Gastric sleeve in mexico, 1 year out, My journey.

[Kupcake 8]

So I hit 1 year post op last month. Here is my story.

Right before my 30th birthday I decided that enough was enough. I had been on the waiting list with my ex-husbands insurance for gastric bypass, then we divorced and I lost my spot anyway. I had lost aprox. 60 pounds on my own after the divorce through lifestyle changes, mainly cutting soda (a huge addiction to me at the time) and being more active, these small changes helped a lot because of the extreme sedentary life I lived during my stint as a house wife (with no kids). After losing the 60 pounds I got down to about 215 but jumped back up to 235 pretty quick. My ideal weight -I thought- was about 200 maybe 195 and I knew that I couldn't drop any more weight on my own, after all the 60 was tough, and I gained half of it back. I knew that I had to figure out how to get surgery. The reason I was on a waiting list to begin with is because I am young, with no health problems other than my weight and the insurance I had only approved 40+bmi with no comorbidities. I was always around 38 or 39 bmi. So I had it! I started looking and found surgery options in Mexico for around $4500-$6000. Mind you I was a 29 year old college student with a $12/hour job, newly divorced, living with my mother because I had nothing to my name. So November 2012 I decided I would save the money and do it!

I got my income tax for around $2000 and worked 50 hours a week at my regular job and got a part time graveyard $8/hour security job in a bad neighborhood in a shopping center (I guarded a parking lot in the dark!). It was all worth it! I finally found a Dr. (Juan Garcia) and a US company to book everything through (Ready4AChange) and booked my trip! The total cost of everything including my airfare was almost exactly $5000.

April 15th. I made it to Mexico. Flew into San Diego and the driver picked me up from the airport (even took me to walmart) then took me across the border to Tijuana and to the Marriott. It was a very nice hotel. I met 3 other people who were with the same company having surgery with me the next day (there were 5 or 6 of us total).We bonded ate dinner that night together and all rode together to the hospital in the morning. Even though there were a few of us, we all got wonderful treatment like we were the only patients. Only the 5 of us were in the wing our rooms were on and we all knew what rooms we were in incase we felt up to talking after surgery. We were in the hospital for 3 days and I don't really remember much except the last day. They keep you very nicely doped up so the pain is totally manageable and give you everything you need right away so you can just doze all day! Day 3 in the hospital we were all up and walking and I bugged the nurses enough that they let us take out IVs outside to the patio and get some sunshine

We went back to the hotel on Day 4, I think. Stayed in the hotel with room service bringing all the broth and popsicles we wanted. The Dr came the next day to the hotel and tended our dressings and answered any last questions we had before leaving. After 5 days we got driven back to the airport at the time we needed to get to our flights and went home.

It all happened with out a hitch, for the most part. The surgery was wonderful. I wasn't nervous or hesitant at all. The Drs and nurses were amazed I was alone, after all I was a 20-something woman all alone in another country about to have life changing surgery! My support group was intact at home, but I wanted to do it alone.

So now its been 1 year. I still throw up 2-3 times a week because I don't know when to stop eating, and I get chest pains almost every meal. I am glad that I have these bad side effects because I eat too much and need to learn!! If I am good then they don't happen, so they are my fault totally.

I have lost 87 pounds since surgery and a total of 130 pounds from my heaviest weight. I wear a size 5 pants now and work out a few times a week (could be more, but I am working on that). My eating habits are SO GOOD now compared to what they were and I love to cook now. I try to eat fish three times a week, tuna for lunch one day, salmon for dinner, and another fish for dinner. I also try to have one night of chicken for dinner every week. I try to eat out only 1-2 times per week.

I am getting scared because I think for the first time I have gained weight since surgery, I think I have gained a couple pounds while I was sick for the last couple months (hurt leg then broken tooth ouch!) and didn't work out. I can eat a lot more now that I think I should and I think after finals are over next week I will go on a liquid diet for a few days to try to shrink my tummy back down. I can eat more of certain things and then when I eat dense, Protein rich foods (like chicken and tuna) I get full really fast! Last night I ate a whole bagel with cream cheese, then about an hour (maybe 1.5 hours) later I ate ANOTHER ONE! I had micro vomits after and even threw up in my sleep (still trying to control the acid reflux).

So my only issues one year out is that I feel like my stomach is stretching, I have severe acid reflux (that can be controlled if I remembered to take a darn pill), and I very badly need a tummy tuck!

I would do this all over again in a heart beat. I feel so much more alive and vital and HAPPY since my surgery, and I was not depressed nor did I have low self esteem or problems having fun before, but this is like more than I can describe a million times better way to live than how I was before. I feel so bad for people who think they cant afford it, or are too scared to try the surgery. Living 100 lighter makes life easier! Everything is cheaper, clothes, groceries, eating out. Everything is easier, taking the stairs in a parking garage or at the library is done with out a thought (except that I don't want to wait for the slow elevator), I don't worry about things I sit or stand on will break, I want to go on roller coasters at parks. I want everyone who ever lived a day as "morbidly obese" to live one day in my shoes and realize that for $5000 (I have seen less these days too!) your life can be so different. I was in a size 24, now I am in a size 5. If I got a Tummy Tuck I could probably be in a 3, and I could wear a bikini (I have lots of skin on my lower abdomen that keeps me from wearing one now). The money might seem like a big hurdle, it took me almost 6 months to save and I got almost half in income tax. But it was worth the extra work, every day. Its worth it to do anything you can to save that money! BTW, it took me almost 9 months after the surgery to get out of debt that the surgery put me in....but again...TOTALLY WORTH ALL OF IT!!

I think that is my total story, sorry for the long winded-ness. I have never told it all on a forum and thought that maybe I should add to the information out there, after all I met one of my dearest and best friends on a bariatric surgery site, found out about my surgeon, and found all my confidence and information on a site like this one

[Doug100 17]

Your story is a testament to your fortitude. Never forget that. I wish I would have had that option when I was 29 years old. Now I'm 60 and am looking forward to my retirement years in the best of health I can manage.

[AMVV12 19]

Thank you for sharing your story. I am considering Mexico for surgery because my insurance does not cover bariatrics.