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Ranges between $4500 and $8000 in Mexico. I went with Dr. Martinez and Dr. Ortiz at Obesity Control Center, which is a Center of Excellence in Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. I paid $7000 for airfare, surgery, hospital stay, two months of postop meds and 4 nights at the Marriott for me and my sister.

After 4 months I could eat whatever I want. And I pretty much do. Sometimes I wish I could eat more of something really yummy, but in general I don't really miss the larger portions. It's actually fascinating to see just how much other people eat, knowing it's not really necessary. I thought I would miss beer and getting drunk at parties, but I don't. Not ever having a hangover has been a great alternative. I can't really think of anything I really miss that hasn't been replaced with something better.

There is a whole new subforum for you to explore and ask your questions.... "Don't Sweat the Stall Stuff" http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1102-dont-sweat-the-stall-stuff-new/

Yep. I was super dehydrated 2 months out (due to uncontrollable diarrhea). My BP was low, HR high and took 3 liters to even approach normalcy. Then I drank another liter of pedialyte. I was up 11 pounds the next day. I'll take water weight over dehydration any day!

I'm sure you can pick it up when you are down there if you want to take it. Just find out what the Mexican version of it is since they might not have Actigall by name. There are pharmacies everywhere...there was one down the street from the Marriott and a huge one on Revolucion street. I picked up extra Supradol and some other meds while I was there. One of my fellow OCC patients that was there at the same time lives in LA and she said they have been traveling to TJ for Rx meds for years. Ask your surgeon about it or even talk to your doctor in the states about it.

I don't think these do anything for kidney stones

A male friend of mine got kidney stones several times (4 that I know of) They finally figured out it was all the Gatorade and other sports drinks he was consuming. He hasn't had a single one since switching to plain water.

Iron deficiency is the number one Vitamin deficiency in VSG patients. Studies show up to 90% of female weight loss patients develop iron deficiency within 10 years. Have you been taking the recommended iron supplements since your surgery? I was told 60-200mg taken with 500mg Vitamin C. And you shouldn't take it with Calcium, Multivitamins or meals as this can interfere with absorption. What I actually take is Vitamin Code Healthy Blood that has just 28mg iron, B Vitamins, Folate, vitamin C and a raw veggie/mineral/probiotic/enzyme blend that is super gentle and very readily absorbable. Have you had the recommended bloodwork done at 3 and 6 months and then annually? Were your iron levels normal or dropping at those times? What about your B12 levels? Low B12 can cause anemia, too and we should be taking sublingual or injectable B12 since we can't absorb oral B12 as well after VSG. My 3 month numbers were normal and my 6 month iron and calcium were actually high. I dropped both supplements to only a couple times /week and of course I will recheck values at least annually. There was another post on here recently about low iron and ferritin 3 years out. You may do a search for that thread.

OMG you're teensy!! Congrats!! Dr Ortiz is my hero. Mine, too! BTW, My folks were just visiting..first time I've seen them since surgery. I showed them your pics (my mom read all your posts when you where having surgery). She thinks you are absolutely beautiful

Summer 2013 vs summer 2014

Sweetums....I had the gastric sleeve surgery at OCC in December and I agree about Dr. Martinez being underrated. He was great. And Dr. So has been remarkable with followup. I've had more conversations with him than anyone else at OCC. And I can't help but mention Dr. Jimenez. I had a Packers sweatshirt on and he is a Vikings fan, so we had an interesting conversation. At least we both think Brett Favre is a douche bag Glad you are doing well

A few of my veggie favs... Spinach mini quiche squares with eggs, spinach, turkey sausage and cheese. Baby corn, Broccoli, Zucchini and yellow squash...just steamed with a little salt and pepper or maybe a bit of soy sauce. Asparagus spears or artichoke with lemon butter or hollandaise sauce ( I've never really restricted my fat intake) Crab meat stuffed tomato Homemade guacamole with avocados, tomatoes, onions, cilantro and lime.

HW 238 SW 216 CW 148 TPL 90 TGP 88 My parents were just out for a visit. First time I've seen them since surgery. They were shocked with my appearance and how little I eat, but very thrilled for me and impressed with how healthy I'm eating. My mom said it was disconcerting to look at me and my dad says I look so much more like my sister (Who's always been a skinny little twig) I definitely ate things I would not normally eat while they were here because my mom is such a good cook.....vanilla bean ice cream with fresh strawberries, bananas foster French toast, corn on the cob, and chicken Alfredo, to name a few... But we also built an addition on my hay shed and hauled and stacked a couple truck loads of wood and went for a few little hikes, so I still managed to lose 2 pounds! It's nice to see I can have a "normal" life without sabotaging all my hard work. LOVE MY SLEEVE!

The part of our stomach they remove is the fundus. This is the stretchy rubbery part that expands like a balloon to accommodate what we put in there. After surgery, we are left with a tube that really doesn't" give" much. So when you drink carbonated beverages, the bubbles really have no place to go. Go ahead and try to drink something carbonated to see what happens. I did....a couple swallows of beer. And no, I didn't explode (or die) but it sure didn't feel good. I even tried letting sprite sit on ice for 15 minutes and stirred it up to try and defizz it. It wasn't enough. Still too many bubbles.

Staying hydrated for the first couple months. Eating slowly...especially when I'm hungry. Finding clothes that fit in the thrift stores and wondering when I'll stop losing so I can actually buy new clothes. I learned my lesson by spending big bucks on new bras only to discover my boobs have shrunk EVEN MORE so those don't fit me now, either.

I actually gained three pounds at 6 weeks out. Took a month to start losing again. I never regressed to earlier food stages, I just kept following the plan and didn't worry about it. In fact, I increased my food and water intake and eventually started losing again. Early stalls do not affect your long term success...I am 12 pounds below goal. It's really pretty simple.....get in all your protein, water and vitamins, follow your postop plan with healthy, well balanced meals and snacks, STAY OF THE SCALE, trust the process and you will lose. It's not a race.

Wow. Guess they can form fast! Shellief...some doctors put their patients on meds like ursodial postop to help prevent stones. But my PCP feels they don't really help. I read a post on here about someone who was on meds and still got stones. I've also read that some surgeons will take your gallbladder out when they sleeve you. You should talk to your doctor about it.

Gallstones are very common with rapid weight loss. I think the stat is 30% of WLS patients develop gallstones. I also have a family history, so I gave no doubt I'll need mine removed. But I'm not sure how long they take to form - 4 weeks seems pretty fast. You may have had the stone before but just didn't know it. Did you have bloodwork preop and was it normal? Even though bloodwork is not a good diagnostic tool for gall bladder issues....I had an extremely painful gall bladder attack a couple weeks ago and my bloodwork was perfect. But if the stones are causing any sort of bile duct blockage, your liver enzymes will go up temporarily.

Although direct contact of the NSAID with your stomach can cause localized irritation, it is the systemic action of the NSAID that causes ulcers and gastric bleeding. The very mechanisms that reduce inflammation also inhibits the mucosal lining from doing it's job to protect the stomach. This is true of both Cox 1 and Cox 2 inhibitors, but by different pathways. So NSAIDS in any form (oral, sublingual or injectable) would all have the same systemic effect. Aspirin, in fact, is so good at causing ulcers that researchers used to administer aspirin to test subjects in order to induce ulcers so they could study and develop ulcer treatments. How much and for how long you can safely take NSAIDS without causing ulcers is debatable and probably varies greatly between individuals. So although I have a medical alert necklace, and I keep traumeel and arnica on hand for aches and pains, I would probably take an Advil or two if something REALLY hurt! My surgeon actually sends his patients home with a 5 day supply of a sublingual NSAID. He explained that the benefit of reducing the surgical inflammation in the stomach and abdominal incisions greatly outways the risk of ulcers over such a short period of time.

Ok, folks. For those of you reluctant to follow through with a FOBT or colonoscopy, try having a fecal transplant! That's right, I had to have someone else's s*** t injected into my ileum and cecum in order to get rid of a bad Clostridial infection. It was done via colonoscopy and the worst part, by far, was the prep. Worst tasting stuff ever and not fun trying to chug a gallon of Water in an hour only 3 months postop. But the transplant worked like a charm...no more diarrhea. And now me my doctor's wife and I are BFF's (best feces friends). Oh, and as for the OB/Gyn thing, gotta say I never had a finger in my butt for that. I have abnormal Paps so I get them 2-3 times/year, along with LEEPS and biopsies. 3 different docs, no finger

You are right on schedule for the 3 week stall. You can read about it in the "Don't Sweat the Stall Stuff" subforum. You should move your post there. And I can't say this enough..... It's really very simple. Get in all your Water and Protein, follow the meal plan, GET OFF THE scale, just trust the process, and you WILL lose!

Followed it to a T. 16 days of 3 protein drinks/day plus leafy green veggies. A VERY small sacrifice to make for all the rewards that this surgery brings. BTW, followed the postop diet religiously, too. I felt it was my responsibility to treat my body the best I could to allow for proper healing and minimize any chance of complications. With my eye on the big picture, the pre and post op restrictions were easy.

Ok, the ONLY reason we can't eat and drink at the same time is because the food will leave our sleeves quicker, so we won't feel as full for as long, so we MIGHT eat more than we should. That's it. Soup will not harm our sleeves. So yes, it's a good idea to not eat and drink at the same time if you can't control your urge to eat when your sleeve is empty. But if you want soup, eat soup! Just be aware you might get hungry again sooner than if you eat a solid meal. If so, have a high Protein snack and move on. I eat soup all the time. In fact, I just finished a cup of French onion soup with melted Gouda cheese. MmmmMmmmmGood! And then I had two cubes of pineapple for dessert. Its 7pm and I will be having a bedtime snack of Greek Yogurt flavored with vanilla Protein powder in a few hours.

Are you getting 60g protein and 64 oz water (or more) everyday? If not, you should concentrate on eating and drink the things that help you meet these goals. If you follow your meal plan you WILL lose weight. You don't need a scale to tell you it's happening or how fast it's happening. BTW, I was UP 11 pounds 1 week out, so relax and trust the process.

Same here, I initially told 4 people and all of them, including my mom, told everyone. I was getting texts and cards from people 10 states away wishing me luck with my upcoming surgery! That's kind of what prompted me to go ahead and be open about my surgery. No one they told seemed to care, so I just went with it.