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Well one year ago today I had surgery with BariatricPal MX, what a year it's been. Last night a friend of mine sent me a picture from the night before surgery and frankly I was shocked with the before and after. It's amazing how quickly you can forget how far you've come in such a short amount of time.

I would say in my situation I would absolutely do it again and wish it was done 10 years earlier. I would also say that Mexico isn't as far as it seems, I'm on the east coast as well and San Diego is very easy to get in and out of. I would not hesitate to use BariatricPal MX again, they were great to work with and made it super simple.

That is unfortunate. I would imagine that your PCP simply does not have experience with patients going out of the country for a procedure like this. Luckily my PCP is from India and she has had family members go back to India for major medical procedures with great success. Some doctors simply think that everyone outside of the US is sacrificing chickens to cure colds. My advice to you is make sure you are educated in your decision, my PCP asked me a lot of questions, why did I chose my doctor, my procedure, had I researched local options, etc. She wasn't trying to talk me out of it, she was trying to ensure that I had not made a snap decision without thinking. After she was satisfied with my thought process she asked if she could do a blood panel on me and an EKG to make sure that she was comfortable with my health before surgery. These are all great things. I would be more concerned if they didn't want to know. If during your conversation your doctor is still against it ask them why, they aren't the only people that get to ask the questions. What are their concerns, are their concerns related to your health before surgery, weightloss surgery in general or the fact your looking to do it in Mexico, do they have patients that have done similar procedures outside of the country, what is their experience with WLS in general, things like that. Express to them your doctors qualifications, how many surgeries have they done, how many do they limit themselves per day, what their complication rates are (zero is a bad answer by the way). Again, why you have chosen this doctor. Your doctor isn't your boss, they are your partner in your healthcare, if you approach them that way you will be surprised on how helpful they will be. I'm sure between the two of you that you guys will make a treatment plan you will both be comfortable with. I wish you luck, I know while I didn't need their blessing it sure made me feel good once I had it.

I'm no doctor so you will get better advice from you medical team but I chose the sleeve mainly because my sister had a bypass 20 years ago and after seeing her life adjustments the sleeve seemed a little easier to live with. Don't get me wrong, my sister is happy with her bypass and has been super successful but I just didn't want to deal with the never having sugar again, it's not something I eat a lot of but it's nice that when I chose to have it i don't suffer the consequences. My sister also seems to have difficulty with more foods than I do and I am still in my first year. Maybe she's just different or maybe I am but for me the sleeve has seemed easier to live with than her bypass. That said, I'm nine months in, she is 20 years, I'll be interested to see if I'm as successful as she is 20 years from now. Loose skin, yup I've got a lot of it, maybe as not much as some but I have it. It doesn't really bother me though, I look great in clothes, to be honest I don't know if I will ever do anything about having it removed, maybe one day but for now it doesn't really bother me. Obviously it will bother some people more than others but for me it's not a big concern. You will love whichever decision you make. Nine months ago I used to sit on the side of the bed after walking up a flight of stairs and catch my breath so people couldn't see how winded I was, today I ran 5 miles, consider that for a moment, where will you be in nine months..... you will be amazed with where you can be.

I've learned two things. 1. You can't compare results from one person to the next. Don't let other peoples numbers drive where you want to go. 2. You can't be too ambitious. Your goals will probably change as you go, when I started out I thought if I get to 275 that would be all I needed, then I cruised right passed it, then I thought 250 was a pipe dream, then I passed it. Now I'm thinking 224 so I could lose a nice round 200 pounds. Who knows where I land at this point, now when people ask I just shrug and say, my new diet is a diet forever, I'm just along for the ride and will see where I end up. I guess my point is, only you can decide your goal, if you think 160 is where you want to be and you are willing to put in the work (don't let anyone fool you it's going to be a ton of work) then you will make your goal. I wish you the best on your journey, while there have been days that I hated everything about my new eating life, I wouldn't change it for anything.

I've been really happy with my weight loss so far. I was sleeved early Feb and am down about 134 pounds which is great. But today I am sitting here wearing a 2XL shirt and 44" waist pants, and I look freaking great. Hard to believe that in January I was barely getting into my 54" pants with the extender waist and was stretching out my 4XLT shirts to get them to fit. Freaking amazing. While there are days that I am so tired of my diet that I can't hardly stand it, days like today keep me going. I try and stay pretty strict with my diet but temptations wear on my soul, days like today keep me focused and help me overcome the daily temptations.

I went to Mexico in Feb, it was great. Prior to surgery I discussed my decision with my PCP, she was fine with it, I hear a lot of them aren't but my PCP is from India and maybe that's why she was open to surgery in another country (maybe she knows the rest of the world isn't killing chickens to cure disease). Anyhow, she was great about it, ran all my blood work and gave me an EKG just so she felt good about me going into surgery (they will also give you all of this in Mexico but I felt better knowing that my Dr. who knows me said she felt good about me having surgery). As for once you get to San Diego everything is seamless, they take care of everything, you will know right off that your not the first person to do this, they have there system down pat, at least Bariatric Pal MX did. After surgery the follow-up care is what you make of it. Stacey has answered every question that I had, she also checked in a few times during my first 8 weeks to make sure I was understanding everything. Could they do more? I don't know, maybe, but then again I could ask them to do more. I'm the type of person who don't need a lot of follow-up, I am sure that for every one of me there is a person who talks to the staff every single day and I am sure that they get great service from them. The diet isn't rocket science, everyone who has ever been on a diet knows what they are supposed to eat, having the surgery makes it a lot easier to stay focused on it. I am pretty disciplined for awhile and then have always slipped, I'm 5 months out now and am still able to maintain my discipline, one reason is it's easy to not overeat, you only make that mistake a couple of times, it's really not fun. The other reason is I think when I consider eating bad I just tell myself that I went to Mexico and got parts removed, than normally brings me back to reality. Finally, my sister had Gastric Bypass in the states years ago, she went through all of the pre and post care, I don't know if she was any more disciplined than I am, probably less so. Only you can decide if you think you can be disciplined enough. Considering you are asking I think you can be, most people who make it this far are pretty committed, and heck, even if you want to eat fried chicken and cake after your surgery, you won't eat much of it

I flew Southwest, I paid for an extra seat for me, my wife was with me so we had a row of three to ourselves on each leg of the flight, two of the legs were completely full. Southwest is unique as 1. The allow you to pre-board if you have the extra seat so you are guaranteed to get it. 2. After the flight all you have to do is call them and they will refund you the cost of the extra seat. I know it makes no sense why they do that but it is in the Passengers of Size policy (they are the only airline that does this that I am aware of). As soon as I got home I called them and 7 days later the amount was credited to my credit card. It made the trip so less stressful, if you can use Southwest I highly recommend it.

Highest carb day I have had so far was the day I ate watermelon on the boat. The only fruit that I have been able to eat and not completely trash my carb count is berries, and not very many of those.

I was sleeved by Dr. Ilan back in Feb, no issues, was very happy with Oasis of Hope and all of the Bariatric MX team. I would highly recommend them.

I tell everyone, if someone wants to judge me for taking control of my life at 44 then have at it. It also makes me super accountable, if everyone knows then I am more likely to stay on track. The only people I won't tell are anyone who works in my HR department, when they ask me what I am doing to lose weight I tell them I switched to diet Coke, they refuse to cover any weight loss options so as far as I'm concerned it's none of their business.

I had my leak test the following day. You drink a liquid and then the radiologist watched is pass through you stomach and make sure that nothing leaks out of the stomach into your abdomen.

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Hi, I am from the NOVA area as well and just had my sleeve done with Dr. Illan through BariatricPal on Feb 8th. I spoke with my PCP prior to surgery and she was fine with it and has no problem doing my follow-up care. I did confirm that she has worked with bariatric patients before and she let me know that she has several in her practice and is very comfortable doing the follow-up. She ran all of my bloodwork and gave me an EKG prior to surgery so she could determine if she thought I was fit for surgery, this is redundant as you will get bloodwork, EKG and chest xray prior to surgery but it helped me sleep better (and my mother sleep better) having an independent opinion. My wife went with me to my surgery, there was no additional cost other than airfare and food for her which frankly wasn't much. Language was a non-issue, everyone at the hospital spoke fluent English and I clearly understood everyone. Bariatric Pal also has valets at both the hospital and hotel that were there to help with anything you need. They took my wife to get things to eat, ran errands for us, took us sightseeing and basically just provided moral support when you needed it. My surgeon sent me home with all of my post op med, copy of my chest xray, blood test results, leak test, video of my surgery, etc. I was very satisfied with my experience. If you want more info or have more questions PM me and I will send you my contact info if you would like.

I spoke with my PCP prior to surgery and she was more than happy to provide my aftercare. Frankly she was a lot angrier at my piss poor insurance company than me about going to Mexico for surgery that she felt I needed. Please remember we would all love to have surgery in our hometown, we are being forced to find a reasonable alternative by our insurance companies and greedy American health care providers. If your Dr refuses care because you didn't line there pockets for surgery then you should find another Dr. I'm pretty sure they take an oath to help people.

OMG, I feel like you wrote my post for me. I am 2 and 1/2 weeks out and have lost 12 pounds since surgery. I lost 47 pounds in the 5 weeks leading up to surgery so I think that makes my post surgery weight loss feel even worse, kind of like what was the point, I did better without it. I'm hitting my Water and Protein goals and walking 3-5 miles a day but it's just not moving like I thought it would. I keep telling myself that my body is just playing catch-up because I lost so much pre-surgery but it gets tougher every day to believe it. So frustrating.

Dr. Illan performed my sleeve on 2/8, I have no complaints. Once I got the gas out of my system I have had no pain whatsoever and my recovery appears on track as I am having no problems achieving my nutrition goals with ease. Oasis Hospital was great, the nursing care was as good as I've ever had in the states. Everyone from Bariatric Pal was great the valets are excellent, if you have a companion with you they will take great care of them. If you have any specific questions let me know.

While I would go with your doctors advice, I am seven days out and have no pain at all. I haven't taken pain meds since day four. I do hope you feel better soon.

I'm two days post op. You've got this. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Scheduled for Feb 8th with Dr. Illan. On day three of the liquid diet and to be honest I'm surprised it hasn't been harder. I miss chewing for sure but not too hungry for the most part. I think this weekend will be tough but I'm just going to try and make myself be busy.

Hey Raymia, I have a 2/8 surgery as well. I started my liquid only diet today, ugh, it's hard, hopefully it gets easier after a couple of days like they say. Where are you getting your surgery, I am having mine done in Mexico by Dr. Illan (darn insurance company's).