Sleeve: The UNTOLD Story

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

Bwahahaha.. Social status has nothing to do with going to MX!?! You people talking as if you're too well off to even considering going to MX for surgery.. You crack me up!

You don't even know why you won't go.. Perhaps, because you're uneducated and naive?

Sometimes I can't believe the things that come other's mouths

*rolls eyes*

[Sleeved&Hopeful 182]

I am a little surprised by the naked people but the rest of the stuff mentioned is not really a big deal. I am feeling pretty glad that I was on my lady time of the month during my surgery because I got to wear underwear lol. Hopefully no one saw anything but maybe boobs! Anyway not everyone's experience can be 100% stellar. I had a fairly good experience, but it was NOT great. I used Dr. Almanza. I really think Dr. Almanza is absolutely fantastic. I got a great sleeve surgery done by him. I still have fabulous restriction at 13 months post op. I mean, I am absolutely thrilled with it. However, my issues were with the facility itself and not with the surgeon. I think Dr. Almanza is absolutely fantastic. My problem is that they sometimes book 8-9-10 surgeries in a day. There were 7 surgeries the day I went and things went okay overall but some of the folks that came with me had to wait until VERY late in the evening before receiving surgery. Any more than that and it would have probably been too chaotic. A few of the nurses were great, a few were inattentive. The facility is also subpar--it is very tiny. I would say budget low rate. I think doing more than 6 surgeries in a day for a surgeon is a bad idea. That is my issue. I think Dr. Almanza would be much better off using a hospital facility and not booking more than 5 or 6 surgeries MAX. I also would have preferred him to use dissolving stitches instead of the kind that have to be removed when you come home. I think sometimes it is the FACILITY and not the DOCTOR. I stand by my testimonial that Dr. Almanza is absolutely fantastic and KNOWS what he's doing beyond a shadow of a doubt. I also think he'd be better off using a hospital and lowering the amounts of surgeries he does per day.

I guess what I'm getting to is was the DOCTOR excellent? Do you feel he performed your sleeve well? Were the nurses good/attentive? The rest of the stuff is just minor. I commend you for posting about some of the negatives though. Although they aren't really that negative lol :-). People sometimes just don't want to hear ANYTHING negative, and that's just silly. There are positives and negatives with every surgery experience. I had a less than great experience with a plastic surgeon right here in Texas. He was not very good and I would not recommend him. I walked right out of his office and never went back, before he ever did anything on me. Bad experiences can happen anywhere. I could have absolutely paid for the plastic surgery right here in the U.S. with that crappy doctor, but I am now choosing to spend my money elsewhere. Guess where? Mexico! I am choosing Dr. Sauceda in MX who is absolutely wonderful. He is far cheaper than in the U.S. but it's not about price. I could use any plastic surgeon in the area that I want. But I am choosing to use him because he's sooo good. I tried to give my money to a local plastic surgeon, but could find none that were as good as Dr. Sauceda! His results on plastic surgery are way better than any photos I saw from the docs around here.

As far as Dr. Garcia, i've heard almost all positive. I hear he's excellent at what he does and that's what matters the most. You want a competent surgeon who has experience, and he does!

Good luck everybody!

[Sleeved&Hopeful 182]

And I gotta agree--socioeconomic status doesn't matter when it comes to surgery experience! One lady I know had surgery here in Texas and came home with a leak and her surgeon thought she was just being whiny!! They did NO leak tests at the hospital. I was absolutely mortified. Even Dr. Almanza's team does a leak test!! They only found the leak after she was almost septic!! Absolutely scary! There are some surgeons in Mexico that could run circles around the docs here in the states! Dr. Aceves is one of those!! I went with a friend to Dr. Aceves and the hospital is amazing, Dr. Aceves is absolutely wonderful and very very experienced probably moreso than most, and the staff is absolutely phenomenal. Mexico can be a MUCH better experience than the STATES if you choose the right doctor.

[No game 14,437]

Well imma going to "weigh" in here because I have a big mouth!

I did not go to Mexico.. Would I have gone if I didn't have insurance coverage here? I don't know I've never thought about it.

Seeing naked people being operated on is a little odd.. But I think where ever you go there could be good and bad. And what's bad for one person isn't really a big deal for others..

I went to a "center of excellence",

My surgery was scheduled to be at 1:30, I waited in pre op until 7pm! Why??because the lady before me was super obese and had every complication in the book!

Inconvenient? yes! But such is life, its unpredictable sometimes.

[novam vitam 117]

I just got back yesterday my sleeve was done Thursday by Dr. Garcia and I have to agree 100% with the description given by Not telling. I don't view it as complaining and I don't think she/he was looking for commentary that starts out with "we'll if you wanted...... " and ends with "then you should have.....," I think it's important to note the plain facts here and that what was done. I have to say I didn't notice the pee thing (which of course makes me worry its now draining into some unknown location inside my body) all I can say is Im very happy to be back in the states and Im very VERY thankful for our Nurses back home. The Nurses there weren't awful, one (her name was Sam) was very good, they just weren't attentive. They were loud and played music loud while they were cleaning and often were just nowhere to be found.... But they weren't rude or terrible.

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

It seems like the majority of the leaks reported around the forum are from US drs with less experience than MX drs

The personal and attentive care along with the most experience is in MX

[abetterme4.2 268]

Wow. Thanks OP for posting your experience but I also feel bad that you felt the need to post under a false name,since you indicated you post here often... fear of backlash? Either way, it is sad because you should be able to tell of your experience, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

On that note, I did go to Mexico, and had none of your experience. My surgery started on time (5 mins early, in the OR) I was treated like I was at a spa, did not see not one single persons naked bum (terrified someone would see mine), AND at 7 weeks post op...have not sharted myself not one single time. The nurses and surgeon and OR staff were fabulous.

I say all of this to say....everyone's experience is different. I did follow my pre-op diet (including milk of magnesia to clean out my bowels) to the letter, no cheating, nada. Does that mean if someone did not do milk of magnesia that they will shart themselves? No....we're all different.

I hope your experience did get better and that you choose to post about your entire experience under your regular-used name, without fear of whatever-may-come. You're allowed, give us good folks a chance. if not, don't worry so much about what others say or think. You'll be glad you did.

[No game 14,437]

It seems like the majority of the leaks reported around the forum are from US drs with less experience than MX drs

The personal and attentive care along with the most experience is in MX

Girl you better stop dissing on the US doctors!

Or it's on!!

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

It seems like people need to research a bit deeper and find the great drs and staff the most of us experience in MX. Sorry that some of you had under par facilities. I couldn't have asked for better care, staff, dr, facilities, Cordinator etc... Even the cleaning staff was pleasant and attentive ..oh and the driver too.

[tessies 224]

Here's the thing, when I lived in Florida I went to the "best" plastic surgeon which meant he was the highest priced doctor because I figure "you get what you pay for" not in all cases!!!!! I went to him for a breast augmentation. Well he burnt my breast so bad from the laser that I will have a scar for life!! Just because price is higher doesn't mean anything!! The doctor who did my band placed it to tight, that was also a cash pay and he was supposed to be the best, but of course when they are the "best" again they are the highest price. Price has nothing to do with it!! I will tell you this every person describe things differently. People see things differently. Patient A may have had a wonderful experience Patient B may have had the same experience but to Patient B it sucked. Some people have higher expectations then others. Some people are just grateful to have a chance to not be fat. And some times pink elephants in tutus could perform the surgery and Patient A wont care because they are grateful to start a new life! Patient B may be a bit harder to please. Which isn't a bad thing it's just who they are, who the heck knows. But I find it entertaining that the Original post wasn't even that bad and people are still freaking out. And further more Dr. V knew more about my SOD then any American doc I have ever been too and knew exactly what to not give me. I have had many American docs thinking they are so smart and give me a med which sent me into a spasm!!

[Ms.AntiBand 2,984]

Girl you better stop dissing on the US doctors!

Or it's on!!

Ok..you're right and I apologize. Just like you said before.. Unpredictable things happen or in some cases S H I T happens.. Literally ! Bwahahaha!

[julielle 199]

For this reason and many more, I would never have the VSG in Mexico. That being said, I am quite aware of my privlage in life. I was born into a great family with a certain amount of money and Cadillac insurance plans.

I don't judge, because had I not had access to the type of insurance I have, I might have found myself in mexico too, but I think it is important for people to realize that in most cases, its going to be very different than what you could expect in the states.

I live in Montreal, where our health care is covered so money is not an issue. We also have very good hospitals here, and I've had the luck (hah) to experience several of them. The care I received in Mexico was superior to the care I received in Canada. In Montreal the nurses were busy busy busy. In Mexico, it never took long to get the attention of a nurse. It was a small hospital, but it was clean, and it was well run. I never had to wait for anything. In Montreal, waiting is just a fact of life. Plus the surgeons in Mexico have more experience doing the sleeve than most surgeons. So no, I do not regret my choice of surgeon or the fact that I went to Mexico one bit. I had a great experience and I'm planning on going back to Mexico for plastics down the road, THAT's how much I believe in the level of care they provide there. People don't choose to do go there because they're too poor or don't have insurance. People choose to go there because they are excellent surgeons with excellent track records. And they don't make you jump through a million hoops to get there.

[julielle 199]

And re: the naked thing, the only reason it would bother me is that if you could look in on naked people on the operating table, I would wonder at how sterile that environment is. The naked thing itself wouldn't bother me, my modesty seems to have completely gone after two births. I remember with my last birth, I was hot so I tore off all my clothes, I was laying on the bed sweating, the door to my room open to the busy hallway, people walking by... I did not CARE. It was a teaching hospital so at one time I had 15 students in my room all looking to take a look at my cervix, and I did not CARE I didn't have any line of sight to the OR at my hospital, I do wonder how the OR is set up at Mi Doctor then.

[SweetTee 448]

As far as Dr Garcia, I know he said that he does the most difficult cases first. Which could explain the long wait. If the person before you had several issues to arise in the OR then you could run into a long wait. As far as I was concerned, I didn't wait extremely long and they did come and tell me that I would be going second and in less than 5 min they were there to take me. As for the nursing staff. They were pretty good to me, one poster commented on how her fluids ran out once, so did mine and as the next nurse came in and noticed she was right there to quickly hang another. The medical staff of "Dr Garcia" was great. His team was always available and attentive. I was experiencing bad nausea and the Zofran was not cutting it. The dr came in the middle of the night to order me something else for both pain and nausea. Try getting that in the US ("I'm a nurse and trust me I know"). I never had to ask for pain meds though. They were right in and as soon as they heard me gag they were in there. I'm not sure if they were more attentive because I was a nurse or because I was alone. Whatever the case I felt they were knowledgable and competent. I did not like the fact that they didn't have a call bell. I was however able to tell "NURSE" and they came right in. And I did do that when I dropped my remote, my cell phone, and my emesis basin which they had no trouble cleaning up and refilling it with tissue for my next use. I would not have just kept quiet and accepted substandard care. I definitely don't mind being vocal when needed. Was it a cake walk, heck no! Was my needs taken care of, heck yes! Would I do it again, without a doubt! Is the hosp different from in the states, most definitely!

[mrdr 247]

I had none of this. I was sleeved by Dr. Garcia at Mi Doctor. I remember waking up briefly after the surgery i was clothed. They didnt strip me naked anyway? There is a difference in between not having a solid stool and runny stool. I didnt have diarehha but i didnt have runny stool because there were not solids in my body on Water. But im sorry to hear about your negative experience and complications.

I would hope that this does not deter others from Mi Doctor because the hotel and staff members are great. Rosie (coordinator) was also available the entire time that i was there. I didnt have a problem with waiting for surgery....i was chillin honestly. Time off of work, no kids, no spouse, just me the 2 american stations and my music.