girlfriday

For Dr Garcia patients, I heard the broth at Marriott is awful...any suggestions for a good place to get broth close to the hotel ?

I bought some toddler bowls and spoons. I measure out everything. 1/3 cup is about my limit right now bur putting it in that small bowl helps. Eating is really a chore for me right now.

I highly recommend Dr Garcia. I had major complications (not due to the surgery) and they absolutely saved my life. I don't feel this would have been the case if I had not been in a fully equiped hospital with an amazing staff of specialists right there at my bedside. On-site lab, radiology, etc made difference between life and death for me.
The hospital is small, yes, and very modest by American standards. However it is spotlessly clean and they have all the equipment and most importantly, specialists, to do anything needed. If you are looking for a luxury hospital Mexico isn't a good choice for you. If you are concerned with no-frills, excellent care, Dr Garcia is a wise choice in my opinion.
Dr Garcia's support staff (coordinator, personal assistant, driver) are all excellent, and I can't speak highly enough about his staff of warm, caring nurses. If you have any further questions please feel free to contact me directly.

Yes, you have nothing to worry about....I just returned last week myself. I did go with my husband, but would not have felt unsafe without him. It is also so great you will have a buddy having surgery the same day because even though my hubby was there, we made some great friends while there. Another lady with her husband, she had surgery same day as me and our hubbys totally hit it off and hung out and her and I hit it off too. When we returned to the Marriott, we relaxed by the pool together, went shopping together and had so much fun!
We have kept in touch and I am sure we will for a long time.....we just really clicked and it was GREAT! So, I hope this is the same for you.....making a great friend on this journey is definitely a plus!

Love Unjury Vanilla powder in Silk Chocolate soy milk light. yum yum.

I had a hard time in the beginning. Now I am 2 months post op and hav an app on my phone reminding me to drink water ever so often. It gets better!

oops.....sorry I did not read down far enough. Glad you got something to help. I am 6 weeks post op and have nausea everyday. I take Nexium twice a day and chew tums if I need to. Hopefully the nausea will eventually subside but it got me really depressed. I just decided that I am going to have good days and not so good days. I still don't get all my protein in and just this week have been doing better with water as long as it is very cold. I use the Unjury and I really like it and it doesn't make me gag. Hopefully those will work out for you as well. Hang in there and good luck.

I bought some toddler bowls and spoons. I measure out everything. 1/3 cup is about my limit right now bur putting it in that small bowl helps. Eating is really a chore for me right now.

So, I am sitting in the airport, Day 4 post op, waiting to catch my last flight home. Reflecting on the past 5 days has been amazing. I used Janese at "a lighter me.com" who was fantastic! I got to San Diego and immediately Samuel, the driver called me and picked me up. He showed my some cool ships in San Diego and then we headed to Mexico. Once I got checked into the hotel, the pre-op diet was driving me crazy, so I decided to get busy and check out Tijuana. I walked to WalMart and a local grocery store and never felt unsafe whatsoever. And I was alone!! When I checked into the hotel, Eduardo, my on site coordinator was there and helped me, then he called me again that night to check on me and arrange medical pick up to the hospital the next morning.
SURGERY DAY: August 9. I got up and made my way to the shuttle that took me and another patient to the hospital. We got there, filled out some paperwork, had blookwork done and then waited! I got into my room and was a given a gown. Then a staffer came and did and EKG on me. Dr. Valesco (sp?) was there to support me and answer a lot of my questions. Then the anesthestist came in and told me what he would do and what to expect, then Dr. Garcia came in, told me surgery would be in about twenty minutes and explained the procedure to me and gave me a chance to anser questions. I walked into the OR, laid on the table, and then woke up in the recovery room! The rest of the first day was a bit of a blur, but Dr. Garcia did call my family back home in Canada and update them. I slept and walked a little the rest of the day. I had bad nausea post op, but the nurses were awesome to give me medicine the moment I needed it. I had some gas pains, but to me, the nausua and dry heaving was worse. Dr Garcia also updated about surgery. He told me because I did so well on the pre-op diet that my liver was very small and he only needed 3 incisions to complete the procedure! I asked to see my stomach, but they had thrown it away.
AUGUST 10: Walking and resting. I was given everything I needed at the hospital to take care of myself and spent the day getting my energy back up and walking. AUGUST 11: Discharge to the hotel (and I totally felt ready to go!). I checked back into the hotel and Eduardo came by to check on me and take care of everything I needed. I wandered around the hotel, the pool and had free broth and popsicles from the restaurant in the hotel. It was great. That night, Dr. Lopez, another surgeon came to check on my with Eduardo as well. Awesome service!! AUGUST 12 was pretty much the same except I spent even more time by the pool. Eduardo was great to come by again and coordinate the next day to get to the hospital. So that brings me to now. We had a quick trip through the border and everything was pretty uneventful.
Things I didn't do but wish I had: brought gas x strips, they really do help, or make your breathe better, either of which is good, I wish I would have brought more of my own broth mix and tea bags, and been so darn scared! My only frustrations were with nailing down a surgery time. I kept asking so I could update my family, but no one seemed to be able to tell me, and then one night at the hospital, there was a fiesta outside our window which apparently doesn't happen very often, but kept me up til the wee hours of morning. I had met another patient on this forum and having contacts when you are there alone can be awesome, help you beat the boredom and give you someone to talk to!
Overall, I would do again in a heartbeat. I can feel my relationship with food changing already and I can't wait to get to use my sleeve more and more to become the person I feel that I should look like! If you have any questions or want to know more, please feel free to message me!

Friday. Weigh in day.
When I started this Quest I was 441lb, BMI was 56, waist was also a 56. Bodyfat? High at 52%. Work scrubs size 5XL
I climbed on the scale an looked down. After a few seconds it stopped and landed on 299lb. I yelled so loud my neighbor from downstairs knocked on my door. She asked if anything was wrong. "Everything was right" I told her. For the first time since I was 20 years old, I was under 300lb. I know I'm not at my goal but hot damn I can sure see it from here!!
299lb
36% BF
38 BMI
42" Waist
2XL Work scrubs
About 20lb lost was LBM. I never thought that 10.5 months from the date of surgery I'd be here. At just under 3.5lb/wk weight loss average, I feel pretty good. I still can't believe that I'm 299lb and still losing! There are weeks (sometimes 2-3 in a row) where I don't lose a single ounce. Sometimes I actually gained. One week I gained six pounds and thought I screwed something up. I'm now thinking about skin surgery. I look at myself and guesstimate that I have about 5-9lb of hanging skin. When I roll down past 20% BF then I'll get more serious about that.
You all here are so very wonderful. I don't post much now with work and school going on but I read about all the people here. Each of you inspired me, motivated me and gave me hope. I was assured that I didn't mess up my body with this surgery. Y'all are terrific!! Bless every last one of you!

Well....I've been researching a lot, and what I came up with is that, what u can & can't eat depends on a number of factors, first, ur operation whether it was surgery or by lapriscope. Then the size of the removed portion of your stomach, that differs from one person to another, and ur surgeon decides that..... and last, ur body tolerance.... I'm in my 7th week prior, and could eat what most sleevers couldn't... At first I was upset and thought there was something wrong with my surgery, but then I learned that not all sleevers turn out the same way

I am 6 weeks out and I still have problems with nausea and vomiting sometimes. Even though I eat slow, I never know if I'm going to get the nausea, then foamies and pain in my esophagus and then throw up. Tonight I had a few bites I the chopped chicken from Garbanzo's and I had to stop eating because I got nauseous. Other ones I have no problem eating. I have been eating regular food since week four. I went out to eat with my family and had 3 bites of a cheese omelette and 1/2 piece of toast. I just wish food didn't cause me so much anxiety over eating.
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Hi Aloadoff,
I did not use Dr. Lopez, but did use Dr. Garcia which also operates out of Mi Doctor Hospital (whichis where SkyJACK1) had surgery. I just returned home this past Tues and my experience is pretty much exactly like SkyJACKS. My husband and I arrived in Tj on 8/2, stayed in the Marriott. Morning of 8/3 was taken by Marriott shuttle to Mi Doctor, had surgery that afternoon and stayed 2 nights there. The best care I have received in a long time here in the states. My hubby was very pleased and even felt comfortable leaving for an hour here and there to go out walking, get a burrito, etc. with no issues. Day 3 after 3 leak tests have been performed you go back to the Marriott to finish recovery. By this time, I am not taking pain meds any longer and just like SkyJACK said you literally are relaxing poolside. I felt like at this point, we were on vacation.
The day before we left, we took a taxi downtown to the open market and shopped for a few hours with some great friends we made there (wife was sleeved same day as myself). No problems, I was a bit tired...but no pain at all. Just sipped and walked, sipped and walked.
As for the hospital, it is a "Hospital" not a clinic. Yes, it is small but VERY clean and only 2 yrs old. There is an ICU and a Cardiology unit there. As a matter of fact, there was a cardiologist in the operating room as part of the surgical team during my surgery and the Anesthesiologist which is great was trained some here in the states.
Recovery is 2 nights in hospital and 2 nights in Marriott where you have full access to any doctor or coordinator at the hospital, I was told 24/7. When I left I received cell and email of everyone I had been seen by....nice to know they are not trying to perform surgery and just let you go.
Here is an article I found actually AFTER I got home, but I thought it was great and it feels good to know that Mi Doctor hosptial is really state of the art. This was just written last month,
http://www.equities.com/news/news-headline-story?dt=2012-07-03&val=237043&d=1&cat=headline
I would assume that all is the same, since using the same hospital and hotel just different surgeon. I paid $4,700 (special for Aug) plus $550 for airfare for my husband and I and this does include the stay at the Marriott all 3 nights. Hope this helps!

I decided that if I was going to do this I had to change my eating habits. If you lurk around this site for very long you will see what successful ppl are doing to lose the weight and maintain it. It just goes to show that VSG is a TOOL. You have to make that commitment or your sleeve will fail (or really you/we fail our sleeve). If you know eating one cookie would be the beginning of a backslide for you then you have to realize you can never have any sweets (which are bad for you anyways). My sister had the sleeve over 2 yrs ago and has only lost 55 lbs. she should have lost more, but she could not give up sweet tea. she thinks because she had to give up soft drinks that sweet tea is okay. she uses it as comfort. Isn't that why some of us have WLS because we have gained weight from letting food comfort us? I know that is part of my problem. I have to find other coping mechanisms. This journey will not be easy but it will be worth it. Being obese shaves 9 yrs off your life if u r a female. that statistic got my attention when I began looking into surgery. So, maybe have a come to Jesus meeting with yourself and decide if you are willing to make that commitment.
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Hello fellow believing sleevers. I am just wondering if this forum is still active and if not let's get it going again.
I am 8 days post op....had my surgery in Mexico, took a giant leap of faith by going there and let God guide me through the journey. I was scared to death, but I let God be my Pilot and he delivered me back home safe and sound. I couldn't have done this without Him. The decision to have surgery was one that required so much prayer and then to decide to do it in Mexico was something I really had to pray about.
Today I am reading Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"
Hope everyone has a blessed day.
Girlfriday (Alabama)

I spiced my chicken broth up with garlic powder & Mrs. Dash...

Miso soup from a local Japaneese place- strain it... its a nice change of pace. I lived on Campbells vegetable beef soup the first two weeks- just strained it and gave the veggies/beef to BF. Also try beef consume or french onion soup strained.... super good change of pace.
I dont know if I would worry too much about carbs/sodium now.... the first two weeks are all about keeping hydrated and sticking to the clears/liquids.
Im 3 months out and still cant stand the thought of having chicken soup or beef broth. I had enough broth for my whole damn life!

As far as pre op, just hang in there. Pre op was rough and traveling across the country didn't make it easy either. Once you are post op......all I can say is WALK, WALK, WALK to help ease the gas pain. I was up and walking 2 hours after surgery and I walked every 30 minutes. Once you are allowed to have Clear liquids, just SIP. It will be easier to take bigger sips a few days out, but continue to SIP. Get your fluids in. The main thing for me, is I have not just lied around. I was shopping in the tourist district 3 days post op in Tijuana, lol. Nothing strenuous, just a good opportunity to keep moving. Now, at 8 days, if I start having discomfort I just get up and walk. Good luck!

Hello fellow believing sleevers. I am just wondering if this forum is still active and if not let's get it going again.
I am 8 days post op....had my surgery in Mexico, took a giant leap of faith by going there and let God guide me through the journey. I was scared to death, but I let God be my Pilot and he delivered me back home safe and sound. I couldn't have done this without Him. The decision to have surgery was one that required so much prayer and then to decide to do it in Mexico was something I really had to pray about.
Today I am reading Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer"
Hope everyone has a blessed day.
Girlfriday (Alabama)

I don't exactly remember but I was back to small gulps last week at 4 weeks postop so I know it doesn't last long. I hope it gets better for you soon.

I love this site! I get all my questions answered and you all have never steered me wrong. My top 5:
#5 milk of magnesia is the nectar of the gods! That stuff works like nothing else. And with no discomfort.
#4. Stalls happen. Deal with it. The weight will come off. It has no choice. I can't maintain all this fat on my current caloric intake.
#3. Plan your meals ahead of time. If you dont know what you are going to eat, you are more likely to make poor choices.
#2. Never trust a fart! That is one I just took everyone's word for. I have no desire to learn that on my own. I trust you all!
#1. If I think it or have a question about it, put it on the board. Someone out there has experienced it before and knows what to do!
What have you learned?

No turning back! Will be Mexico bound very soon. Please say a prayer for my sleeve sister Faganberry as there has been a problem with her flight. Pray she can catch another one today!