luckylady131

My surgery is scheduled for July 30th. I was wondering about vacation travels and how soon afterward people were allowed to go. I haven't asked my Dr. about this yet. We were kind of wanting to do a cruise right before school starts for my daughter - leaving August 18th. There is a cruise we could do that we can drive to (port is about an hour from us), but we would prefer to do the one out of FL, which would be a plane ride there (we live in Tx). Even if we didn't do a cruise, we would be interested in doing something - it would be nice to get away from the heat here. We haven't had a chance to before now because we thought we were going to move across state up until a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, just wondering how fast you felt like a trip after surgery. I know everyone's different.

No, but thanks for the link. It was not an outside sourced list. It was a poster who had a REALLY long post who provided various examples of great food ideas for various phases after surgery. I have searched through the Food and Nurtition section, and the post surgery section. Maybe I missed it. I KNEW I should have printed out that post when I saw it. Dang it!!

No one? Does anyone remember what I'm talking about? I've tried searching for it - just don't remember where it was located. It had great ideas for the Clear liquids and soft foods phase. My surgery date is July 30th, so I'm trying to get prepped for it. Thanks so much!

I mainly lurk on here, and read the posts, and a while back I ran across a post that had an amazing list of foods that were good for various stages of the post op process. For the life of me, I cannot find it!! Does anyone remeber what I'm talking about? Can you link me to it? Thanks so much!

I keep reading how many people dislike Protein shakes on here. I was curious as to whether most of those people didn't drink Protein Shakes before their WLS journey and that's why they dislike them? I drink a Protein shake at least once a day, as does my husband - it's usually our Breakfast. So I am very used to them. I have tried several brands and do find some better than others (right now my favorite is Chike) - but i haven't tried most of the brands people talk about on here yet (powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury, etc). I haven't been sleeved yet, and am not on the pre-op diet yet either. Just curious how much my tastes will change after the surgery? I really enjoy my protein shakes actually. I miss it if I miss my breakfast one.

I'm new to this board, and these replies are hilarious!! I haven't been sleeved yet, but anxiously waiting to get cleared by my cariologist! Anyway - each woman will be different in how much "boob" they loose. Breasts are made of fat and mammory tissue. The more fat they contain - the smaller they get when you loose weight. The more mammory tissue they contain - they tend to remain more or less their regular size.

You don't live very far from me!

No I don't. I have a cardiac condition, and my surgeon wants a clean bill of health for me before doing surgery. So on Monday I am scheduled for a nuclear stress test and an echocardiogram with my cardiologist. My husband is also interviewing for a new job on Thursday. If he gets a job offer that he accepts - that means we will move out this city. So we would have to put my surgery on hold since I am a self pay. And we don't want to use up our savings right before a move. I would come back to HOuston to get my surgery done regardless if we moved or not - it would just push my date back 6 months or so. Otherwise, I will be getting sleeves as soon as possible after I get cleared from my cardiologist.

Just curious as to how many folks on here had their sleeve done as their first surgery? Seems like I read a LOT of people getting revisions to a sleeve from a band. I am going to get a sleeve, but have never had WLS before now (never had a band, or any kind of surgery). Who else is in my boat? Thanks! Laura

Can I join in? I'm in Houston (Humble/Atascocita area) and planned to be sleeved this summer by Dr. Richard Collier in The Woodlands/Conroe. Have to wait to see if some job interview work out before setting a date. Anyone use Dr. Collier? Most of the Houstonians didn't say who their surgeon was. Laura

For those who went to Dr. Aceves, do you fly to San Diego and get picked up their by the driver? If not, what airport do you fly into?

I'm new here, but have been reading through this very informative forum. I plan on getting sleeved soon (I've been researching WLS for over 3 years now). I will be a self-pay patient as my insurance doesn't cover ANY bariatric surgery. But I have checked with them twice, and if any complications arise from the surgery, they do cover that. I've thought about Mexico because they are experienced, and of course, lower costs. I currently live in Houston, and we have some VERY good surgeons here for WLS. I am very comfortable with them, and as a nurse - I'm comfortable with the healthcare here in this city. But I am very curious - many of the posts I have read for people getting sleeved in Mexico said that getting sleeved here in the states would cost $30,000-$40,000. Really? Why? Is that because you have a band and are getting a revision to the sleeve? The surgeon I plan on using has been doing bands forever (he's done over 6,000). He refused to do sleeves as a stand alone procedure until the Medical Board perceived it as a stand alone procedure (other doctors basically had to commit insurance fraud to get it covered before this happened). So he's only been doing the actual sleeve for the past 2 or 3 years. But he's been doing them as part of the Gastric Bypass surgery for many years (phase 1 of the surgery). He's done 60+ sleeves (as a stand alone procedure), has zero fatalities, and only 1 leak - which happened after the patient when home and on day 2 ate a plate of beef strogaoff. He is part of the Center of Excellence, he spent over an hour with me discussing his philosophies, how he does his procedures, etc. I was very comfortable with him, and he's well known in the WLS world here. His cost for self pay patients is $12,000. That's inclusive of the surgery, anesthesia, all medications, hospital stay, nutritional consult/follow ups for the first year. So what am I missing? Why are these other surgeries 3-4x his price. And that's the price of most of the WLS surgeons around here ($12-15k for everything). Any insight is appreciated! Thanks, Laura