kerrbeari

Has anyone else been reimbursed by Alberta Health Care for some of the costs of their surgery? Before I had surgery with Dr Ponce I told Trish I would need a detailed reciept. Of course the one she gave me just said I paid $5500 usd for the surgery. Today I emailed her and asked for: an itemized receipt on official letterhead showing: -showing the name and credentials of the anesthesiologist (including his first and last name) - a breakdown of the $5500 in fees - the duration of anesthesia (what time the procedure started & ended) - the date of each service provided - hospital admission and discharge She emailed me back right away and said no I e has ever had an issue with the generic receipt and that Dr Ponce doesn't give out his notes. Umm what????

I just got my cheque for $1,631!

Trish did absolutely nothing to help me - but Dr Ponce's other coordinator Deborah (She's Canadian) got me the info I needed. Now I'm still waiting to hear from AB health care to see how much they will reimburse me.

My SIL has been losing a lot of her hair and she's lost a lot of weight with diet and exercise (no surgery). It scared her so bad she went to the Dr who said its completely normal and it's a shock to the body just like having a baby - it's hormones. I am losing mine to (4.5 months post op) and cut mine to.

I just want to say that Debra at Weight No More (coordinator for Dr Ponce) has been a great help to me and she wasn't my coordinator! She went out of her way to help me even though I didn't pay her - my popular Mexican coordinator (that I paid) flat out said no and made a lame excuse. Debra is out of Canada but got the info I needed from Dr Ponce on one of her trips to Mexico. Thanks to her I can expect around $1000 to $1500 back from Alberta Health Care for out of country services. If not for her I would be getting nothing. She went out of her way to help me for nothing in return - a good Canadian! Thanks Debra!

Get checked for c diff

I remember my first belch after surgery - it felt great that something "normal" happened! I think it was 1.5 weeks post op - a great day lol!

I was hungry the day after surgery and was shocked. I asked my dr and he said of course you are you haven't eaten anything in 4 days. I think it stopped after a couple weeks, I still get hungry just not the crazy growling that goes with it. I am 2.5 months post op.

I had surgery with Dr Ponce and I was told that my surgery would be within an hour of getting dropped off at the hospital - I waited 6 or 7 hours. It would have been nice to know because I was literally panicking for those hours!!! FYI you can chew gym before surgery - my mouth was so dry and I had no gum for my stinky breath! Dr Ponce does surgeries other than wls as well and I guess he had a very long one in the morning that pushed things back. I was his last surgery of the day - yikes! Lol but the surgery itself was fine. I also had to wait on Trish and the other Dr's (Dr Ponce left for Easter after my surgery). There was a lot of hurry up and waits for me. That could have had something to do with it being Holy Week to (don't go to Mexico the week before Easter). I had an infection on my big incision and Dr Oscar told me he would check on me at my hotel before I went home and he never showed up or called to say he wasn't coming which was really annoying. Trish would show up hours after she said she would. Dr Ponce is a great surgeon and person but just bcuz u pay more don't expect that they are going to be diligent about time. My room was delayed due to a whole bunch of babies being born that day-- its a hospital stuff happens. We do wait in Canada at the hospital but the staff don't make false promises of how long things are going to take - its just a given you wait. If I had to do it all again (And I had complications) I def would with Dr Ponce but I would use Laurie as my coordinator - even tho she charges more than Trish. Trish wasn't bad just distracted. Btw my pee and poo was blue after the swallow test lol! It scared me at first!

I'm Canadian and in my province very few wls are done (50 a year) & to get on the approx 2 year waiting list you have to have co-morbidities. To self pay (and not wait) would have cost approx $17,000 and I would have had to go to Toronto or Quebec. I chose Mexico for financial reasons.

I had your symptoms and I had (& have again) c-diff. I was on IV antibiotics after surgery for a bacterial infection on one of my incisions. If you weren't on antibiotics after surgery you probly don't have c-diff. Might be worth checking if you were though.

Sorry I took offense to the miscommunication part because I am a professional accountant and I emailed Trish with the specific info I need and got a flat out no. many people from Canada & Alberta specifically go to Mexico for the surgery & those of us who do need some specifics detailed - many of us have used Trish and this wouldnt have been the first she's heard of it. Yes it is nice that our provincial health plans reimburse us (at least Alberta does) for out of country health care costs but they need to know things like how long u stayed in the hospital, the anesthesiologists name etc. Not hard stuff but they don't just take your word for when u hand in a receipt for $5500. They don't pay for the whole cost - - just what it would have cost in Alberta (thats why they need the info) which is why it would come out to around $1,500. I talked to Dr Ponce's coordinator in Canada and she gets this info for all her patients. Thank god she's helping me out so I can recoup some of the cost of the surgery!

I thought this forum was for Canadian sleevers. I'm not talking about the Canada Revenue Agency - I'm talking about Alberta Health Care reimbursement for out of country reimbursement. I asked Trish for a detailed receipt before my surgery & I didn't get one. I asked again after my claim got delayed for additional info. You can call it a receipt or a letter on official letterhead it's semantics. My PROVINCE wants to know very SIMPLE information about my surgery from my surgeons office on official letterhead and Trish said NO she wouldn't get it for me. That means I am out $1,500 thanks very much. I know you may have had a great experience with Trish & that's why you are defending her but not everyone is going to have the same experience you did. Lucky for me there is another coordinator who works for Dr Ponce that is going to get the info for me even though I paid Trish & not her. She's doing it out of kindness. ALBERTA sleevers beware that if you don't get the info you won't get reimbursed. If you choose Trish make sure you get her to agree before u pay her.

I also want to say that I speak absolutely no Spanish but the nurses & the other patients at the INT hospital were great to me (there were only 2 of us there at that time for wls). I got C-Diff in Canada (after my broad iv anti-biotics) & the INT hospital was extremely clean! Cleaner than Canadian hospitals & the shower had really nice hot water which was great because I had some pain after surgery.

I am from Alberta and had several complications after surgery with Dr Ponce (surgery was March 26th). Be sure that if you are prescribed anything other than the antacid or pain pills that Trish gets you the name brand drug NOT a generic (Dr Oscar told me that the no name labs in Mexico are unreliable). Besides my complications I had a good experience at the hospital and with Dr Ponce & I would do it all again (but would never go back to Mexico during Holy Week again). My complications included a bacterial infection that abscessed a couple days after I got home, then another trip to the ER for a mad bowel (sorry can't remember the medical term) & I just found out Friday I have C-Diff. All of the costs associated with the complications, including 2 trips to the Er & x-rays & 5 days of IV antibiotics, were covered by Alberta Health Care with the exception of prescriptions of course. My question is for those who booked through Trish - did the $5500 include 1 or 2 nights stay at the Lucerne?

Go to the dr! I had an infection on one of my incisions that led to me being on an IV pump for 5 days! It started out as a small red warm circle that got a little bigger and a little bigger & ended up draining quite a bit of fluid. Better to be safe than sorry & end up with a big infection & strong antibiotics that make u feel really yucky!

I was sleeved in Mexico on Tues March 26th by Dr Ponce and my coordinator was Trish. Pretty much what everyone else said about the Int hospital, the Lucerna Hotel, and Dr Ponce was exactly what I saw/got. Great treatment at a very clean small hospital with great care and a beautiful hotel. My story is a little different than the easy breezy stories I read about before I left. I woke up from surgery in pain in my stomach & mid back. This was to be expected I guess but I've had a c-section before & the pain from the vsg was worse. Thankfully I had no gas pain or nausea. My issues started the day after I was released (Good Friday). I was getting the chills (no fever) & noticed my main incision site had a red circle around it & looked swollen. Trish took me back to the hospital & Dr Oscar told me a had a hematoma & a small bacterial infection & gave me a prescription for antibiotics. Trish took me to fill the prescription (she filled it) & Dr Oscar told me he would come by my hotel at 6 pm to check me out as I was leaving very early the next morning. He told me to get the brand name drugs & not generic - I assumed Trish heard/knew this. He told me that if I noticed any puss to go to my dr. So that night Dr Oscar didn't show up at my hotel or call to tell me he wasn't coming. The hotel also called & said they needed payment for my "extra" night. I was under the impression the $5500 I paid included 2 nights at the hospital (Tues & Wed) and 2 nights at the hotel (Thurs & Fri). When Trish came by I told her and she said she would split my "extra" night 50/50. Since I wasn't feeling up to arguing & I was going to tip her $50 anyway I paid the $45 (I didn't tip her). I left Sat morning at 4 am & the driver of my van said that we needed to stop at another hotel to pick up 2 other patients of Trish. I knew there had been another vsg patient thar left the day before & a plastic surgery patient of Trish's who was also staying at the Lucerna. We got to the hotel & of course no one was waiting for a ride. We waited for 15 min & of course no one was there. The driver called Trish & apparently they weren't going to be there until Mon. The driver was mad & worried that I wasn't going to make it on time. We got to the border & there was a huge line up of drunk walking people waiting to get back to the States. Luckily my line was short & quick so no problems making it to the airport on time. I noticed after I got home that the circle had gotten bigger but I thought the hematoma had gotten bigger from the flight. I was still getting the chills but Dr Oscar had told me that was a part of recovering from surgery. Tues I got out of the shower & was combing my hair when I looked down and saw blood soaked thru my towel - it was actually fluid & puss. More puss came out while I was waiting 4 my ride so much it was running down my leg. I went to a walk in dr who sent me straight to the ER as I had an infection. A 4 hour wait later & the ER dr said I had an abscessed infection gave me IV antibiotics & scheduled an appt for the next day with the hospital for an appt with an Infectious disease specialist. He confirmed cellulitis & I had another IV (took 4 pokes to get in) & was given a pump & 5 days of at home antibiotics. By day 2 of the antibiotics I was starting to feel nauseous. By the 5th day I was having stomach pain as well as the dry heaving. The Internal disease spec said he couldn't advise me on my stomach pain as he is not a surgeon but said it was likely part of recovering from the surgery. The next day I was in constant pain & still nauseous. I was suppose to be on full liquids but anything but H2O felt like a rock & then more pain. I made another trip to the ER & was given an X-ray, morphine, 2 liters of fluids, & a nausea reliever. The dr said my bowel is in shock after the surgery & antibiotics & advised me to chew gum, drink coffee, & have fibre (Metamucil). He gave me Percocet to help with the pain. The pain is much worse when I "eat". It's been a week & the nausea is gone but the pain is still there. It's getting better & hopefully I can get back to work soon. I started at 309 & am now 278 but have been to miserable to enjoy the weight loss so far lol. A side note - in a moment of misery I emailed Trish & asked her if the antibiotics she got me were brand name or generics & she said she didn't know - Dr Oscar told me many Mexican labs are unreliable so if u go to Mexico be sure to get the brand name drugs- perhaps my infection could have been avoided & then the bowel shock as well. Not that I am saying its Trish's fault. I haven't heard from her in 2 weeks after asking her about that & the hotel bill ( she told me only 1 night at the hotel was included). She is a great person but i think she has a lot on her plate & i came at a bad time (Holy week) so she was a bit distracted. I am grateful that Canadian healthcare covers the complications from surgery performed outside Canada! I hope I can get back to feeling normal so I can start enjoying my journey instead of regretting it!

My first thought was because I had surgery in Mexico but the Dr's here assured me that bacterial infections are a normal complication from surgery - I didn't get a crazy tropical infection. The bowel shock (sorry I can't remember the medical term) is another complication from surgery & antibiotics. I was just unlucky. It could have been much worse - I didn't require any additional surgeries (ie a leak) & they didn't have to drain my abscess.

My family dr was aware that I was going for the surgery & had me take some blood tests & ultra sound before I went. Unfortunately she was & still is on vacation until the 22nd so I couldn't go to her with my complications. Today is the first day since the bowel problems started that I haven't had any pain meds! Hoping I can get back to work tomorrow. We'll see if I make it the whole day. I won't push myself & my job is 95% desk work. Thanks everyone for their concern & comments.

No leak as I have no infection, my digestion is fine, & only pain is in the stomach. Dr's were not worried about that or a blockage. Their only concern was pancreatis but X-ray & blood work cleared that. Glad all the poking is done!

The infection is gone (knock on wood) puss long gone thank god. incision still healing & nasty looking compared to the others which look nice. On full liquids but that's about 2 or 3 tablespoons of yogurt or soup a day. The Percocet wasn't able to block the pain from that even (I refuse to take more than 1 at a time). Finally starting to be able to handle coffee or Metamucil without severe cramps. I hope I can get back to work very soon but can't drive on the Percocet.

Did you get any info about a preop diet? I haven't got any which seems weird.

So scared & excited!

I had the same question - so scared of the drain! Is it sewn on? Or is it just long enough that it won't get pulled out by accident?

You look great!