILL have someone waiting for you at your connecting flight.

I would consider the Mi Doctor a hospital for the purposes we need it for. I was at INT hospital which I'm sure is similar, they are small hospitals, much smaller than we're used to in Canada or the US. But it wasn't what I would call a clinic by OUR definitions either. Doctors on staff 24 hours, operating rooms, ICU, INT even took ambulances. I chose Dr Ponce de Leon but I would have been comfortable with Garcia or the other surgeons at Mi Doctor, the tipping point for me was just Trish (Dr Ponce's coordinator), but since I went with my husband it wasn't even that needed. If I went alone the choice of a coordinator would probably have been a bigger deal to me. In the end, I think you have a lot of choices between a clinic and double the price, there are dozens of good surgeons that fall between, but I think if you're truly talking about Mi Doctor I personally wouldn't toss it aside as just being a clinic.

I'm sure I could eat a cup of oatmeal if I tried, anything carby just doesn't fill me, it goes right through and doesn't stay in the stomach so I can eat more of it. I suggest keep trying the Protein Shakes, there are so many out there that you're bound to find one that you tolerate. I tried a lot and they would trigger my gag reflex, but I find that the ready to drink Premier Protein drinks (from Costco) taste fine to me. Like a slightly thicker chocolate milk. Not too sweet. And it's 30g of Protein. This week I've been drinking 2 a day, and right there that's 60g of protein for 320 cals. With a sensible supper I can end up with 70-80 grams of protein for 500ish calories.

I didn't go to Dr Joya but I am Canadian (Montreal). I am 3 months post op now.

It took about a week or so before my weight started going down, I got home from Tijuana and I was at my pre-op weight for a while.

I aim for 70-80g of protein per day. I've read several VSG diet plans from different doctors and hospitals and this seems to be a good range for all of those plans. I've never seen a plan that recommended less than 60 though, always 60 as a minimum. I personally do 2X premier protein shakes (30g each, 160 cals = 60g protein for 320 cals) I also do an egg, ham and cheese omelette (small one) which is another 16g of protein. So that brings me to 76 grams of protein and 450 cals.

The quality of the care in Mexico is not subpar, they cater to international customers so the level of care is there. In many ways I found it superior to the level of care that I've experienced in Montreal area hospitals.

I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest for most of the first day or two. And the gas pain was a lot different than I thought it would be. I didn't feel it in my shoulder but I did feel it a lot in my neck and my lower back hurt a lot too. But it really does get exponentially better every day after, I promise!

Hmmm weird, they did with me! (When they were drawing blood and changing my incision dressings). Hope your surgery went smoothly and that you're walking the halls

I spent a month looking for that PDF and I gave up, every link I found was deleted.

Yes my surgeon gives his patients a video of their surgery. I didn't see my stomach after the surgery if that's what you're asking.

15k per year, and charging 5k+ to a credit card... that's going to take forever to pay off. I don't see how you *could* pay that off without a second job. I took the debt on because there's a lot I can cut from my budget to pay it off, I can cut cable tv, restaurants, cell phones and other luxuries, but what can you cut when you're already at the bare minimum? That would stress me out so much.

I haven't watched my surgery yet because I think I'd probably feel pain too Don't worry, it's really not a big deal.

You'll be fine, the Suprador was fine for the pain, tylenol would have been fine too. It's mostly discomfort when you're moving or trying to get comfortable in bed for a few days.

Me too, hope all is well!

I'm sure it depends on the surgeon, I had my period during surgery and with my surgeon it's no big deal, you just wear a tampon. So other than the inconvenience of having to change my tampon while wearing an IV in my err, tampon changing hand, it was fine. The pain drugs for the surgery kept my cramps at bay, so woo! I didn't have a catheter either.

I'm guessing since mid November. Zenoosh posted late October stating that she had 3 incisions and that they were going to start doing single incisions in a few weeks, so that would have put it around then.

Oh I get it, I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old too, I was scared that I might be one of the few who don't do well and get complications/die. I even went so far as to record goodbye videos for my children, what a ton of fun that was. In the end, my decision was just statistics. I am 35. My knees creak when I climb the stairs. I have no comorbidities but I was approaching 50 BMI. I couldn't keep up with my kids. I figured the chances of bad stuff happening to surgery was less than the chance of me developing diabetes etc during the rest of my life, needing joint replacements etc. So logically the surgery was the less dangerous course.

You can also check out Spanishpod101.com, I used their japanese site when I was attempting to learn japanese