Sandy Johnson

You are close! It's jrkelly45@hotmail.com

Actually Dr. Alvarez is the most experience VSG doctor in Mexico. He has performed many, many sleeves and has conducted studies and written papers. Plus, he literally wrote the book on the VSG… http://www.thegastricsleeve.com/order-your-book.htm Good reading for anyone thinking abou this surgery.

The border re-opened today and is fully functional!

Just want to pass this information along. A section of scaffolding on the U.S. side of the border at San Ysidro and Tijuana collapsed today. The border moving north, from Tijuana to San Ysidro is closed. The section going south, from San Ysidro to Tijuana is still open. In order to go to the U.S. from Tijuana you have to use the Otay border. I just thought I would pass this on in the event that you will be leaving TJ soon or perhaps you might be waiting to hear from someone when they arrive back into the U.S. If you have a flight out from San Diego, you will want to allow a LOT of extra time to cross the border!

I received a couple of phone calls regarding this post so I thought I would come here and hopefully clear up any questions. Dr. Kelly has contracted with Bravo Development Group, LLC (a California Company), DBA: aLighterMe.com to assist him. We handle all of Dr. Kelly’s sales, marketing and advertising. We are what I guess you would say the Patient Coordinating Management Company for his practice. All of Dr. Kelly’s patients are now processed through aLighterMe. It is my understanding that Trish’s new website will soon be operational and Christi Bearden has a website called Successfully Slimmer. All of these coordinators now work through aLighterMe which will handle each client’s paperwork, payment, transportation, hotel and other administration and logistics. So no matter if you go directly to aLighterMe or to Trish or Christi, you will receive the same superior service. Ricardo now handles all transportation and Dr. Romero is our new aftercare specialist! He helps patients with any questions or any help they may need with their diet and eating habits post-surgery. All of these changes will allow Dr. Kelly to do what he does best. Dr. Kelly will concentrate on performing surgeries and giving each and all of his patients the very best care possible and a superior surgery experience. This will also allow Dr. Kelly to be more available to his patients. We are all very excited about the changes and we all believe this will allow a smoother flow and assure that each patient gets the very best care. This is what Dr. Kelly feels is paramount in his practice. I hope this clears things up. Sincerely, Sandy Johnston

I’ve received some calls regarding this issue. Hopefully this should clear up the confusion. Trish is Dr. Kelly’s patient advocate and takes care of all the patients when they arrive. I am a patient coordinator. Along with advertising and marketing of websites, I am also Dr. Kelly’s coordinator that answers his company phone. So if you call his office from his website, you’ll get me. Everyone is be cared for by Trish once they have arrived, so you don’t need to worry about going to Trish directly to book your surgery as you will always end up with her. As a matter of fact, you may find that Trish is so busy taking care of the patients that are in Tijuana, she may be very hard to reach. This also takes time away from the patients that are there having surgery. Trish used to be Dr. Kelly’s only coordinator and I’m sure that’s what has caused the confusion. But Dr. Kelly’s practice has grown. It has been said that some have expected Trish to know when their upcoming surgery is and/or if they have changed their date. Trish does not have that information in advance. She usually doesn’t know when a patient is coming until a couple of days before they arrive. So please don’t expect her to have your information or assume that she should have it weeks in advance, because she won’t. I and the women in Dr. Kelly’ office handle his calendar. As previously stated, Trish is very busy with patients and taking care of things in Tijuana. I hope this clears things up. Please call me with questions and I will be happy to help.

Yes! Dr. Kelly is wonderful! It's nice to hear that you had such a good experience! Surgery is scary and not fun! I'm so happy to hear that you were made confortable. Congratulations on having surgery! Dr. Kelly's team including Trish and Ricardo are great too! Keep us posted on your weight loss and congratulations!

Thanks for the replies. I do have about 20 - 30 more lbs I would like to lose. I was at my goal but got to goal in a bad way. I lost my last 30 lbs by vomiting constantly. I needed a surgery on my esophagus to remove excess scar tissue from the band that was on my esophagus. My first surgeon placed my band ON my esophagus and after almost 9 years, I'm still paying for that! It was discovered when my band was removed and my revision was done. Any who, I couldn't keep anything down. Since my surgery to fix my esophagus, I've been able to eat and I've gained about 20 lbs. The surgeon that did my esophagus surgery told me that I was very malnourished and that I would probably gain weight after the surgery and would hopefully lose it later. Well, I'm still fighting with that! I'm sure you're right in that I am better off than if I had all that extra weight and I need to look at the bright side. I am already on 2 medications for the high blood pressure, but not yet on anything for the diabetes. My doc is having me watch my blood sugars. I'm sure the next time I see her she will put me on something because my sugars have been running higher. I'm just bummed out about it! I'm on meds for thyroid, high blood pressure and now diabetes? I will rattle when I walk!!

I wasn't sure where to post this and hope this is the right place. I'm pretty upset right now. After having WLS and losing 154 lbs I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and now diabetes! My doctor always harped on me about my weight and blamed my weight for just about everything. Lose weight and this or that will get better. So now I asked her why after having WLS and losing such a large amount of weight, I get high blood pressure and diabetes! Her answer to me was, "We don't have a surgery to keep you from getting old!". Gee, thanks a lot! I do have both high blood pressure and diabetes in my family so I guess it doesn't come as such a big surprise. I guess that it could have been much worse had I not lost the weight. Maybe I would have been diagnosed sooner and/or it could have been much worse. I guess I better do better with exercising and really watch my diet closely. I'm just a little upset by it! I was hoping I would avoid these issues! Anybody else have this happen?

I just thought I would point out that on this board in the large thread there are 2 posters reporting infections. I wanted to point out how to show how much something can be blown out of proportion when the above poster mentions "reading about all the complications"! All those pages and posts and only 2 people reporting their actual experience. Sure makes it look like a lot more...doesn't it? When considering the number of surgeries done at by that doctor at that facility, that is to be expected from time to time. It's unfortunate how some use this scare tactic to encourage others to "go with their doc" for the referral fee. And before anyone accuses me of calling anyone a fake, I'm not talking about the posters; I'm talking about those posing as happy patients and all the PM's going on behind the scenes! I wish you a safe and successful surgery no matter who your surgeon is!!!

It is discussed ONLY by the same people discussing it here! Look carefully. It may appear that there are postings by "many" people. Actually there are many postings by the same people! I know your surgeon. He has a very good reputation, but he, like all the rest of the bariatric surgeons, have had complications too!

OMG! I'm so sorry to hear this! I hate it when insurance companies resort to a play on words, like in this case, to deny a claim! It's just NOT fair! Hang in there jsm, it WILL happen for you!

Keep the faith! Just want to point out that it's a good sign that your doctor is supportive. Hopefully he will go to bat for you and do a peer to peer for you! Keeping my fingers crossed!

JSM, Your appeal date may not be out the window! Try to appeal the decision NOW! Write a letter and send it overnight mail (with a return receipt) stating your reasons. Quote their own statement of "performed either as a stand-alone restrictive procedure, OR as a first stage procedure of a planned biliopancreatic bypass with duodenal switch for patients with a BMI exceeding 50" It is possible to get a decision within a few days. Mention in your letter that you have a surgery date scheduled. It's worth a try!

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