Mexico or States

[GreatDame 2]

I will be having my fills in the USA. I cant get my first fill for another month. I have already been exercising...just walking alot. I plan on working in some cardio after I heal.

[RavensRiches 0]

"Rumbaut and Sanchez are the only two Drs in Mexico that I would recommend based on heresay. (dont anyone get mad at me now )"

Not mad at you Photonut----just wanted to add Dr. Arturo Rodriguez to the list of highly recommended doctors out of Monterrey, Mexico. I received excellent care (before and after) and truly enjoyed every moment I was there.

TellyMelly-----I'd love to live down there in Monterrey as well! Even if only for a few weeks each year. The people were lovely and the area beautiful. Next time I'd like to go hiking in the mountains. Want to join me?

[bushbaby 8]

I too would recommend Arturo Rodriguez... Love him...

[FunnyDuddies 6]

I also would recommend him. I have heard nothing but fabulous things. I am still going with Dr. Sanchez, but I believe that those three are just about the best Mexico has to offer!

[cotedazur 0]

Just look up Dr. Roberto Rumbaut. He has done over three thousand lap band procedures and learned from THE MASTER himself, Dr. Favretti in Padua Italy. Dr Rumbaut himself, is banded as is his patient coordinator, Cathy Pickren. There IS NO other surgeon in either North or South America who has more experience. He himself came to my hotel both the evening before the surgery and the night before I was leaving Monterrey. He is gifted and his entire team is exceptional. It was a bargain at $10,600 and St. Jose hospital was FIRST CLASS. My skeptical mechanical engineer husband is considering having the band placed and says it is a no brainer going back to Monterrey and Dr Rumbaut.

[Loving-It 0]

I had the procedure done in the US. Honestly, because I was so blessed with great insurance, I wasn't aware of the high amount of folks heading out of the country until I registered on this board.

[cotedazur 0]

I would have had it here in Cincinnati...(there is a great dr. here I have found to do my fills, Trace Curry). But the cash price here is $16,500 so with the savings I am going on a 15 night cruise on the Island Princess in January for my 2nd wedding anniversary R/T Los Angeles, Hawaii!! FUN. (We were married in international waters on the Caribbean Princess).

I really LIKE this Dr. Curry, whom I haven't met yet, as he posts on the boards and truly has an interest in helping US. I am really lucky to have found him. I am going to make an appointment soon.

I think they charge $22,000 at OHIO STATE for the procedure!! It is SO stupid that insurance companies don't pay for it. I guess they would rather pay for total knee replacements or Type II diabetes treatments. Besides... the FDA in its infinite wisdom has set 55 as the cutoff age in its recommendation for WLS.. and I am soon to be 58. GEEZ... I think I have a few good years left!!

Nancy

[Leila 0]

Canada! :eek:

[Dancing Queen 0]

Okay I had surgery yesterday so I guess I can officially submit to this thread. I had my surgery in Monterrey, Mexico with Dr. Rumbaut. I would reccommend it to anyone. The hospital is beautiful, the hotel is spotless and the service at both the hotel and the hospital was higher quality than I ever received in the U.S. I feel great and Dr. Rumbaut was able to stitch the band all the way around my stomach. I don't know of any docs in the states that can do that. The extra stitching gives me peace of mind that my band will not slip.

Also one of my incisions is in my belly button. I could not have been any happier with my doctor or the care I have recieved.

256/243/170

[cotedazur 0]

I had the back stitching too.... He is a great surgeon and his whole team is amazing! I'm glad you liked him too!

Nancy:clap2:

[Constance 0]

Slight hijack -- but a few questions about Rumbaut...

1)how long from when you first contacted them until you had a date?

2)how long were you in monterrey?

3)any flight package inclusions?

4)can you provide you own pre-op work-ups if they require them? (I've had lots of tests in my pursuit of insurance coverage)

Ok, sorry to divert the topic a bit. Y'all can PM me with repsonses if you don't want to post here -- though maybe the crowd would like to see.

[cotedazur 0]

Hello there,

I think they can schedule you in two or three weeks. As for the preop testing, I arrived in Monterrey before noon, was picked up at the airport and take to a cardiologist/internist's office where I had blood drawn, blood pressure, ultrasound of the gall bladder (He will remove it at no extra charge if you have stones, and fix a hiatal hernia if one is found), and an ekg. Then the hotel shuttle picked us up to check into the Hampton, so it didn't take more than an hour for the tests. I got to Monterrey on a wednesday morning, had surgery thursday morning, discharged from the hospital friday morning and left Monterrey Sunday. Three nights at the Hampton Inn are included, all transportation IN Monterrey and to and from the airport. The night you are in the hospital, the hotel will keep anything you want to not take to the hospital, and if someone comes with you, they can stay in your room with you on a couch. It is VERY nice at the Hampton.... complimentary Breakfast and a light supper during the week. The hotel is practically right next to an Applebees, McDonalds and Italianos... and a shopping mall. I booked my own flight, as airfare is not included. We paid $421 R/T from Cincinnati connecting in Dallas/Ft. Worth. You know all this is tax deductible..i.e. as is any medical expense which is over 7.5% of your adjusted gross income.

My husband is a mechanical enginer, skeptical, suspicous.... etc. He is considering the lapband for himself, and he says it is a no brainer to go to Rumbaut. Why go to a less experienced physician? Rumbaut IS the most experienced LapBand surgeon in the Americas. I'm convinced, the proper placement is crucial. I have had NO nausea..... no vomiting.... NOTHING. I have a really great surgeon here in Cincinnati to do my fills... actually I have my first one today. He is more experienced than most in the states and I am lucky to have found him. But the cash price is around $16,000. The only negative thing about going to Monterrey is the flight to and from. Otherwise, it is WONDERFUL to have the doctors come to the hotel to check on you. Rumbaut came there before the surgery on Wed night and Saturday night to see me before I left. HE IS FABULOUS.:first:

Nancy

[sleepyjean 0]

Wow, I'm surprised that it's almost even. I would've thought lots more people would've had it done stateside.

[Kat817 19]

I too come from a family with strong medical backgrounds. When my insurance turned me down a 2nd time, I opened up to a couple of family members that I felt would be brutally honest, yet equally fair minded with me. I had an Aunt who is an Oncologist tell me NO WAY to going to Mexico. Then I had an Uncle tell me, that the diabetes I was dealing with was as dangerous as any surgery I could think of having. He took the name of the hospital, and the Dr. and he did some looking into things, and come back to me with the news that he would support it. he even offered to go with me. He looked around and found the same cost prohibitions that I had. There are some in the US that are becoming comparable price wise, but they are newer, less experienced. And a long distance from where I am at. He also checked out the Dr. I was considering for follow up, and suggested someone else...ironically a girl on here used the one I had thought about and has had to have her port removed among other things due to infection, she too had been banded over a year ago by another MX Dr., it was unrelated to the surgery, the fill became infected.

After my Uncle helped my research, I presented it to my own Dr. who then had a look at everything, and called me back with his approval. My PCP's wife will be having surgery by the same Dr. next month.

I felt blessed to have someone who cared about me enough that also had the ways and means of checking these things for me! My surgery and recovery have been smooth, my aftercare Dr. also has done my first fill, and all has gone well.

I believe you can find good stories and bad, from ALL locations. It is you having the surgery, so you have to make that choice, based on serious research, and your own comfort with it being in or out of the USA.

As a side note, I live in a rural area in New Mexico, just about 15 miles from the Colorado border. When we go to the hospital here in NM, we find an abundance of CO patients, they all say they hate the local CO hospital. But when we go to the CO hospital, we see all kinds of people we know from the NM side, because they hate the local NM hospital!!! Go figure!!!

Regardless of where you decide to go, take care of yourself and look deeply into the choices you make. Imagine that you were sending your Mother, or your child....you are just as important to them as they are to you.

Good Luck to all!

Kat

[warmmorningsun 1]

No, Mexico doesn't have a medical standards govering body. In the US we do...the joint commission (JACHO). They regulate the sterility and safety of all actions in all US facilities. They drop in unannounced quite frequently to audit the conditions of specific areas in the hospital.....and they are tough.. they have the right to pull a nurse aside and quiz her on the safety standards of the unit and the hospital as a whole. It made me feel better that the hospital that i was "opened up" in was held to such high standards. There is a reason that any surgery is more expensive in the United States.......just keep that in mind.

Also, yes I feel it would be risky to have surgery at a "clinic" however no clinic (no matter how ghetto) would attempt to manage a critically ill pt. And unless you are in the middle of nowhere...there is always a fully equiped hospital nearby.

Anyone can paint a wall, add decorative touches, and clean a hospital until it glows...however when it comes to my life i don't care about the matching chairs in my room...I care that there is proper equipment and proper experience to keep me alive should something go wrong. The surgeon does his part..putting in the band...but sometimes we need the expertise of another doctor...don't forget this when researching. Contact the adult ICU of the mexican hospital and ask to speak to their intensivist. This should be the doctor managing you if things don't go smoothly.

Not meaning to make anyone mad...this is just how I feel........Nora

I hate to throw a wrench in this, but JCAHO is actually not a medical standards govering body for all hospitals. To become JCAHO certified, you actually pay JCAHO to come in and survey your adherence to standards they set. There are hospitals that aren't JCAHO certified, and they are not required to be certified either. JCAHO doesn't regulate anything actually. They set voluntary standards of quality. They NEVER drop in unannounced, they always give you a date range of when they will come.

So, all that being said, a facility is not guaranteed to be JCAHO certified. And to throw this topic off even further, I chose to be banded here in the US, so I'm not plugging Mexico, or downing US hospitals. Just throwing in some clarification.