Phoenixrising

The more I hear about folks having so many problems with reflux, nausea, vomitting and other gastric type issues the more grateful I am for how uneventful my surgery and recovery were. I have had zero problems with any of those things and was pretty much able to drink with no issues early on and progressed through the different stages easily. I am not the most patient human on the planet and am not sure I would have handled these problems as well as most of you seem to be handling them. If I were many months or years out and still took 45 minutes to eat 4 oz I would be seriously annoyed but many of you seem to take this in stride and as a normal part your surgery/recovery journey.

Congrats on your decision and kudos for doing the research to figure out the procedure that would work best for you. Bummer about all the changes you had to go through to get here but you are here and at the starting line for your transformation. I had my sleeve done just over a year ago in MX. I did not lose hair per se but it did thin considerably, which for me is not a problem since I had really thick hair to start with. I know the hair thing is a major concern for most folks and my experience in reading posts is that most do lose hair but it does grow back and for many the hair loss was much less traumatic than they anticipated. I had an incredibly easy surgery and recovery process. It varies but for most folks that have a desk type job going back to work in a week was not a huge deal. I had very little pain after surgery and could drink liquids pretty much from day one without issue. It really does vary from person to person. I had surgery on Friday, left the hospital on Sunday and went to hotel across the street to finish recovery (not uncommon in MX to spend 1-3 days in hospital and then off to hotel). Since I was having no pain and could drink with no issues and even take meds with no problems I was allowed to come home on Monday. For me, this worked well. The most common post op side effects/issues I see on these boards is problems with reflux/GERD and taking something like Nexium appears to take care of that easily. Gas can be an issue early on and things like Gas X and "passing gas aka farting" will be a great relief. The best advice for the first few days after surgery is sip liquids, walk, rest and repeat. Good luck with your surgery and recovery process.

Remember there are several skilled, experienced, wonderful surgeons in MX that do the sleeve. Some are paid advertisers on this board, thus get used more, thus get talked about more. I am not saying they are not great surgeons just that they are not the only surgeons out there. My sleeve was done just over a year ago and I paid $8600 for everything except airfare to San Diego. My surgeon/surgery was done in Tijuana and although there is increased crime due to drug cartels at no point did I ever feel unsafe in any way while I was down there. I had much better care with my surgeon/hospital than I ever had in any US hospital. My surgeon saw me at least 3 times each day and my treatment was tailored to my individual needs rather than a "blanket policy/one size fits all" plan. Because I had no problems drinking or even taking my meds right after surgery my surgeon and I collectively decided to allow me to go home on Monday following my Friday surgery. I in fact, had left the hospital on Sunday to recover at the hotel across the street. For me having to stay in a hospital for 3 days when there was no medical necessity would not have worked as well. I liked having the option of doing what was in my best medical interest. If I recall correctly at the time of my surgery he had performed over 500 sleeves and I don't know that that number might be up to now. I have been in touch with him several times since surgery just not to ask him his current stats. Folks tend to be passionate about their surgeons as well they should. I would encourage you to do your research both on and off this board and/or the OH board. There are many "experts" on these boards but for me, the best "expert" is someone who has been there/done that with the surgeon you are considering. I had my surgery just over a year ago, have lost 135 lbs and have had NO problems post op, not even GERD or reflux that many folks discuss experiencing. Good luck and please research all your options. Good Luck on this amazing journey.

I had my sleeve done just over a year ago and took no pain meds after the 2d day. Had surgery Friday, stopped pain meds on Sunday. I was able to drink with no problems and moved through the food progression pain and trouble free. I had no problems with reflux or GERD and need not PPI meds at all since surgery. Good luck in your journey and here's to a pain free, complication free, trouble free sugery and recovery.

It really does depend on your comfort level with sharing personal information in general. I am pretty open about my life anyway so telling folks about surgery was not a big deal for me. Most folks were supportive, some thought I was nuts for having WLS especially in Mexico and others had little or no reaction. When I started losing weight I got a lot of attention from folks and I think it was easier for me because I did not have to explain "after the fact". People will notice weight loss especially as quickly as we lose post op. Some folks tell me I am losing too much. The best comeback I heard for those comments is "Actually I am trying to get down to my birth weight so I still have a way to go". Shuts folks right up. My experience has been from reading these posts is that the more private a person is overall the more likely they are not to tell folks they are having the surgery.

I am by no means an insurance expert and was actually self pay myself but from what I have seen on this an other sleeve boards is that appeals can sometimes be successful. I believe the key may be to state all the reasons why the sleeve is the best medical option for you, personally. For instances folks with Chron's disease may not be good candidates for the band so VSG is medically the best option. I recently read a post on one of the boards, and if I can recall I will repost, that BCBS recently started approving the sleeve. Again it was just someone's post so it may or may not be true. Dealing with insurance can be a struggle, and not usually fun but hang in there.

I have been "challanged" to share my success story and am happy to do so. I had my surgery in Jun 08 and since then I have lost over 120 lbs and went from size 28 to size 6 petite. The restriction I have as a direct result of the physical changes to my insides has been a part of my success but there is much more involved, The sleeve itself helps me feel full faster and stay full longer and has allowed me to develop a different relationship with myself, food and eating. I am now mindful of my eating which was a new concept for me. I do not diet per se, that never worked before. I am however now making better choices. The bottom line is, regardless of surgery we are all responsible for the choices we make. I am about a year about and my daily intake now averages about 60-80 gms of carbs per day, almost all of which come from fruit and veggies and what is normally foods. I do not routinely eat bread, pasta, cookies, cake etc. I do eat this at times but not on a regular basis. This is not because I am depriving myself of them and I don't miss having them I am just making different choices today. I keep my protein above 80 gms per day, usually between 80-100. I eat beef, chicken, fish, cottage cheese, carbmaster or greek yogurt and other high protein foods. I do drink a protein shake in the morning, not so much for the protein per se, but because I have never been a food in the morning person and this starts off my day. Before surgery my "food" in the morning was several cans of Mt Dew and in any given day I was drinking around a 12 pk of Mt Dew per day. I now pay attention to myself when I am eating, not just mindlessly shoving food in to my mouth. I pay attention to how much I am eating, though I do not portion out my food. I did early on but no longer do. That does not mean I am not paying attention I just no longer need to measure. I have started exercising and now walk 3-6 miles every morning during the week and more than that on the weekends when I have more time. On the weekends I generally do 8-10 miles. I gradually built up to those distances, started out doing a mile or so and kept increasing it. Walking in the morning starts my day off on a good note, helps with my awareness of myself and burns calories. I have done a lot of work on myself related to my issues with myself, food and my relationship with food. I have done this through both individual and group therapy as well as local support groups. I highly encourage anyone with longstanding issues to do this. I also suggest finding a therapist that is familiar with issues related to compulsive overeating, obesity and related issues. I also strongly encourage getting invovled with a professionally run support group that deals with issues specific to this weight loss transformation/journey. Losing weight rapidly can play havoc with our hormones and emotions. Having a new body meant for me working on a new body image, the messages I tell myself about my body and my identity. This is a challange I continue to struggle with as so many post op bariatric patients. I have worked with and continue to do some follow up with a nutritionist dietican who is skilled in dealing with WLS patients. This is a powerful tool to have in your toolbox to help with continued successful maintenance of your weight loss. This is a continuing journey and for sure it is not a sprint but a marathon.

Yep typo, Meridia not Meridian or merida.

Congrats on your success sounds like you are doing a great job working with the sleeve to change your life. FYI I think the medication is called Merida

I love sweet potatos as well. Thanks for the great tip about the grill, never thought about that. I just usually nuke mine and eat the right out of the skin, sometimes I eat the skin too. I like the grill idea because this time of year in Phx I try to avoid the oven as much as possible.

Congrats on your success and on your continue journey. Sounds like some glitches early on you are making mega strides. You Go

Way to work your sleeve.:wink0:

Given that this thread is about our doctors and surgery it is what I have continue to discuss on this thread. I did post my story on that board and I just posted my "how did I do it" story. Thanks for reminding me to do that.

I never said Dr C did not work for Betancourt, I have said, repeatedly that he no longer does. I am not sure how old the info you continue to put out there about him and Betancourt is or how recent the info about patients having had bad expererience with Dr C is, I, for one, would like to a link to some of these easily found internet posts. Please enlighten and educate me. I woud love to see some "proof" of what you so readily post about. I am going to stop this endless bickering now and I look forward to seeing any posts, internets sites, links etc that both Wasa and Mac have posted about.

Forgive for not describing specifically enough for you. Clearly if I had NO problems post op I did not have a leak, stricture, infection or ANY other problem or complication which DOES speak to the skill of the surgeon. We can play tit for tat endlessly. The bottom line is I had a good experience with this surgeon and I will continue to post about it. This board is about an open forum for our PERSONAL experiences with our surgery. You can continue to talk about YOUR experience with your surgeon and I can continue to share mine. Again, you can argue with me but you cannot argue with my results.

Given that I have met Dr C in person I think I am in a good position to say it is not the same surgeon that did my surgery. When was it that you had face to face contact with him??? I don't recall insisting that he did not work for Betancourt, it appears that many surgeons were affiliated with Betancour at some point, however the fact that they no longer are seems to be more important. You have NO information about what research I did or did not do and are no position to comment on it. Please enlighten all of us with "proven" statistics or facts that back up what you say.

Once again let me educate you 1) He was NOT working for Betancourt when I had my surgery. I have no idea when he did and only have your word and your unreliable source for the fact that he did. I have no idea if he really did, or when he did or why he is no longer there. I have worked in places that after being hired I found out where not what I thought they ought to be so I left. 2) Since I did not have my surgery with Betancourt I am not sure why you continue to bring that up. Are you suggesting that a surgeon is not a good surgeon because of who allegedly USED to work for but no longer do?? 3) Why would I be interested in learning about a surgeon or program I did not use, that may or may not even be currently in business. I did not have my surgery with Betancourt. 4) I beg to differ that a surgeon's skill has "virtually nothing" to do with a person having or not having problems post op, having or not having pain post op, the amount of restriction from the sleeve which is a large part of post op success, my not having a leak or infection like many have had. If these things are no indicative of a surgeon's skill what is?????

Oh hell yes! Can't have it both ways, LiveInPhx. Either they have ethics or they don't. YOU were the one that used them as a source, not sure why you used them to back up what you said when you do not find them credible. You are the one that wanted it both ways, you were the one that cited them as your source to back up what YOU said. I actually know very little about them except for what has been posted, primarily by you, that is at best unflattering. I have no idea if Dr C worked for them or not. I did not ask him for all his previous employers. You continue to lump anyone that had anything to do with Betancourt into the same "they must be terrible cause they were associated with Betancourt basket". Just because a person works somewhere does not make them bad surgeons. The point being they no longer work there. You can continue to trash any surgeon you do not approve of, and I fully expect that you will. The FACT is that for me he was a great choice, skilled, experienced, compassionate and caring. The FACT is that I have had NO problems post op and did not any need pain meds after I left the hospital. The FACT is that he saw me at least 3x each day both in the hospital and hotel. The FACT is Ihave lost over 120 lbs since surgery and have had zero problems with GERD, reflux, vomitting, "dumping" and so many other problems so many folks post about post-op. To quote another poster " YOU CAN ARGUE WITH ME BUT YOU CANNOT ARGUE WITH MY RESULTS"

Are you suggesting the are a CREDIBLE source that you would go to for ACCURATE information????? Are you suggesting they would give out PERSONAL INFORMATION on their previous employees to anyone that asks????

Let me continue to clarify things for you. 1) I did not "leave in a huff". I left after considering the pros and cons of staying on this board given the level of animosty that has been shown. 2) I did NOT attack another member, I replied to your previous post, albeit strongly but not much different from your approach to me both on this and other boards. 3) Once again you find little "technical" things to " call me out on". Indeed only one of my posts was "edited" but that is because I left shortly after that incident. I believe I stated that I expected my posts to be edited as they had been. Just to make sure there is no further misunderstanding .. I expect my future posts to be edited as A previous post was prior to my leaving the board.

I answered this already in a PM to you but since you chose to take this public so be it. After communication with Alex I opted to return in large part prompted by the erroneous info posted by another poster about my surgeon. I think this forum should be about facts and it is important to me that erroneous, inaccurate and biased info not go unchallanged. I expect my posts will likely be edited by you as they have in the past. I expect that there will be continued questioning of my credibility as has happened in the past. Let me say I can back up my "facts" and my opinions are my own and not stated as facts. As far as my identity goes I am also able to prove who I am and what my occupation is.

Given that my surgeon does not work with Betancourt and given your liberal trashing of him and his office, I again say it would appear not working for him is a good thing. Also given your opinion of them I am not sure why you now think they are a credible source. On the one hand you think anyone that worked with or for them is suspect yet you suggest I would go to them for accurate information.

Once again I would appreciate you showing me "hard evidence" of what you say. I did not find any reference to the clinic (which by the way has nothing to do with my surgeon) being on any watch list. Also please show me hard evidence of anyone being fired from anywhere. Interestingly you have made similar accusations about other surgeons being fired from Betancourt's clinic. Given the terrible things you have said about Betancourt I would think it was a good thing not to working with him,

Not sure where you got your "facts". Same name but totally different surgeon so far as I know. Might want to check out your posts for veracity before posting things like this. Additionally my most recent internet check (this morning) indicates it is a well know and highly rated clinic (albeit alternative medicine). The Dr Contreras that you are referring to also has a new book coming out that is edited/co-written/recommended by many well known and vetted cancer surgeons and other physicians.

I know about the support groups through some of the MD's and hospitals in the Valley but I am inquiring about any other support type activities. I had heard there are some folks that get together for lunch or dinner from time to time. I have not had lapband and am due for VSG in a few weeks and am looking for a way to stay connected with others pursuing the same path. I have tried posting on OH but there does not seem to be much action on the AZ board and this one seems more lively so here I am.