Serious about MEXICO but many questions and concerns

[shedo82773 1,236]

Oh, believe me, we did get some of our money back!!!! what happened is we paid for the RNY (which cost more) so when they could only do the Sleeve we did get some money back but not what we were told because they said because his surgery was difficult it cost more. I had not 1 nurse that spoke English!! I tried to get him some meds for vomiting and I even acted it out for them but no help there. I'm more than happy that we paved the way for you to have a better experience. LOL I need some skin surgery's but I am staying in the STATES if I ever get any skin removal. LOL The $50 wasn't a surprise I was just saying they were not strong enough at all. Oh well like THE BAMBOO ON THE LION KING SAYS, Wham, it is in the past!!! Right LOL

[MyBariatricLife 18]

On 8/19/2017 at 10:59 PM, N0VA said:

I had a nice view from my hospital room too

That was pretty much my view. I finally asked about Maria Bonita and if it was apartments or a hotel (it's a hotel) because it was all I could see from my bed.

[MyBariatricLife 18]

My surgery was through BeLite Weight in Star Medica hospital in Juarez. It worked good for us as we could drive to El Paso and save flight money. They do a leak test, but it's while you are still under instead of the regular barium test. And like the other girl said, all testing is done when you arrive - blood tests, x-ray, etc. I arrived the day before so I spent a total of 3 nights in the hospital. Surgery was Thursday morning, and I went home Saturday afternoon (well, back across the border - then we spent the night at a cheap hotel).

The first night I was in a lot of pain. I begged the hospital staff to give me stronger pain meds, and they did and I could finally sleep. By the second night the pain was better and their usual med was fine for me. They sent me home with 20 pain pills, but I only used 10 of them - after the first 24 hours the pain isn't that bad.

The doctor spoke great English, and some of the nurses spoke some English. And they used Google translate when needed. That was cool.

Only 1 TV channel in English - CNN. Ug. They had WiFi at the hospital so I could post stuff from my phone. We never had to leave the hospital. All we needed was food for my friend and the hospital had that. I just asked him not to eat in front of me, lol.

The nurses used either gloves or some sort of hand sanitizer. I felt safe from any infection.

It was $50 for the take home meds, but they told me that up front in one of the e-mails they sent me, so I came prepared with $50 in cash in an envelope.

[DropWt4Life 957]

Bariatric Pal Team MX with Dr. Illan is excellent! I paid $500 dp with Paypal, and the balance the day after surgery with a cashiers' check. The valets, doctors, and nursing staff are awesome! I never got charged for anything else, although nurses were in about every few hours adding anti-nausea, pain killer, anti-gas medications to my IV up til the morning of my discharge. I never felt any nausea or pain (except for gas pain) the entire trip. I had a private room with a sofa bed for my companion. All nurses spoke English. Netflix was on the TV, and WIFI is included as well. The care that I received there by far exceeded any care that I've ever received in the US. The EKG, bloodwork, chest Xrays were all done within 1 1/2 hours of being admitted to the hospital. I was up walking within 2 hours of being taken out of recovery. After the 2 days in the hospital, my companion and I spent 1 night in a hotel/casino. The valets took us and the other 3 patients shopping in the shopping district of Tijuana. Dr. Illan only does 4 surgeries per day. Some surgeons that I researched did up to 10 per day. I was worried about my surgeon being tired after so many surgeries, so I wanted one that performed as few daily as possible. Anyway, I had reservations about having surgery in Tijuana, Mexico. It was completely safe and FUN. My companion was in awe. He couldn't believe the care that WE BOTH received, and told me that he is surprised that they could perform this service for so cheap. Good luck in choosing a doctor and facility, but you will not be sorry if you go with Bariatric Pal Team MX and Dr. Illan.

[Apple1 2,572]

I had a very good experience with Dr. Illan. I like that they use a full service hospital and not a clinic. Everyone spoke English and the valets were awesome!! You can purchase a thumb drive and receivie a video of your surgery. I thought that was pretty cool.

I would not hesitate to recommend Dr. Illan and BP.

[JoeJoeMomma 5]

I went with Beauty and Light which I was referred to from another friend local in Oregon. They were all wonderful. The main team I worked with all spoke English. Dr Gutierrez was amazing. Prior I had had 2 other orthoscopic procedures and was a train wreck afterwords. With the Beauty and Light team I had only slight nausea (They gave me meds for)post op no puking at all. I am almost two weeks post-op and feel great, a little tender on the left side but what would anyone expect.

I loved my team and Melissa, Nathan and Polo was great, and Dr. G is Magic.

[AmylouRouxEnY 44]

I'm scheduled for bypass on Sept. 12th at Angele's hospital by Dr. Juan Lopez-Corvalla. I'm nervous and excited at the same time, lol! I had originally decided on Dr. Ortiz at OCC but found out that he didn't do RNY bypass anymore. So when I started looking for another surgeon I found Dr. Lopez. He's also a professor at a college in Baja and Dr. Ortiz was one of his students, lol!

[A_new_sara 136]

I had a revision surgery from Lapband to VSG with Dr. Gerado Garcia Alvarez, with Bariatric Mexico. The only pre op text I had here was an endoscopy, and that was just to make sure I didn't have any erosion from my lapband. Once I was in Mexico I had all my other test done. My surgery was at the center in Cabo, but they have 4 other locations as well.

[Sleeve amber 8]

I'm scheduled to have vsg surgery September 18th with Dr. Corvala at Hospital Angeles in Tijuana, Mexico. The case manager, Kim Curren, sent me a questionnaire to see if I qualified for surgery. It ask a lot of health questions and past surgeries. They want to know these things before scheduling you for surgery. Lab work will be done once I get to Mexico. I am required to follow two week liquid diet before surgery, so my liver can shrink in size. This is to ensure the surgery goes well and the liver isn't in the way when they cut out 80% of the stomach.

[AmylouRouxEnY 44]

Cool, I'm having my RNY surgery with Dr. Corvala on September 12th! I'll take pictures and share my experience while I'm there. He has some videos on YouTube that are pretty cool to watch as well

[AmylouRouxEnY 44]

Lol, I just noticed that I repeated! I couldn't see my first one, lol! I'm a dingbat!

[Kat410 423]

I did my surgery in Cancun with Dr. Hector Perez. The surgery was coordinated through Ready4Achange.< br />
A couple of things - I chose Cancun because I live in NYC and the flight/travel was just a lot easier and I wanted to ensure I had an easy trip home. I paid a deposit through the coordinator. The full payment was due at check in in the clinic, but I chose to pay in advance.

Also, I did all the bloodwork/screening with my local PCP before travel to ensure there were no surprises (and I did it before starting my 10 day liquid diet). I then did follow up blood work 6 weeks after surgery - mostly to check my A1C and Vitamin D which were the only 2 issues that showed up pre-surgery.

The coordination provided by Ready4aChange was mostly seamless, however the quality of hotels was just terrible. My dad came with me and (god bless him) he ended up getting us rooms at the Ritz Carlton instead. I stayed an extra day, which was nice just to rest and nap (I did a lot of napping - my energy was very low.)

The clinic in Cancun was clean, the staff were friendly, Dr Perez was great and the Anesthesiologist was also great. The nurses and support staff did not speak much English and we had a good time with my horrible Spanglish. There was a coordinator on site for English speaking patients in case I needed anything, but I was able to communicate my most important needs ("Dolor!")

I stayed overnight after the surgery and was discharged the next day. Surgery went well, they also cleaned up some scar tissue from an open surgery to remove my gallbladder that was done 3 years prior.

There are two things I did that I was glad about - coordinating this with my local PCP who was very supportive and bringing someone with me. While I didn't NEED to bring someone with me, it gave me tremendous peace of mind to know my dad was there if anything went wrong.

I would recommend Mexico to anyone for whom insurance doesn't cover this. The total cost of my surgery (not including airfare and the Ritz upgrade) was $5400.

[shedo82773 1,236]

On ‎8‎/‎22‎/‎2017 at 6:58 PM, JoeJoeMomma said:

I went with Beauty and Light which I was referred to from another friend local in Oregon. They were all wonderful. The main team I worked with all spoke English. Dr Gutierrez was amazing. Prior I had had 2 other orthoscopic procedures and was a train wreck afterwords. With the Beauty and Light team I had only slight nausea (They gave me meds for)post op no puking at all. I am almost two weeks post-op and feel great, a little tender on the left side but what would anyone expect.

I loved my team and Melissa, Nathan and Polo was great, and Dr. G is Magic.

Hi there fellow Oregonian!! Where do you live? I am from Roseburg, Oregon. Would love to chat. I love it when I find people from our Beautiful State.

Edited August 26, 2017 by shedo82773

[shedo82773 1,236]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 2:23 PM, Sara Bronson said:

I had a revision surgery from Lapband to VSG with Dr. Gerado Garcia Alvarez, with Bariatric Mexico. The only pre op text I had here was an endoscopy, and that was just to make sure I didn't have any erosion from my lapband. Once I was in Mexico I had all my other test done. My surgery was at the center in Cabo, but they have 4 other locations as well.

Hi how are you doing this fine Saturday? I was wondering which part of Idaho are you from? I have family in Weiser, Idaho. Just a case of the nosey. Look forward to your post.

[shedo82773 1,236]

On ‎8‎/‎24‎/‎2017 at 2:23 PM, Sara Bronson said:

I had a revision surgery from Lapband to VSG with Dr. Gerado Garcia Alvarez, with Bariatric Mexico. The only pre op text I had here was an endoscopy, and that was just to make sure I didn't have any erosion from my lapband. Once I was in Mexico I had all my other test done. My surgery was at the center in Cabo, but they have 4 other locations as well.

Our STATS are very close. I had my RNY on July 2, 2013. My starting weight was 249#'s this time (I was at 285 but managed to lose some and maintained it for 6 months. I got to my goal weight in 6 months. So I actually have maintained for 3 and 1/2 years. With a 10# gain. I'll take it Am I happy NOPE am I stressing over the gain YES but I will be ok. I know what I need to do. Have a great Saturday!!