Mi-Mi

actually, just to clarify, i said they don't do as MANY preventions for blood clots. the surgeon i'm currently working with has me starting flotx (sp?) (blood thinner) on the 12th and surgery is scheduled on the 19th. he didn't prescribe lovenox (sp?) but said it's a possibility, we'll have to wait and see. i don't know WHY i'm so worried about blood clots, i've never had that problem with any other surgery. i guess i'm just a worry wart because this surgery IS elective and i want to make sure i cover all bases. but dr. aceves does sound wonderful and i can't find ANYthing on the net that suggests anything to the contrary. i'm a cynic though, so if something sounds too good to be true, in my mind, it probably is. let's think about this.... he's done about 1000 VSG surgeries according to the coordinator i spoke to, only 1 death and that was from bowel complications for a bypass patient, no leaks from VSG, and a hospital that is apparently equipped with the most state of the art equipment and staffed with the best nurses you can find. and all this for.... just under $9000, which is supposedly ALL inclusive, from pre-op tests to surgery time, to hospital stay, to meds, to your own personal transportation to and from the airport. hmmmmm..... i know it sounds like i'm criticizing but i'm really not. i just think it's odd that you can't find ANY negative feedback about dr. aceves. it makes me wonder if he tells his patients to come back and flood the net with good reviews! haha! but all kidding aside... i will keep researching. by monday if i can't find anything negative or anything that tells me he's too good to be true... i think i'm going with doc aceves and almater hospital. and i do wish ALL of you the best of luck! maybe i'll see you there, who knows!!!

thank you SO MUCH! i just got off the phone with Monica from Dr. Aceves' office and she was wonderful... although a bit chatty :biggrin0: haha! i've filled out the form and sent it. i am seriously considering going there, even though i KNOW my family will not be happy about that. but it's my body, not theirs and they'll just have to trust that i'm smart enough to make good decisions for myself, i guess. my only big concern was, it doesn't seem as though they take as many precautions against blood clots, from what i could tell by the conversation i had with her. no foltx before, and no levanox afterwards. they even said they ask you to stop taking aspirin if you're on it. also, h.pylori is no big deal? since when? i mean, i've had a test for h.pylori and the surgeon i'm currently scheduled for surgery with didn't TELL me i have it, so i assume that i don't.... but just an example of the kinds of things that are considered serious here but not there. anyone have any insight on this? i know this probably isn't the right forum but it does seem like a good place to find ppl who are having or have had surgery in Mexico with aceves.

.... sorry i accidentally cut that last post short. what i was gonna ask is WHY the surgery is cheaper there. and last... steve-o... weiss has actually done about 70 sleeves now. still no personal deaths. and if i remember correctly, no leaks either. yay! we're in excellent hands, i truly believe that. oh yeah! almost forgot! surgery date is set for JULY 19TH! woo woo!

anitalou, i agree with steve-o, i think weiss is probably one of the best around. of course i'm sure st. joe's will be great too. i too attended a seminar at g'town years ago, so i just sort of followed weiss when i finally decided to do this and he practices at bluegrass bariatrics out of central baptist. possum... i know it's a nosy question but i'm also a self-pay patient, so how much cheaper IS surgery in las vegas? and WHY

oh dear... i'm afraid i can't read this thread anymore.... as if i didn't ALREADY have enough foods to mourn, now i'm getting more ideas about the things i want to eat before i have the surgery!!! there's just no time, i say! haha!

wow... sometimes the most simple statements make the biggest impression. this is so true.

i'd say that's some very good advice... puts it all into perspective!

hey get this... went for my consult today... put on a TWO WEEK liquid diet!! oh... this is going to be BAD!!! *sigh*

LOL!!! "norgs"

i need to check some out also. my surgeon consult went well today... they didn't even smack my hand for not losing weight! but because my BMI is higher than 50, they want me on a (mostly) liquid diet for 2 weeks before my surgery... which is the 19th of july by the way! that is, unless something falls through financially, which i don't look to happen. i'm thinking, though, that because i've recently come to terms with the fact that i have some sort of emotional attachment to food, i will eventually need to attend some support groups. maybe i'll see you there. ps... am i supposed to be more nervous than excited like this? am i supposed to be second-guessing myself this far along?

i am panicing as well. as i've said in other posts i am failing miserably at losing any weight before my surgeon consult tomorrow. i am second guessing myself. i am obsessing over the foods i so love. i don't think i ever realized what an attachment i have to food. psychologically i can't tell you what that attachment is... but i can equate it to the feelings i will have when my favorite dog dies. i'm sitting here waiting... waiting for my 8 year old dog to die.... and waiting for the food that i've spent 29 years with to just disappear. is that weird? i think i can answer my own question and say that yes... yes it's very weird. and very VERY real. i cannot imagine myself sitting around eating Jello (which i despise) while my friends and my hubs sit around the table enjoying roast... potatoes... mac and cheese.... baked Beans.... garlic bread.... corn casserole.... *sigh* this is torture. am i ready for this? i HAVE to be! but i'm scared. and all of this i'm going through very very quietly, except for on this forum. everyone knows i'm having surgery. nobody knows (until now) that i'm secretly mourning my food. i mean, i joke about it... but i haven't expressed the serious panic that i'm feeling. i wonder why? i might do that, starting now.

you really tug at my heart strings girl!

*sigh* oh lawsy, ribs sounds good! haha! i have not stopped drinking pop. i have not stopped eating carbs. i have not increased my Water intake. i am failing miserably.... and my surgeon consult is tomorrow. i'm nervous but since i'm self pay and there's no pesky insurance to deal with, i'm on my OWN schedule. it can get postponed so that i can get this under control if need be. so be it. i AM going to do this! i chose bluegrass bariatrics with weiss, oldham and denk. for some reason i'm drawn to weiss as a surgeon. he was practicing at georgetown bariatrics the first time i considered WLS a few years ago so i guess i've just sort of followed him. and the other 2 seem wonderful as well, which is good because at that practice they always have 2 surgeons present for every procedure. that's comforting to me. they are located in central baptist... which i'm sure you know is a wonderful hospital. good luck in your decision! if you have any questions, just ask. i'm an open book. but i will tell you that i have not been a model patient!

well, i have to say that i've been very open about my weight loss "journey" even going so far as to talk about it (as well as my fertility "journey") on my FB page. i am not naive and i KNOW there are some who, even though they may not say it out loud, are talking behind my back about A.) how my decision is stupid and that i could lose the weight naturally if i REALLY wanted to, and B.) why i make such personal information so public. there are several explanations i could give to both of those questions... but the main reason is this: because i don't give a flying fart at this point what everyone else thinks and i've made it clear that if they don't want to be part of my support group then they can at least do the courtesy of keeping their mouths shut. i have only received 1 negative feedback, and that was from 1 of my very closest friends, and was only out of concern. i thanked her for it, told her that yes the sleeve is less common... not because it is more dangerous or less successful but because fewer insurance companies will pay for it because it is still considered new. then i asked her for encouragement and good vibes. she obliged. and i love her for the way she's supported me throughout my life. i understand the benefit of keeping it quiet, and sometimes i wish i had done that. but it's out there now. and what if i happen to help someone who may not be as willing to talk about these things? there are too many people, especially women, who are so ashamed to be fat and infertile that they can hardly bring even themselves to face it... much less talk to anyone else about it so that they can find the support they desperately need! another way to look at it is this....eventually these people are going to see me and my weight loss anyway. am i going to tell them that i'm just watching what i eat? nope. i'm going to PROUDLY tell them i had bariatric surgery and it's the best thing i've ever done for myself and my husband and our future family! it's just not my style to hide behind secrets. why should i be ashamed of making a decision to be more healthy, end my battle with fertility (cross my fingers) and ultimately prolong my life? now, i'm not criticizing anyone who has made the choice to surround themselves with a very small support group and not tell God and everybody what they're going through. remember, i did say i do understand why some make this choice. but this is just me and my thought process. i hope it makes someone feel better.

i am VERY nervous about my pre-op diet. i go for my surgeon's consult tomorrow and i'm not sure that i have lost a pound even...in fact, i'm afraid they will delay the setting of my surgery date because of it. and i know they are going to fuss at me but if i could do this on my own, i wouldn't need this surgery. excuses, excuses, right? that's how i got this way in the first place i guess. but i know how you feel because i had to do a liquid diet the day before i had my EGD to check for a hiatal hernia and i couldn't believe how hungry and irritable i was! i don't know if i'm going to make it through this process either. so i feel your pain.

aw thank you stevo-o! i'm confident in his abilities as well. they seem to have a super low complication rate overall there so that speaks for itself... in my opinion anyway. do you attend the support groups? congrats and good luck!

well i've been working with bluegrass bariatrics right here in lexington, KY... so i will be able to go home for my recovery after my night in the hospital. the surgeons who work there are weiss, oldham and denk. they always have 2 surgeons present in every procedure, but i feel best about weiss for some reason.. i don't know why. but i've heard so much about doc aceves that i just can't ignore it! he seems great and although i'm leary about going to Mexico for a surgery (as is my PCP), i can't dismiss the notion altogether, because it's much less expensive there and i'm a self-pay patient.

i hope you find some comfort and can start enjoying your new life soon! i think you would have pain with any kind of complicated surgery, whether it's WLS or another type. people get caught up in thinking about their skinny days ahead and forget that it's going to be a hard road to get there.... i know i'm definitely guilty of that. but this is a BIG DEAL! someone is going inside you and chopping off the largest portion of one of your major organs! but you WILL HEAL and it will all be worth it. i don't want you to start regretting your decision... i'm rooting for you... and everyone else on here! you can do this!

i'm also new to this forum, although i'm almost finished with my process and should be setting a date on the 6th. but i'm both curious and concerned about dr. aceves and the hospital he practices out of. the lower prices are tempting enough to keep me thinking about it though. any thoughts?

clarification.... what i meant to say in that 1st paragraph was "i decided that the people who said i could do it on my own if i really wanted to were right."

i researched bariatric surgery a few years ago and at the time the RNY and the band were the most popular procedures available. i wasn't comfortable with either of them. the thought of permanently rerouting my insides was something i just couldn't stomach (sorry that's a bad pun.) and the band... well.... i just couldn't imagine having a foreign object like that in my body for THE REST OF MY LIFE! at that the people who told me "you can do it yourself if you REALLY want to" were probably right. so i dropped the notion of surgery.... and here i am about 4 years and 60 pounds later. now i'm with a different husband and we've been trying to have a baby. i did 3 months of clomid just to see what would happen, and nothing. so i talked to hubs about weight loss surgery, as skeptical as i was the first time about the procedures that i knew of. he was super supportive so i started researching once again. i discovered the sleeve via the internet and it seemed so much less complicated and more natural (i know, i know natural isn't the best adjective here but just stay with me) than RNY and the sleeve. by the time i attended the initial educational seminar i knew that the sleeve was the option for me and i wasn't considering any other option at that time. having said that, i have been getting a few skeptical/negative comments about the sleeve procedure from people in my very large social circle. a few days ago i was so nervous about it that i actually started to 2nd guess my decision and wondered if the band might be a better way to go. but now i'm realizing that it's only because the sleeve isn't covered by as many insurance companies as the other procedures are. therefore, it's less common and we all know people are afraid of things they don't know much about. it was the same with the band way back when i first started to consider WLS. eventually the sleeve will be covered by more insurance companies and will become more common and just as widely accepted as the others. i know some will read my post and take it personally. anything i've said here wasn't meant to criticize anyone for their choice in procedure. it's only meant to explain my own decision process. after all... this IS the vertical sleeve talk website! :~) whatever anyone chooses, i do hope the best for them!

LOL at possumtrot.... honey i knew you were one of my kind before i ever looked at your location!

WOW! i'm kind of floored! well in my opinion you should probably look for a different surgeon.... there are many out there who are just as qualified and successful as yours who are also tolerable. and who knows? if you're truly doing what you're supposed to and you've gained the weight back, you may find out that your original surgery wasn't successful because of something the surgeon did or didn't do! so it's good to get a different opinion in that case too. so sorry this happened to you. sometimes i think doctors (especially those who practice in this capacity) should be required to take sensitivity training from time to time! as you can probably tell, i have not had wonderful experiences with the medical community either. one thing i might also suggest is that you don't do this quietly. as someone already said, this guy will move on to someone else... he is probably not hurting for money and won't miss yours (i know that's blunt but just stay with me on this.) a professional and straight forward letter to this doctor, the other surgeons in his practice, and to the office manager might be in order. i wouldn't be slanderous or show too many emotions or you might not be taken seriously. just state clearly what happened and conclude briefly how you felt about it and that because of this instance you will take your business elsewhere, and that you will also recommend the same to others who are considering bariatric surgery. i bet you will get some sort of reaction if you do that.

i've heard a LOT about doc aceves on the internet. so much that i've actually considered going to him... which is a big deal since i'm almost through my process. i'm self pay and the fact that the prices are better with doc aceves is tempting. problem is, i don't think i've ever seen where anyone has posted exactly HOW much cheaper his prices are... so i'm not even sure it's worth starting over. also something i've considered is the possible complications that could occur after i return home.... and also the aftercare visits. and last, i'm admittedly concerned (as is my PCP) that the hospital he practices out of AND he himself for that matter might not be subject to the same credential/sanitary standards as we are here in the U.S. and that's a little scary. as my PCP said, "things that wouldn't fly here might fly there." any thoughts?

ok, this is such a large site that maybe this question has been asked already... BUT... i'm fairly sure that VSG is the surgery i'm going to have. i'm scheduled for my surgeons consult on Tuesday (the 6th) and i'd like to know what questions are the most important for me to ask them? i already have a few good ones in mind, but i'm sure i'm overlooking something. so what were the most important things for you to know before your surgery? also, it would be helpful to know your opinion on what answers i should expect to those questions and what should send up red flags (other than the obvious things like high complication/death rates?) i kind of feel stupid for not already know these things, but this is the first time i'm having WLS, after all (and hoping it is only a once in a lifetime experience haha!) thanks in advance to everyone with anything helpful to offer! :001_wub: