losinglizvsg

Hi everyone, I am new to this site and figured I would start out by telling my story. I work in the medical career field and would probably be the LAST person you would expect to go out of country to have a surgery done. Too many episodes of "Botched" didn't help. Somehow my sister talked me into it (although in the back of my mind I had decided if we got there and anything seemed off, I would back out). It helped that she was in touch with 2 other patients that had had VSG with our surgeon and both had only good things to say. We flew into San Diego and were picked up by Rick from Trinity Medical and driven across the border to Tijuana. It didn't feel real at all. He drove us to the hospital and we each had and EKG by a cardiologist who closely went over the results and questioned us about our medical history. We had blood drawn and sent to a lab. Once the lab work came back, we were ready to go! Our surgeon, Maruicio Gutierrez came in to meet us and seemed very quiet and didn't have the ego that can be associated with a lot of surgeons. He asked if we had any questions and if we still wanted to go ahead with the surgery. We were both still on board. I went first and I must admit I had a moment of panic while lying on the table before being put under. Everyone around me was speaking in Spanish and I wondered if I had made a huge mistake. What if something went wrong??? What would I do??? I prayed over and over asking God to keep me safe and the next thing I remember was wake up, shaking so hard the whole bed was rocking. This is a pretty normal response when coming out of anesthesia. The came in with extra blankets and even set up a heater by my bed. SO NICE! I should probably mention here that in previous surgeries I've had in the US (the last being a Thyroid lobectomy) I came out of anesthesia VIOLENTLY nauseous. No matter what meds they gave me, I couldn't stop vomiting/dry heaving. I told my surgeon about this and he assured me he would take care of me. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the FIRST time I have ever come out from any kind of anesthesia with absolutely NO nausea. It was like a miracle! The surgery seemed like a peace of cake. I am 4 days out now and things have just been getting better and better. I am down 7 pounds since surgery (I'm not going to lie, I been having some major food cravings. Can't WAIT to be off Clear liquids and have some pudding. While we were there we were told about a New Years special they were going to be starting. In typical fashion it's starting was being held up by red tape from the Mexican Government. Once it gets up and going, they are doing the sleeve surgery for basically half the price! $2500 vs $4800. The Medical Tourism has suffered from a few bad surgeons and their goal is to run those guys out of business. Dr Mauricio Gutierrez is actually the surgeon those other doctors call to try to correct the mistakes they've made in surgery. In fact he was called in to do that the day after our surgery. I can not even tell you how happy we were to hear that the surgeon we had chosen was so skilled. He also wont do more than 4 or 5 surgeries a day compared to the 20+ surgeries of some of the greedier surgeons. He has so much integrity. I remember having so much anxiety trying to decide who to go with when we were planning our surgery and not knowing how to tell a good apple from the bad. So if you are on the fence about where to go, go to TrinityMedical.org or message me or you can call (619)438-0338. I would recommend them to my mother if she was looking into having the surgery. I can't speak highly enough of the staff and the care we both received. Dr G came to our hotel room to check on our incisions and see how we were doing. Nurse Nathan was with us or in contact with us the whole 4 days we were there. Everyone was so genuine and caring. If you have any questions please feel free to ask me!

This is an old thread, but I am 5'8. My personal hope was to get to 145. On the My Weight app it put my goal as 130! I think that's too low. I wouldn't have even thought that was an option for me. I'm still 90 plus pounds away.

I had surgery 1/13/16 and it went awesome. I didn't even know about medical tourism before this! It's kind of opened up a door where I know later down the road if I need plastics and don't want to be in debt the rest of my life, I have another option. I don't want to get TOO carried away with it, but it's nice to know the option is there.

yeah, your point is!!! hey dude, you are aces!!! 127 lbs gone!!! don't look at me, i didn't take them!!! great transformation pics wonderful to have support from family, friends, medical team (you forgot to include me ) wishes for a healthier, happier, longer life you deserve the best keep up the good work i'm sure you will kathy congrats I totally feel you on this. Part of me is afraid this is just another diet where I lose and then gain it back, plus some. I love seeing people who are a couple years out and are living life to the fullest at a healthy weight!

I don't know if you had your surgery, but I highly recommend Dr Mauricio Gutierrez at Trinity Medical. Super high quality anesthesia (I normally get INCREDIBLY nauseous and didn't at all), staples, and care. They are also setting up a foundation that pays for half the surgery. You end up paying around $2400 I believe. If you are interested let me know and I will give you the # of their patient coordinator.

Yes! "I'll pray for you" and walk away. ????????????

I understand where they are coming from... I've watched a lot of Botched episodes, but the fact is the good ones don't get publicity like the bad. But they are there!

I also get care through the VA. I told my psychiatrist about the surgery and she is really good about ordering lab work when I ask for it.

I like this idea. Do you mix this up in a mixer?I just mix it in Blender Bottle. Make sure to add all the ingredients before you shake because the protein powder will fill the bottle with foam that doesn't go down. It's weird.

I haven't told mine????. I had put on so much weight I didn't want to see her for my annual checkup in Dec. I figure I will go in once I've lost some weight and my incisions have healed and tell her then. People frown on going to Tijuana for surgery so much I thought once she could see I was healthy and losing weight it would go over better.

You could look into Dr Medina at Trinity Medical in Tijuana too! He was listed in Forbes magazine as one of Mexico's top plastic surgeons:)

My go-to protein is Isopure unflavored mixed with Crystal lite. I like the lemonade and strawberry lemonade. So easy to down several of those a day and I think one scoop is around 26 grams of protein. I can't handle the pre-mixed shakes.????

I think Dr Kelly IS probably a good surgeon, but with laparoscopic surgeries you have to have a steady hand and good arm strength and he is getting older and doesn't have it anymore.

My surgeon was the one that was called in to help the patient. It made him late for a check up after surgery and my nurse explained where his was. The nurse had worked in several different dr offices and was giving me the low down. Almanza and Kelly and a plastic surgeon were the only ones he named. I don't know about the rest. Dr Mauricio Gutierrez at Trinity Medical was my surgeon. He is so humble but really talented and caring. He won't do more than 4 surgeries a day. He checks on you a lot. I felt totally taken care of!

I am glad you had a good experience with Dr Kelly. The only thing I would say is he is getting older and not as steady. While I was there last week he nicked a patient's spleen which ended up needing to be removed and the patient had to have a blood transfusion ????

How exciting! Definitely stay away from Almanza. Of course I totally recommend my surgeon and Trinity Medical, but there are probably a lot of good options! Good luck

If anyone has had Almanza and had complications and would like to be included in the evidence for his trial, I can put you in contact with a medical group that has hired Mexican lawyers to navigate the Mexican court system. It's pretty staggering the amount of victims and his callousness.

Where are you having surgery and who is your surgeon? Usually it is a simple surgery. I had it a week ago and started back at work yesterday with no problem! I think for this you have to make the decision for you. I had decided I was done fighting my body with diet after diet. I wanted to be a healthy size and have energy to lead a full life. I figure once I am at a normal weight people will get used to it and the surgery won't be such a big deal anymore. Hope that makes sense:)

I agree! Call your surgeon and if he blows you off, insist you be seen. That is not normal and needs to be corrected. I am so sorry! Who was your surgeon?