SerendipityHappens

I had a great experience at Mi, but I need to correct you on the "call buttons in every room" bit.. Mine didn't have one (4th floor) and there was another woman on here who didn't have one either... yet there are other patients who did have call buttons. Personally it wasn't an issue as the nurse's station was so close to all the rooms anyway.

10 pounds in four weeks (it was 14 pounds, but I gained after week 2 and have been stuck ever since).... So if this is a competition for who is the slowest... I win

I filled out the questionnaire and booked surgery. If indicate some problem on your questionnaire they might ask for more details.. for example, if you have Hypothyroid, the doctor may want to see your most recent thyroid panel... but that would just depend on what conditions you indicate on the form. If you don't have any out of the ordinary conditions, they just schedule you and you do all your blood work and ekg prior to surgery in mexico and it is all included as part of the cost of surgery. I paid 4,500 and that included hospital stay, hotel stay and all medicines and tests except the acid reducer which would have been 20.00 extra if I hadn't brought my own.

Before I learned I was wheat intolerant, I'd do both the flat out and the joseph's products. I liked the ingredients and taste.. I'd use the josephs oat bran and flax to make toaster oven pizzas with veggies, diced tomatoes mozzarella and feta.. I'd just brush the pita with a bit of olive oil put on my fixins and pop it in the toaster oven.. BEST THING EVER... I'm REALLY going to miss those

32 and the doctor did an oversew of the staple line... Remember also the length of your stomach affects how much you can eat. My stomach is a bit longer than average so I will be able to consume more than many... I am exactly one month out and I've never had much inflammation and was drinking relatively normally even in the hospital. Currently I can eat 1/4 cup of diced chicken and 1/4 cup of beans.. That's a half cup of very heavy food.. I could eat more if I wanted.. but this leaves me satisfied without being "full" At a year out I should be eating 6-8 ounces or a cup to a cup and a half of "fluffier" food.. Less restriction than some, but a far cry from the enormous portions I used to eat.

I'm only 1/3 of my way into my journey and my belly and thighs are already starting to be wrinkly. some people just have more elastic skin than others.. Sine I was well over 300 pounds and have been obese for 40 years, I knew I'd for sure need plastics so there's no wondering for me... For you there might still be hope.. the skin sometimes will retract a bit after a year or so.

I SO feel your anxiety! You can go to seatguru.com and look up your flight and aircraft and know how large the seats are. The plane I flew on had 18" seats. I was 290 pounds at 5'5" and a size 26 pants and I fit with the arms down and was able to buckle the belt without an extender.. (I wore a loose shirt and stretch pants and buckled the belt UNDER my tummy then let my shirt drape over so nobody could see how ridiculous that looked)

LOL.. I traveled to Mexico alone to have major surgery... my biggest worry? Not being able to buckle my seatbelt or fitting properly in my airline seat!

Meh.. My experience was excellent. I knew the doctors I used were new at treating american patients and I was well informed of this by Mexico Bariatric center before hand. I had surgery with Dr's Cabrera and Valenzuela.. who were both well trained and well qualified. My surgery was quick and I had very little post operative pain which I believe is partially due to the skill of the surgeons. I was well cared for by Everyone and have had good response from christy who got ALL the answers to the questions I asked. As for all the crazy backbiting and rumors and all that, I really don't care about all that drama... Could be true,, could be part true.. could be just someone bad talking the competition. My Advice to anyone considering surgery in mexico is to talk to people who actually used the service and the doctors you are considering rather than listening to what amounts to gossip from people who have NOT used those particular doctors or service.

oh lotti, lotti, lotti, patience my dear.. This is all part of the process. you're not going to do anything to break the stall, just keep following your diet, drinking your water and doing whatever exercise you've been cleared for. I was 290 on surgery day, 290 at 1 week...276 at 2weeks, then at 3 weeks I shot up to 282. Today at 4 weeks I'm 280. It's all good.

week 2 I weighed 276 week 3 I weighed 282 I am now at the end of week 4 and I'm 280- still four pounds higher than week 2! I'm not worried. March was a huge month for me so I expect April is going to be bad.

Mi Doctor is NOT the hospital in the strip mall. Mi is a small hospital with just four floors. The hospital itself is not old, but some of the equipment is on the older side.. Like the EKG machine is older but in good working order. Here is a youtube video from Medicaltourismco.. it shows very accurately what MiDoctor looks like You'll see clearly that it is small.. the ICU is just one bed (cuz really it's rarely needed) The hospital you are thinking of is Jerusalem Hospital and it is NOT a hospital, and is indeed a clinic in a strip mall.

I had a great experience with booking with Dr's cabrera and Valenzuela through Mexico Bariatric center. The surgery was at MiDoctor hospital. I stayed two nights post op there. If you have someone with you, they'll give you a big room and a second bed for no extra charge.. After surgery you go to the Marriott for two days. I booked an extra day just to be sure I'd be good for the long flight home. The doctors were fabulous and they have a third doctor now Dr Guillermo Garcia who is in the surgery room and does a lot of the regular follow ups. I completely trusted this surgical team and I had a quick surgery and fantastic recovery. I think the price is 4700 now. They are one of the cheaper teams but they're well trained young doctors.

No, it does not taste "just like peanut butter" .... but it's a very good substitute. I add a pinch of stevia and salt to mine and I eat it with half a banana. Can't wait until I can have apples and use it as a dip for apples... I could eat regular peanut butter by the spoonful (shocking how I got to 360 pounds huh?) but I couldn't imagine chomping down on a spoonful of PB2.. the flavor is not the same and I do miss the oily feel.. but I definitely recommend it even though it's not *quite* the same.

My advice is DON'T CHEAT... Cheating just prolongs the agony. First few days you might feel horrible but stick with it and resist the almost overpowering urges to eat... after day 4 or so you'll feel SO much better and those urges will diminish greatly. Good luck!

Just a plug for puritain's pride.. Been using them for mail order Vitamins since before the internet. They are a fantastic company and really great prices.

Joe, I tend to have a low resting heart rate and fast recovery time which is good... but my heart goes way way up with exercise beyond what the formulas say it should.. My pcp a few years ago when I first noticed this trend was also a cardiologist. He ran some tests and said I'm perfectly healthy and that I should pay attention to how I'm feeling and to my breathing during exercise and not really worry to much about the heart rate exercise formulas.... my experience should not be mistaken for medical advice.

We all can eat different amounts that's for sure. I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. At three weeks out I routinely eat half a cup of food... 1/4 cup of dense protein and 1/4 cup of something else. I see people who are way further out than me eating a tablespoon of tunafish and 1/4 of a piece of cheese and I'm like WTF??? I'm comforted to know that it's not necessarily a measure of the final capacity of our stomach.. and honestly, if My final stomach size holds a bit more than average, I'll be ok with it and still "rock my sleeve" the best I can!

Mine was about 45 minutes. I could have someone with me in the hospital for my entire stay if I wanted... they bring an extra bed if you have someone staying with you.

Good point. I hope you are right. I do tend to take what people say as literal... My head was about spinning around because he's been offering nutritional advice to other sleevers which included things like "McDonald's fish bites" so for him to say he's a dietician really threw me for a loop.

Seems to me that if you are able to eat so much that you wouldn't be needing to also supplement with protein shakes. Certainly as a dietician, you know how to get your protein from food sources.. chicken and eggs are not "specialty items" they are inexpensive, easy to prepare, stick in your sleeve and are protein rich. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around your need to buy Protein drinks if you are eating as much as you claim. You say your doctor botched your surgery, i get it, I would be mightily frustrated too, but you are also full of excuses and seem to be making very little effort here. I think you are right on the money. You definitely should NOT have had this surgery, It is definitely not for you. Shame on your doctor for giving you false expectations and for operating on you in the first place. Even if the surgery would have gone perfectly, I don't think it would have worked for you.

Bariatric Advantage capsules- 6 small capsules per day (I choose to divide them into 3, 2 capsule servings) Ferrochel chelated iron taken before bed Calcium citrate with D3 mini tablets- 6 per day.. I take them with my multivitamin so it's easy to remember. I buy from puritain's pride for the best price b-12 sublingual (3x a week) probiotic beads with 2 billion cultures two a day.

I was hoping you'd respond here. I think it's important for you to voice your views on this topic. You are in the minority here but your experience is just as valid as everyone else's. I know in another thread you mentioned that having had the surgery makes you feel isolated socially. I also hope in time you will see it differently. I did 3 and a half months of an 800 calorie VLCD preop.. it was not easy.. it was like eating like a sleever but with a full size stomach. For the first three months I felt so cut off from everyone since food is such a main part of socialization and since I didn't eat then I didn't go anywhere that had food. Then two weeks before surgery, something clicked for me and I realized that I didn't have to be separated from the socialization just because I was not partaking in the food. The week before surgery my sisters were shocked when they asked "what do you want to do" and I said "Let's go to chinese" I just drank the tea and we talked and had a great time. My not eating was a non-issue. I hope in time, your eating habits and new smaller appetite will become a non issue for you too.

My taster must just be more acute than Butter's because I definitely think they have a taste.. and that taste is GOOD! Especially delicious and refreshing with a squirt of lime and pinch of stevia.. YUM... Or in Green juice.. DOUBLE YUM!

There ARE some protein shots that are not collagen (yes whey ARE 100% whey).. you just have to be careful is all because most brands are NOT whey but they try to lead you to believe that they are... As far as the taste goes.. I've never read a review that didn't say that they taste like feet, or worse.