SerendipityHappens

If I had a STABLE BMI of 38 and I wasn't afraid of going higher then No, I would not even consider this procedure. BUT my situation is much different than yours. When I was in the low 200s, my shape was very much a pear shape. I held most of my weight in my thighs and hips and very little in my abdomen. I had no comorbidities(and still don't even at 40 years old and 330 pounds) I had no joint pain at that weight. I could do everything I wanted to do.... I could even jog and I could hike for 20 miles in a single day! so no. I would not have had the surgery at a 38 BMI unless it was to prevent future weight gain... NOW, If I was YOU, I would DEFINITELY have the surgery. If you have comorbidities, then your body is begging you to lose the weight. No two bodies are the same so it's really not fair to compare. I was in a way "blessed" genetically. Yeah, I do have some thyroid issues.. and I have a propensity to gain and hold on to weight and compounded with a healthy appetite and not always the best choices I wound up at 330 pounds... BUT I have low cholesterol, no signs of heart disease, normal liver profile, normal blood sugar.. etc. I am fortunate. Not everyone can be so lucky, so I say take advantage of this surgery in order to combat against your genetic predisposition! Best wishes to you!

Dr Alvarez has a video that explains stomach size. He said that some people have longer stomachs so of course they will have a larger stomach than someone with a shorter stomach. He also shows a surgery how he staples up close to the bougie.

One thing to consider is that post op, you're relying a lot on multi-vitamins to close the gaps in your nutrition since you can't eat very much at first. Muli-vitamins by law can't exceed 3% of the RDA of potassium!!! Even if you buy straight potassium pills OTC they will only have 6 % of the RDA! Add that to the fact that you're likely now avoiding everyone's FAVORITE source of potassium: Potatoes, and it's no wonder you're potassium deficient!

Just an update, I talked to Christy at Mexico Bariatric. MBC and Dr Lopez are no longer working together. MBC uses the team of Cabrera/Valenzuela for their Tijuana office (mi doctor hospital) still uses Dr Osuana for the Puetra Vallarta bookings.

Rootman, I get that you are a decent human, but you get all your advice from Click and Clack, the tappit brothers, don't you? I get what you're saying, but this is something that fat women get almost universally and it definitely feels like a backhanded compliment. "you have such a pretty face" = too bad the rest of you makes me want to burn my eyes out with a red-hot fire poker My favorite one is one that you'll get from the uber-religious... "you have such a sweet spirit" = Jesus loves you even though most people can't stand to look at you and you'll never find love in this life because of your hideousness. I've also on more than one occassion been grilled by people at the summit of mountains wanting to know how I got to the top. I had one person actually ask me if there was a road for cars to get to the summit... UM, I got to the top by hiking my big fat azz up here... It's shocking I know, because fat women are supposed to sit around in yoga pants all day watching Dr. Phil and drinking bacon grease.

When I went in for Gallbladder surgery a few years back in the USA, I wasn't given any stockings and no compression devices were used on my legs. I was in bed for two days before I could walk..... For my surgery in Mexico, I will not be fitted for stockings but they use a compression device on your legs while you're in the hospital for two days. ALSO, typically when they give compression stockings in the hospital, the stockings are intended for use while lying down.. The compression ratios are different than regular compression stockings that are used for sitting and walking.

When I fly, I wear compression stockings. Measure your ankles and calves and buy the right size for you. If you have ahem.. generous calves, Jobst has stockings that will acomodate you.

I love to travel and my weight is REALLY holding me back. I'm flying for surgery in Mexico and that has me terrified... not of dying in a feiry crash, or of DVT, but of having to ask for a seatbelt extender... or getting "the look" from another passenger when she realizes that her seat is next to mine... or the discomfort of squeezing into a 17 inch seat for 5 hours.... Can't wait to be on the other side of this and not have to worry about any of that.

Well after talking with Christy the TC with MBC, I booked with the Cabrera/Valensuela team. Honestly though all of the doctors I researched were well qualified. It was hard to decide because F.Garcia, Cabrera, Alvarez, Ponce, Lopez. and Aceves all have very positive stats and good reviews.

Well THAT'S a relief... since chances are you didn't have 30K sitting around to pay for gallbladder removal... So don't keep us in suspense, What was the issue?

and if by chance it is gallbladder, get it checked now. You may be ale to hold off on surgery for a few months and you can schedule the procedure in Mexico where it is only around 5K as opposed to 30K in the USA. Also as far as errupting.. yes, you do NOT want this. By the time I got myself to the hospital, I was nearly dead. My gallbladder had become gangrene and the gangrene had spread around my abdominal cavity and was on my liver. I had a very difficult surgery which included having rotten gangrene gallbladder pieces scraped off of my liver. Good times.

Thanks Shannon, His partner is Louisiana Valensueala and he practices at Mi Doctor in Tijuana. I think this is the same hospital as Fernando Garcia, No?

Awwweee... sorry you had a hard time coming out of anesthesia. I hear so many people come out of it with no problem but for me, when I had my gallbladder out, coming out of anesthesia was one of the worst experiences of my life. I just remember feeling so much pain and thinking in a very real and literal way that Hulk Hogan, yes Hulk Hogan was slamming me into the ground over and over again. The nurse said it took her for ever to get me to utter something coherent.... I just kept crying and asking "WHY would ANYONE do this on purpose?".... now here I am again preparing to go under anesthesia..... on purpose. Yep, I want this BAD! Hope you are both happily recovering!

I look forward to the day when I need a workout titled "insanity" to push me to my limits.... Right now I'm pushed to my limits doing "Sweatin' to the Oldies" heck forget that, I'm pushed to my limits climbing four flights of stairs!

1.Tired of having to come straight home after work every day and put my feet up for 6 hours just to make the swelling in my legs go down. 2. Not being able to take the Zumba class I wanted to because of 1. 3. Enduring multiple stress fractures in my feet because nobody told me that 330 pound women aren't supposed to climb mountains and hike. 4. Finally realized that just because I don't have any co-mordities like HBP, diabetes, high cholesterol, doesn't mean that I deserve to live with all this pain in my feet and legs.

So I haven't been sleeved yet so I don't know if any of these ingredients are a no-no, but this recipe is delicious.... I love chicken taco meat... Chicken breast in crockpot.. mix one table spoon of taco seasoning (homemade so you can control the sodium content adjust flavor for personal taste and none of that nasty msg!) and a third of a cup of Water. pour over chicken breast. Cook about 8 hours on low. It's done when you can easily shred it up with a fork. Here's my taco seasoning recipe. I make a huge batch and then just measure out what I need. This recipe makes a big batch of seasoning: heaping 1/4 cup chili powder (I like to use the DARK chili powder it has more interesting flavor) 1 or 2 T garlic powder 1T onion powder 2 or 3T spanish paprika 1 T oregano 2T dry cilantro 1t coriander (optional) (not the same as cilantro, this is the SEED and has different taste than cilantro) 2 or 3 T cumin 2T black pepper 1 or 2 T sea salt cayenne pepper to taste. (I don't use any)

oh please say it ain't so! I could handle if cheesecake or chocolate suddenly became non-delicious but I hate to even think what it would be like to have an aversion to water. I drink at least two liters a day... not necessarily because I'm supposed to, but because I LOVE IT. Not being able to enjoy water anymore would be tragic to me! I hope it gets better for you soon and you can enjoy gloriously delicious water again!

If you haven't had your gallbladder out that's another thing to think about. I vomited bile and occasionally black blood all the time before I had mine out and the pain wasn't always where gallbladder pain "should" be.... but yah, I'm no doctor... I'm with those who say go to the doc.. personally if it was me and it happened once or twice, I'd ignore it to save money... I TOTALLY understand how it is to be uninsured... but more than a couple times and it's time to seek professional help. Good luck!

Thanks for the review Cinders. I am leaning toward Dr Alvarez, but still researching other doctors. Dr. Ismael Cabrera Garcia seems very appealing to me. He has done enough surgeries to really know what he's doing but is still young and new enough to not be complacent. It's funny because as I've been comparing a lot of the doctors, I'm trying to leave Price out of the mix but I keep thinking that there MUST be something wrong with him if his price is so low... but the more research I do the less this seems to be the case! I've been talking to Christy and she has been fabulous so far. I hope to have my decision made in the next week or so and book surgery for March.

Thanks for the info, I called today and spoke to Alina Alvarez...and sent over my health sheet for approval. the price quoted to me was not 4500 though, It was more like 5700 I think and you had to get sleeved in December.

I haven't been sleeved yet, but I've been making hummus deviled eggs for years and YUM! Here's how I do it: Halve your boiled eggs Toss the yolk. Make your hummus but go light on the tahini and nix the EVOO you don't really need it in the hummus and it tastes better ON the hummus! Add a tiny bit of yellow mustard to hummus. Put hummus into pastry bag pipe into the egg halves garnish with a teeny tiny drizzle of evoo (like a teaspoon total for six halves and make it the REALLY good quality Lebanese evoo), spanish paprika and chopped parsley or cilantro...a sprinkle of some very finely diced tomatoes taste fabulous on these too. OMG, you'll never go back to regular deviled eggs again!

I took a long time thinking about this too. I am now actually looking forward to NEXT Thanksgiving because I will be able to have a taste of everything and then feel FULL without going in for THIRDS on the mashed potatoes!Then later that night I'll be able to sample some pie.. and actually just have a bite of each kind instead of an ENTIRE SLICE OF FIVE DIFFERENT PIES.. so I'll still get to taste them all... without all the calories associated with FIVE FREAKING SLICES OF PIE!!!!!

I'm not sleeved yet, but yes, I've lost my period in the past due to VLCDs and lots of exercise. I had always thought that it was just low bodyfat% that can trigger absence of periods and surely that wasn't a problem for me with my BMI of 50ish!!! When I talked to my doctor about it he said that it was not unusual cease menstruation on a VLCD.

Oh wow, your problem is the whole reason I am considering this surgery in the first place. I have made many pushes to lose weight and have been somewhat successful in the past, but only on a VLCD. When I count up my calories consumed vs calories burned, I always show a HUGE deficit on paper that should translate into huge pounds lost, but it actually winds up just being ounces lost :-( I made one more push last year to lose. I bought a body bug, I counted every calorie and logged it faithfully and I lost far FAR less than expected. I finally just resigned myself to the fact that my body simply does not REQUIRE all the calories that people are telling me it does! I've been doing some research on metabolism, and did you know that some people actually try to lower their metabolism in order to have longer life? Yeah, it's true. apparently, if you are able to lower your metabolism and only eat what that metabolism requires and manage to avoid obesity, you can add years to your life. So now I'm embracing my slow metabolism as a good thing. I'm done with trying to raise it, I just need to learn to feed it properly for ME and if that means 600 calories a day to lose and 1000 calories a day to maintain then THANK GOD for the sleeve... because I think it will be pretty hard for me to do this... but without the sleeve it would be impossible.

What is the cost with Dr Kelly? Also is it all inclusive or do you need to book your own hotel/ground transportation? Anyone have the number to his TC? His website is having issues and is listed as an attack site so I can't get the info from there. THANKS!