BeautyVGSJourney

I am hispanic and many hispanics here use calling cards to call to mexico, I would suggest having your family buy some they are anywhere from 5-20 dollars each depending on the amount of minutes. Go to a mexican store and ask there which one will give you the best number of minutes wherever you are calling. That might also be a good question for Anid or whoever you are working with, if they have calling cards there or if like Jthurman said prepaid phones are better or what they recommend. I am not sure about paid phone I worry about them being more expensive and maybe going out faster because you are outside of the country. Good things to look into.

that is good to know DDFin, I have sprint and it covers roaming for free, I wonder if mine will cost that too. I am planning on bringing my ipad and maybe laptop (probably only one if I can get an IPAD too cheap enough, because I only have the old one and does not have a camera), and talking to my family on it.

awesome, good luck! are you ready? I am so ready I wish I could do it earlier than that!

I will be arriving in Mexico May 10th early morning and will be having my surgery there that same afternoon. Anyone else arriving to San Diego CA that day?

Congratulations Willow! Good luck with your surgery and pre-op diet

LOL no kidding, here they do include follow ups for a year with most of the surgeries but they do not include the exams only the surgeon looking at you for a for a few minutes or such. but even if $150 that is a whole lot less than what the cost here is and you will get better more personalized care.

I asked Dr. Kelly that question, the answer was "We do surgery, and rarely have complications, we learn from our past mistakes and do not forsee any complications at all, if however there are complications it all depends on the type of complication. For example if you need a blood transfusion you would only pay for the blood, if you need more treatment after surgery you would only pay for extended hospital stay if needed but not for the surgeon nor the team, those will be covered by us (Dr. Kelly)." I also asked what if you wanted to come for your year follow up to do the exam with contrast, they said you would pay for the cost of the exam which is ~$100 but that is it. Delby I think since you are so close Dr. Kelly would work with you if anything should arise, but I honestly don't think anything will. I have called several surgeon offices here in the US (in Texas) and the reply to the same questions where almost the same, if you have to stay in the hospital longer you have to pay the stay and any treatment above and beyond the basics that came covered with your fees (and those charges are a lot higher than in Mexico).

awesome I need to try that! have any of you tried the unflavored one mixed with crystal light or other things?

wow, that is horrible. I would encourage you to actually say his name here to actually warn others. I would not stand for that crap, definetly a God complex! he probably thinks we are fat because we lie to ourselves and all we eat is crap all the time, while is true that does happen sometimes only other obese people can every trutly understand what it is all about. I would definitly fire him (I would actually just not make a follow up appointment with him and try to find another gastroenterologist instead of surgeon, some are also surgeons but some see patients just for check ups, look into it it would not hurt) I agree with not burning bridges, but I would definetly look for alternatives. Good luck!

Congratulations kansasgirl! I am also dieting and also have my fitness pal (ladies please ad me if you would like LBeautyy notice 2ys). my dieting is not going to be too extensive, just watching what I eat and stoping when I am full, that has proven to be a real challange for me! My birthday is in april, exactly two weeks before my surgery, so that night I am planning on eating a lot of my favorite food (so much that I will probably get sick), I know this is unhealthy and should not be done, but I am doing it with enough time to allow my body to get back to normal before surgery. I am only supposed to do a 3 day liquid diet for my surgery but I am planning in doing two weeks because I believe it can help and it will definetly not hurt.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you! Good luck!

kansasgirl, if you have some specific questions that you want answered and you think there is a written lenguage barrier, you can always call her. Or you are more than welcome to send me your questions and I will write them in spanish for you LOL... I totally understand your feelings, I have been asking a ton of questions too, but I do mostly write in spanish because is the only chance I get to practice right now. She does not answer in length, even in spanish, so I would recommend asking more specific questions and number them 1-whatever, I did that last time and it worked great! Let her know how you are feeling and I guarantee you she will empathise. When I talked to her about being picked up, she said that they always want to get there early to pick you up, that in rare ocassions there is too much traffic on the border and makes them a little late. The hotel has a gym and pool, as well as a museum and other places at walking distance. here is some reviews and other info I found on Dr. Kelly in case anyone else is interested http://www.obesityhelp.com/profiles/bariatric-surgeon/dr-jaime-ricardo-ramos-kelly/reviews the museum is not in the hotel but at a walking distance

narcotic pain killers such as Hydrocodone cause constipation. it will most likely is because you stoped taking meds and you are not eating fiber containing or bulky food. keep hydrated! Good luck!

Kansasgirl, my surgery is the 10th of May with him, and I have had no problem at all with communication. I am sorry you are. Are they not getting back to you in a timely manner? This is some of the info I have from them maybe you can try this, I communicate with Anid mostly, but also with Dr. Kelly. wls-clinic@hotmail.com 619 395 5347 or his email is jrkelly45@hotmail.com but I only have used the first one. Good luck!

Caradina, make sure you are not consuming more salt that your body is used to. Sometimes when I change my diet to healthier stuff I notice I add more salty stuff to balance out. Some people are way more sensitive to water retention, you might want to check this and see if that is the case (specially if you are used to drinking cafeinated sodas, teas, coffee or other thins and have stoped them). Also maybe take an Epsom salt bath, that will help you feel better (very relaxing) but many people find it to also help them loose some water weight. Good luck!

That is if you had laporoscopic surgery. That being said I am not sure how good those things are in salt water, I have used them in pools and they work well if you put them on right and are not in for hours (clean the area where you are going to stick the band aid with alcohol, but not the cut only the skin where the sticky still will go, it will help it stick better.)

I agree with supermom, and even after your doc says ok, you might want to consider using some water proof band aids (test them under running water ) for a little while, its better safe than sorry.

I have not done that diet yet but I have done many other liquid diets in the past, and it is definitely normal! Think back when your parents or teachers or someone told you you could not do something that you really liked doing? Did it not make you want to do it even more? Then all you can think of is that one thing that you cannot do. It is also your body and brain getting used to the idea of not chewing and not eating the normal stuff, but it does get better and then unfortunately worse at times. Keep in mind your short term goal (a safe surgery and speedy recovery) and your long term goal (to loose weight)! You can do it!

Good luck! You can do it, keep in mind your short term goal (to have a safe surgery, and heal well) as well as your long term goal (to loose the weight!).

Skinnynaked, if it helps at all I can answer your question..... One of the livers many jobs is production of bile, and many other products that the body uses to process food. The more you eat, the more difficult for the food to be converted to usable energy for the body then the larger the liver has to become to meet the needs of your body. The liver also metabolizes (breaks down) many drugs, and toxins among other things, this is also why your doctor might ask you to discontinue most medications before surgery. The location of the liver compared to that of the stomach is pretty much on top of it (well part of the liver anyway), so the less work your liver has to do the smaller it gets! Unfortunately because we are overweight our livers and other organs have hypertrophied (enlarged in size), so the goal is to shrink the liver because it already is enlarged, and that takes sometime. The liver is huge (I am in med school so I have seen tons of them), and even though it can regenerate itself and grow in size you don't want to injure it because it will lead to many more complications including bleeding, also if is too big it will cause the surgeon more difficulties during surgery because he then has to work harder at keeping it out of the way and might cause them to injure another organ or something like that. Cheating once or twice is not going to kill you but like the other people said we do this because we are desperate to loose weight and we have tried everything there is, you can do it (and I can do it too because I will be doing it soon). If we start cheating now it will make it easier in our unconscious mind to do it again later when it can literally hurt us. I hope this information helps you, I know that for me I do better when I know the why. Good luck and hang in there, you are not alone, many have done it before us and we can do it too!

Good luck to you both! My surgery is the 10th of May with Dr. Kelly

Too funny, I will be in Mexico with Dr. Kelly May 10th (flying in supper early and having my surgery the same day) because I am in medical school and my finals end the 9th! I cannot wait!

Yes Kansas girl there is wireless at the hospital and at the hotel both. There is also a pool at the hotel and cable tv

Medically (I am not yet a clinitian only a student) but according to my proffesors and all of the information I have learned, caffeing in any form (pills, coffee, tea) is both a stimulant and a diauretic. It causes the lower esophageal spincther (LES) to relax (its the gateway that allows food to go from the esopagous to the stomach, without allowing it to go back into the esophagous, including keeping the acid from going up, the stomach linning is well equiped, under general conditions to be safe from this acid but the esophagous is not), all this being said if that sphinter relaxes when it should not it causes acid reflus, which can lead to many complications. The main reason that it should be avoid specially right after surgery is not so much that since you will be taking antiacids (prilosec, nexium and the like) for the very least two months (most studies recommend at least 6months) this types of medicines lower the stomach pH and also help keep the LES closed when needed. But the main reason like people said above is the dehydration, most of us with a complete stomach have a very difficult time consuming the recommended 64 oz of fluids a say, with a small stomach specially at first that is almost impossible. even though most of the consumed Caffeine gets absorved in the small intestine, it can also irritate the newly injured (any surgery is seem by the body as an injury) stomach. This is going to be very difficult for me since I need my caffeine! but the way I look at it is, I need my health more and this will not be forever (but at least for the first few months). Good luck!

Good luck in your surgery! mine is May 10th with Dr. Kelly. I asked Anid that same question and she says the only day he does not work (well he does go and checks on patients) is Sundays. I looked at the hotel website (its in spanish) it says that they do have hair dryer and iron. http://www.hoteleslucerna.com/plaza/tijuana/habitaciones that is the website, there is a 1800 number if you have any expecific questions, they probably speak english, if not feel free to message me and I will be happy to call them and ask them for you. Good luck in your surgery!