marymoon

I'm curious, Renee - what did your pain doc in the US say about you having surgery in Mexico? Did he give you any guidelines for proper pain management afterwards or warn you about what you needed to look out for? Whoever is writing your scripts for narcotics should have been included in the circle of communication due to your fibro & cfs history and dependence. Please forgive my asking if you mentioned it elsewhere... I'm wondering because my mother was on morphine for a year before she had her back surgery and the pain clinic made her sign a contract with them that she was to inform their office if another doctor tried to so much as prescribe an ibuprofen. They were in charge of all pain meds that were administered and that included them being in on the consult with the spinal surgeon. They managed her pain in tandem with the hospital during recovery as well because they knew what her tolerance levels were. In fact, they weaned her down a couple of levels so her pain could be managed more easily in recovery. It's easy to play Monday morning quarterback, but it really seems as if you were a one-in-a-million kind of patient with extenuating circumstances and special medical needs coupled with a language barrier. I'm not making any excuses for anyone, but this thread has the potential to scare the bejesus out of those exploring the Mexico option, most of whom do not share your medical history. I personally had a great experience with little to no surgical pain (gas is another story) and hate to think that anyone may be crossing MX off their list when it may be their only option due to cost. If someone shares your medical dx then they should take serious note, but thankfully that's not the majority of us. I hope you continue to feel better every day and start losing big time!!! You deserve it after all that! Beth

I'm thinking at least some of it will tighten with time. I'm 40 & I lost 60lbs last year before VSG and I didn't notice the waddle I have right now. I regained 40lbs before my surgery and am just 4lbs away from the lowest I got to last year. The only difference is that weight came off slowly, over a period of 8 months while I've dropped this last 40lbs over the past 2 months.

Yeah, don't watch Lost before getting on an airplane if you are the least bit apprehensive about flying! I used to fly all the time back when I had a 'real' job and while I was never totally comfortable with the concept, I didn't get truly bothered by it until after I watched that show. Stupid, I know. 24 is a MUCH better choice! I had a good friend offer to write me a script for Valium just for the flight. Never having taken it before, I had 1 the day before I flew out while I chaperoned my 2nd grader's field trip to the zoo. Ended up taking 2 the morning of the flight and I was still on edge. Maybe I should have chased it with tequila, but it was 4am...

Calm down, sweetie. I'm not advertising for any doc - just passing along my own info and experience to any one else who may be reading this and considering VSG in Murfreesboro with Westmoreland. No need to get your skinny, 'I reached goal in 5 months' panties in a wad, m'kay? Look at my previous posts - I'm not shouting his name from the rooftops, either. It does seem as if a few others post ridiculous ads for him which is extremely annoying but I resent getting lumped into that category with my one little reply here. I'm very happy with my sleeve and with the surgeon that created it and if I want to name drop in a tasteful manner then so be it. I didn't want to pay the full $17,900 for a local doc whose experience lies mostly in lap bands and RnY's. By Westmoreland's own admission he hasn't done a quarter of the sleeves that he-who-is-not-to-be-named has performed successfully because insurance rarely covers the procedure. He was even trying to push me into RnY which I didn't want and even his own nurse, a RnY patient herself, said she'd rather have had the sleeve, too. So yeah, MY foreign doc has more experience with VSG than a bona fide, AMERICAN, COE doctor. And my post was concerning this one particular surgeon - not yours and certainly no other surgeon in Dallas. Seriously.

I'm in Murfreesboro and had a consult with Dr. Westmoreland myself. My insurance doesn't pay for VSG so instead of waiting around and going thru the appeal process, I flew to Mexico and had my surgery performed by Dr. Aceves as well. I got a much more experienced doctor at a much better price and have had zero complications or other issues. I was quoted $17,900 for the self-pay price at MTMC.

Congrats! You'll be in very good hands with Dr. Aceves. Like you, I wasn't at all worried about traveling to another country to have the majority of a perfectly good organ removed - it was the flying that freaked me out! 6 hours in an airplane is NOT my idea of a relaxing trip. I saw Lost.... Crossing the border is really no big deal at all. Te drive from San Diego to Mexicalli was very scenic & time seemed to fly by. Crossing back into the US only took us about 20 minutes and was non-eventful. No huge drama or tension or anything. My sleeve sister and I walked a city block from the hotel to a grocery store/GNC and I didn't feel unsafe at all.

Your story sounds a lot like my own! Good luck on your surgery tomorrow!!!

I have BCBS Tennessee and though the sleeve is excluded, my surgeon thought we could get it paid for on appeal. Of course, insurance only paid 50% of the allowable charges which was about the same amount of $$ as it was going to cost in Mexico. I'm an impatient person and didn't want to waste any more time so I cancelled all further appointments and scheduled surgery with Dr. Aceves. Best money I've ever spent and I got a much more experienced surgeon to boot.

I, too, paid $8750 for Dr. Aceves and though I know there are other competent doctors who are cheaper, I felt he was the most experienced and I liked the idea of recovering in a hospital with 24/7 monitoring for 3 days. Mexicalli was very safe - my surgery sister and I walked a city block from the hotel to GNC and a grocery store the night before surgery and not once did I feel threatened. I would do it again in a heartbeat and now my husband is even considering it as well.

I wouldn't say I had a LOT of pain as I've certainly had more painful surgeries, but the gas pains were fairly harsh the first couple of days and didn't completely resolve for a week. I was up and walking around soon after surgery but the first 24 hours can be rough for some people. No matter how bad you may feel right after, you WILL feel a little bit better every day and then one day you'll be totally healed and the discomfort of surgery will be a distant memory. It's totally worth it! I'm fortunate that I don't work outside the home so I didn't have to rush back to a job. I was driving my elderly mother around town 4 days after surgery and helped prepare a huge Easter dinner 8 days after. I still have a tiny bit of soreness around the incisions but only when I overdo it. I started back at the Y this week with Zumba, Water aerobics, the elliptical and strength training and only felt soreness when doing crunches this afternoon. I'll be 5 weeks out this Friday and feel great! Beth

Boobs. I wasn't blessed with breasts and now the weight is falling off what little I did have first. I have 63lbs left to lose and my chest is already deflated. I only look decent in a bra cause I can stuff it with loose chest flesh instead of tissues like I did when I was 12. I'll have a full body lift if I need it after a year of weight stabilization but I'm getting breast implants as soon as I hit goal weight.

Jamie, You can find an answer to just about any question you might have just by reading the boards - that's what I did when trying to decide if the VSG was right for me. My insurance would have paid 50% on the gastric bypass but I wasn't completely sold on the idea of having my intestinal tract rerouted and suffering from malabsorption for the rest of my life. With VSG, I still have a fully functioning digestive system. It's just smaller that it was before! I'm just over 1 month out and feel great! I sometimes miss eating all the foods I enjoyed before in the quantities I want, but doing that is what made me obese in the first place. I wouldn't trade being healthy at a normal weight for all the pizza in the world! Feel free to message me if you have any questions or just want to chat. It can be a scary decision but it's worth it! Beth

What an unfortunate attitude from someone supposedly dedicated to improving the health of others. Let me guess, she's of normal weight and has absolutely no first hand experience of what it's like to be carrying around 100 extra pounds and feeling the hopelessness of being trapped by the weight. I just love people like that. I'm very fortunate that the trainers at my Y are supportive of my surgery and dedicated to working with me to get the weight off and build muscle in a safe and proper manner while I heal. I just started back today and everyone from the Zumba instructor to my personal trainer to the trainers I'm chummy with were watching out for me, making sure I was using proper form and protecting my healing ab muscles during class and on the weight machines. I hope you can find a more supportive establishment that is also close to your work. I agree that this woman is an asshat and probably deserves to own a Curves.

You're going to be in great hands with Dr. Aceves & I echo crosswind in saying you are NOT going to die on the table. He is a great surgeon with many, many VSG operations under his belt and his experience will pay off for you in the long run. I thought about writing a letter to my children (10 and 7) only because I was worried about my plane crashing. I didn't have one ounce of fear about undergoing surgery. Not a single, solitary bit and this from a woman who lost her dad on the surgical table 7 years ago. He was very sick with heart disease and the operation was extremely risky and we expected complications anyway, but it still leaves a scar. I admit, the first surgery I had after he died scared the crap out of me because I was worried I would never wake up, too, but the happy juice/pill you get really does make you not care. I've had 5 more surgeries since then and the VSG was by far the easiest and least worrisome for me. Congrats on your surgery!

Finally found a Protein drink I can handle - Premier Protein from Sam's Club. I have one for Breakfast and try to get the rest of my protein from foods. Still not hitting 60 grams/day but getting there slowly! Water is still an issue - it just doesn't go down easily. Tried Peanut Butter for the first time yesterday, too. Hurt like a mother going down! I'm now a month out and cleared for all foods but I'm still wary of fruits and veggies. Started my beloved Zumba class at the Y again this morning! Took the lower-intensity basic class with the senior citizens, but I was able to work up a good sweat and burned 676 calories in 45 minutes, according to my HR monitor. Followed it up with an hour of weights, lifting 20% to 50% of what I was doing pre-surgery. Really looking forward to running again, too, but will wait a bit longer to start up again.

I have 14 titanium dental implants, a plate and 7 screws in my ankle and now a line of staples in my stomach and I've never had a problem with xrays, MRIs, CAT scans or metal detector screenings. It can cause a bit of confusion to screeners/X-ray techs if I forget to mention all my metal, but you won't even know they're there!

Good luck tomorrow!

Good luck to all of you having surgery today!!!

Good luck!!!

I thought long and hard about how WLS would affect me when I was elderly. This is the primary reason I chose the sleeve over lap band or RnY. My insurance would have paid 50% on either of those procedures but I elected to go to Mexico alone and pay over $10k in fees and airfare for the sleeve because in the end, my stomach would function normally and just as it has been for 40 years, just with a smaller footprint. Having battled my weight since puberty, The constant very thin people always said was they didn't eat large portions and I wanted so badly to be like them but I couldn't limit my portion sizes. Now I can and I don't feel deprived or hungry. This is the way God meant for me to eat and I just needed medical intervention to get me where I was supposed to be all along.

I'm 25 days out and just started drinking coffee again 2 days ago. Before surgery, I was a 4 mug/day drinker, but now I drink 1/2 decaf and only 1/2 cup. Strangely, I still like the taste but I just don't want anymore than that. I'm not much of a drinker but I do enjoy a margarita or 4 when I go out with my girlfriends. Looking forward to being able to indulge once again myself!

Good luck!

Good luck to you both!

To be fair, my highest weight was recorded back in October 2009. I started seeing a nutritionist and lost 60lbs over the next 7 months thru diet & exercise. Like most of us, I just couldn't keep it off once the hunger monster got hold of me. I regained 40lbs by March 2011 and got to 235lbs on my surgery date after exercising my booty off at the Y and keeping my calories below 1600. I'm thankful every day to have had the opportunity to have this surgery. It's wonderful to be free of the chains of hunger & cravings! Now if I could find a chocolate Protein drink that doesn't make me wanna puke... I've had horrible reflux ever since I was pregnant with my youngest child. I had it when I carried my first, too, but it went away as soon as I delivered her. My son wrecked by body in many ways - heartburn, the weight gain, stretched ab muscles - but he's cute so I guess I'll keep him!

I'm just over 3 weeks out and feel great! I wish I had a titch more energy, but I imagine that will come with eating real food & meat. I struggle to get my Protein and fluids in and don't think I've met either goal since surgery. I started soft foods yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed my scrambled egg for Breakfast (tho I could only eat about half!) cottage cheese for lunch and mashed potatoes thinned with French onion soup for dinner. Like others, I'm not hungry at all but I miss the taste & texture of real food. Dr. Aceves fixed a medium sized slidng hiatal hernia along with my sleeve surgery but my heartburn is much worse than before. I take Nexium Mups daily but was hoping the hernia repair would cure it. So tired of munching on Tums all the time. It's a small price to pay to get full on a half a scrambled egg rather than a full breakfast of pancakes, bacon & eggs like I did before! Pretty happy with weight loss so far, down 22lbs since surgery. Stalled out for several days but hopped on scale this morning and was down 2 from yesterday. Not really sweating the numbers much - I can tell my clothes fit much better and all my friends can see the weight loss & comment on how well I'm doing all the time. I'm a full-disclosure kinda gal and everyone knows about my journey and are 100% supportive (to my face, at least. If they're talking about me behind my back then that's their issue & I don't worry about it.)