sleevedamber

I had my gastric sleeve surgery on Apr 24, 2014. After 2 years of depression & weight gain, I had reached an all time high of 250lbs. It was my birthday on Apr 12, 2014 & my husband said to me, "I hope this doesn't hurt your feelings, but if you want to get weight loss surgery for your birthday, you can." I cried all morning, then made a phone call to a friend who had gotten gastric sleeve 2 years prior, then spent all day online researching it. By the next day, I booked my surgery for 11 days later! I know this is probably not typical, but I had been praying for an answer & just knew immediately that this was God's answer to my prayer, so I didn't need to think about it after I realized that.

I completely trusted my friend's recommendation of her doctor. I went to Dr. Jose Rodriquez in Tijuana, Mexico. The hospital meets all the requirements of a US hospital & the care there was excellent. It was a large, major hospital, & that reassured me. My only complaint was the pain control was lacking the first day. This is prob frowned upon, but I was worried that might happen, so I brought my own pain pills (Vicodin) & took those & that made the first 2 days manageable. One of the other gals said that they want you out of bed & walking, & if they give you too good of pain management you will stay in bed & sleep & won't want to go home...haha. That may be true, but the pain the first day was very intense & I would hesitate to return to Mexico for a tummy tuck for that reason alone. But if you want gastric sleeve & either your insurance won't pay or you don't want to jump through the hoops & waiting involved, then Mexico is your only affordable choice. My surgery cost $6800.

I flew home the day after surgery & was almost back to normal by the third day. I went alone for the surgery so that my husband could take care of our 4 small children. Going alone was no problem & I was able to friend & visit with the other ladies who had surgery the same day.

The only thing I would have done differently was to give my husband a phone number for the hospital & my room number so that he could have reached me more easily. One of the surgery coordinators was supposed to call him when I got out of surgery, & she did not. After a couple hours, he managed to reach the hospital, but with the language barrier he kept getting disconnected. He wasn't able to reach me in my room until about 7 hours after the surgery, & by then him & my mom were a little panicked. Honestly though, I wouldn't have been able to answer then phone before then anyway, due to the intense pain & grogginess.

Even though the pain was bad the first day, it is now a distant memory & I would def do it again. I am now able to finally control what I eat. I have more energy than I've had in years. My acne that I've been struggling with for 2 years is almost completely gone. I don't waste so much time & money on junk food & I feel in control of my life again. I'm also feeding my family much healthier & have more energy for my husband & kids! I wish I could tell every overweight friend I have to just do it, get the surgery, it will change your life!