Jesser

Jesser, most of the surgeons speak excellent English. In my case, the coordinator at the hospital, the anesthesiologist, and his assistant all spoke excellent English. I believe there is one surgeon in TJ who speaks limited English. I'm sorry I can't remember his name, but I'm sure someone else will know the name.
I work with physicians for a living and spoke to a couple this morning who told me they pay alot more to go through the hundreds of hours of credentialing, testing, and internship than they do to have the FACS behind their name. You don't just walk in and pay for the title, you have to earn it and continue the studies and tests to keep it.

Members of the American College of Surgeons are referred to as "Fellows." The letters FACS (Fellow, American College of Surgeons) after a surgeon's name mean that the surgeon's education and training, professional qualifications, surgical competence, and ethical conduct have passed a rigorous evaluation, and have been found to be consistent with the high standards established and demanded by the College.

I finaly did it! Im booked for surgery with Dr Lopez on Oct 20/12. Husband coming too, gonna spend a couple extra days just to make sure everythings good. from Canada so little nervous and excited. anybody been to Puerto Vallarta and want to share their experience would be great.

I'm still researching doctors... I get so confused! Lol I've heard good things about Dr. Ortiz, but I may go with someone a little cheaper. I know their are just as good surgeons that don't charge quite that much, but he's in a center of excellence.

No ma'am. I don't have insurance. My company offers it, but the deductible is insane, that's why I never enrolled in it. The deductible would be $5,000, so I'm just gonna self pay and go to Mexico! Lol

No ma'am. I don't have insurance. My company offers it, but the deductible is insane, that's why I never enrolled in it. The deductible would be $5,000, so I'm just gonna self pay and go to Mexico! Lol

Went and tried on clothes today for my new job, and there's nothing more depressing than that!!! I can't wait to get this surgery!!!!!

And for me, it was a very scary thought at first to go over to Mexico. I guess because of the unknown and a lot of people putting doubt in my head. This forum has helped me a lot in making my decision! I can't wait until I can save up the money to get it done!

Oh and just another tidbit of info I was previously scheduled to get the lap band for a whopping 15000 dollars in Baltimore. I am so glad I went the route i did instead. Whatever will I do with the saved money? (boob lift, tummy tuck)

Congrats! I can only imagine how excited you must be right now! What made you decide to go with Dr. Ponce? I'm still researching doctors. A lot of people go with Dr. Kelly, Almanza or Aceves from what I can see around the forum.

And for me, it was a very scary thought at first to go over to Mexico. I guess because of the unknown and a lot of people putting doubt in my head. This forum has helped me a lot in making my decision! I can't wait until I can save up the money to get it done!

Wow! I can totally relate. I had the same exact feelings that you have with food. I was so scared to part with food. I mean it was always there when I needed it in the good times and the bad. I could go on and on. It was my best friend! I knew I wanted to get healthy but i didn't know if I could emotionally handle not having the food whenever and wherever I wanted it. I lost a lot of sleep over it.
I had my surgery in Mexico 6/27/12. From the start things moved very quickly. Since you don't have to jump through all the hoops that people w/ insurance do. So when I started the process it only took 2 weeks to have my surgery and that was because I had to do the pre-op diet to shrink my liver. The closer the surgery got the more nervous I got. There was no turning back.
Here I am 6 weeks out. I am so happy that I didn't let my so called "best friend" keep me from making one of the best decisions I've ever made.

And for me, it was a very scary thought at first to go over to Mexico. I guess because of the unknown and a lot of people putting doubt in my head. This forum has helped me a lot in making my decision! I can't wait until I can save up the money to get it done!

I agree with rdoactv. My surgeon (and most of the surgeons from Mexico) have done more sleeves than the top 4 physicians in my area combined. It would be $23000 to have it here compared to $8750 with a surgeon with more experince.

Can you imagine with the technology what WLS will be like in 20 years from now? Lol that's crazy.

I'm just wondering about how much each doctor charges for the surgery? I've gotten a few quotes, but would like to hear what others have paid. Thanks!

I haven't been quoted anything lower than $4,500 to be honest. Please do extensive research on all the doctors that you're considering. Don't go to the one with the best deal. At first that's what I was going to do but realize after reading several posts that I do not want to take the cheap route. Lol I mean, there are other good doctors that are reasonable too.

I was doing some research on Jerusalem hospital through one of their websites and I found out and they do admit that they are in a "strip shopping mall" I asked that in case of an emergency where would they take me sinceTHEY ARE NOT A HOSPITAL and they said that:because there is a Mexican Red Cross Hospital they would take me there. Isn't that nice ??? BEWARE OF THIS PLACE !!

I am having surgery aug. 28th with dr almanza at hospital jerusalem. it's not fancy, but I know people who have went to him and have good reviews, however, if I were doing it again and just getting started on choosing a surgeon I would go with dr otiz and OCC. The facilities are nicer, but the price is higher of course. I decided to go ahead with dr almanza but I would recommend occ...

I get mad at myself when I think about how I actually let myself get to this point. For most of my teenage years I weighed roughly around 150. I wasn't thin, but definitely not fat at all- even though back then I thought I was the fattest thing ever! I remember when I got out of high school, left my abusive high school sweetheart and moved across the country. I started going out just about every night, drinking all kinds of high calorie drinks and eating late at night. I packed on about 80 pounds in a year. I think that maybe I had post traumatic stress syndrome or something and that's how I was dealing with it. Now that I've gained the weight, I've tried and tried to get it off. I will lose at the most 30 pounds and I regain it back. I know that I can't do this on my own any longer. It's been ten years now and The scale goes up not down. I thought about looking into WLS years ago, but knew that I couldn't afford it. Someone just recently told me about going to Mexico for a fraction of the cost! That's what I intend on doing. I just have to save up and then I'm going! I'm scared out of my mind, but this has to be done.

I hope that I can find someone like that someday. They are hard to find that's for sure!

In Mexico they were running July and August sales. It was $1000.00 savings for me:)

I'm 5 days out of surgery with Dr. Aceves in Mexicali at Almater hospital, I had a great experience I would do it again in a heart beat and for those worried about having surgery in MEXICO I was so excited to find out Almater is on blue shields preferred provider list. As well as Zurich and MetLife and Allianz. I thought I would share this info. Any dr you choose is personal preference and I know many in Tijuana have great success also.

Thank you so much for your support! I'm a single Mother and I'm gonna have to save up for this all on my own. A few people have made remarks like, "don't you think all that money could be used on your son?" but what they don't understand is that I am doing this for my son, not only myself... I'm not doing it for some vain reason because I want to "look hot" or whatever. I want to be healthy and be around as long as possible for him