straber

I guess B12 is hard to absorb. I never noticed anything from it before I started the powdered kind. Never heard of the under the tongue stuff...sounds cool!

Hi, I've never posted before but I lurked for quite a long time. I wanted to wait till my anger subsided but I just wanted to tell you all that I had a horrible experience with Dr. Joya in Puerto Vallarta. I was banded, and then unbanded 3 months later because of a bad port infection. I was a lower BMI patient (barely 35 at surgery) with no health issues except some extra weight. I did years of research and thought it was a smart decision to go forward with the band. My problems started right as I woke up from surgery with a "bleeder" that had to be fixed and they charged me 1800 dollars for. My infection showed up very soon after and it spread to the point that I was weak, dizzy and just sick all the time. I decided to get it removed because my gut was telling me that the infection was just never going to heal. The band is a great tool and I wish you all the best of success with it. My only purpose for writing this is to tell you of the experience I had and for you to choose your Doctor wisely. I'd do everything I could to stay in the states if at all possible. It's really scary to have things go so wrong and have your Doctor be so far away. There are great Doctors in Mexico I'm sure, but I just wanted to give you a head's up on mine. Oh, and thanks to Penni.....she let me stay with her (even though I never met her) after I PM'd her asking for advice. She hooked me up with her Doctor in CA for the removal. All is well now but I just feel it was the right thing to do to at least tell you guys that there are alot of Doctors out there, but you may want to steer clear of Dr. Joya in Puerto Vallarta. Sorry this is so long....hope I did it right. :biggrin1: Sheila

ya, it's easy for me to say now that I'm bandless :think but I'd for sure have surgery closer to home. I set up aftercare in advance here in Vegas but he just wasn't familiar with port infections and tried the antibiotic route for far too long. It was me and my own research that led me to just want it out. I've come to the conclusion that there are ALOT more problems than are being "reported" for people like me who researched this for years. I had such a bad bleeder that I needed a few bags of blood and my surgical report says "no complications". I'm sure it's not just in Mexico, but I can only speak of my experience.

Ya, B12 is awesome for energy. I take a powdered B12 that I get from a friend in Wisconsin, it really works. She has powdered calcium that I take too. Let me know if you want to know more and I'll PM you her info. Sheila Las Vegas

My experience was really bad with Dr. Joya. I had some sort of "bleeder" during the surgery and woke up super dizzy and sick. They had to go back in and fix it....and then they charged me 1800 bucks for their screw up. I'm sure some are happy, but I ended up with a bad port infection that led to my band being removed three months later. Be careful and choose wisely please!! Sheila Las Vegas BMI was barely 35 at surgery with no other health issues

You guys are just so supportive....thanks for that!! It's been a hard road but like you said, I'm thankful I'm healthy now. I was sorta afraid to post my story for fear people would think I was Doctor bashing....but seems like I worried for nothing. Just wanted to be honest and try to help other people that still may be deciding. Glad your friend was taken care of Telly. My local Doc here just had no experience with lapband problems so he was sorta clueless on what to do. That's the bad thing about an experienced Doc...they may be good at the band, but not so good if things go wrong. Take care you guys Sheila

Thanks for responding Jenna. I'm pretty much too scared for anymore surgeries now so I've just been doing it with diet and exercise like the rest of the world. LOL I had to hire a trainer to make sure I do it but it's been wonderful so far. You've had great results I see, I'm really happy for you!!! Sheila