julielle

I had surgery in Mexico, though I did not use her surgeon. My experience in no way was similar to her experience. I know the OP says she spoke to a lot of people and they all had the same experience as her, but my experience has been the opposite. First of all, colored pee wouldn't have even fazed me, considering that my Multivitamins color my pee too (because of the Vitamin B I believe?) so I'm not surprised that a blue dye would color your pee green. I did not use her coordinator so while her experience with her coordinator does sound bad, mine was not like that. The naked on the OR table does not seem to be an issue at the hospital I went to. Diarrhea is a common effect from surgery so that didn't bother me either, I had diarrhea after giving birth vaginally AND a c-section, so it's just how the body reacts to things like this. So none of this made me run the other way, because I did do my research before going. I didn't just have a kneejerk reaction that "OMG Mexico = bad!" like you seemed to have. We did our research, so that's why it's strange that someone who admittedly did NO research is coming here to tell people that they shouldn't have surgery in Mexico.

And even white ones, hispanic ones, asian ones...

It's fine if you want to be misinformed and appear ignorant here, that's your right I guess. But you obviously know nothing about the medical tourism in Mexico. I don't think you probably want to know about it either since I believe you're just here to stir the pot and troll, but surgeons in Mexico have been doing these procedures longer than most surgeons in the US, they have great outcomes, the hospitals are clean (as clean as in the US), some of the surgeons are even members of American surgical associations, so there you go.

I was wearing a robe, which opens up in the back. I'm not sure how they did the surgery, but I'm assuming they either lift the robe up over to your boobs (thereby leaving you naked from the neck down) or they untie it from the back and still have to move it to clear the area, still pretty much leaving you naked. Not sure how else they could do it? Were you guys wearing panties? I wasn't. I was having my period but I wore a tampon (surgeon request, and my preference!). I was only wearing socks. Ooooh socks. Seee? NOT NAKED!

SailorBrees I'm honestly surprised that that's your take on this forum. I mean I don't read all the threads, so I'm sure there are some out there wondering if pizza in a blender counts as a puree, or complaining about slow weight loss 10 days post surgery. But most threads I read are people supporting people and positive threads at that. There are threads with scared people and people reassuring them that it'll be OK. Maybe try some different threads

You're right, I was just saying that from what you wrote, *I* found your experience with your coordinator horrible. I am not sure what it was about not being able to ever reach them and only seeing them once the whole time you were there that made them so great as to recommend them, but again everyone has different standards, this would just not have been up to mine. And then again, some of the things that you listed on your first post are things that wouldn't have bothered me at all, I guess we all have our things that bother us more or less.

I don't get that. From your description in the first post your coordinator was horrible. And yet you say that you highly recommend them. Was the first post then just more from a venting standpoint and not actually as bad as it sounded? Because to me, a coordinator that was not reachable, had a full voice mail, didn't contact me but once the whole time I was there, would hardly get a glowing recommendation. I guess it depends on everyone's standards, a coordinator like that would have left ME quite disappointed.

I had a wash cloth and a towel at my hospital in Tijuana, so it's not a Mexico thing

They didn't close my drain hole, they said it would close on it's own. No steristrips or anything on it. I put a bandaid on it for a few days because I didn't want to get blood on my clothes, it took about 5 days for the hole to completely close on it's own. It's my smallest scar now, it's not nearly as raised as the others.

And re: the naked thing, the only reason it would bother me is that if you could look in on naked people on the operating table, I would wonder at how sterile that environment is. The naked thing itself wouldn't bother me, my modesty seems to have completely gone after two births. I remember with my last birth, I was hot so I tore off all my clothes, I was laying on the bed sweating, the door to my room open to the busy hallway, people walking by... I did not CARE. It was a teaching hospital so at one time I had 15 students in my room all looking to take a look at my cervix, and I did not CARE I didn't have any line of sight to the OR at my hospital, I do wonder how the OR is set up at Mi Doctor then.

I live in Montreal, where our health care is covered so money is not an issue. We also have very good hospitals here, and I've had the luck (hah) to experience several of them. The care I received in Mexico was superior to the care I received in Canada. In Montreal the nurses were busy busy busy. In Mexico, it never took long to get the attention of a nurse. It was a small hospital, but it was clean, and it was well run. I never had to wait for anything. In Montreal, waiting is just a fact of life. Plus the surgeons in Mexico have more experience doing the sleeve than most surgeons. So no, I do not regret my choice of surgeon or the fact that I went to Mexico one bit. I had a great experience and I'm planning on going back to Mexico for plastics down the road, THAT's how much I believe in the level of care they provide there. People don't choose to do go there because they're too poor or don't have insurance. People choose to go there because they are excellent surgeons with excellent track records. And they don't make you jump through a million hoops to get there.

There were a few ants in my bathroom at INT hospital Other than that it was clean though, there was a window in the bathroom so I think that's probably where they were coming in. Thankfully I never had to deal with unhelpful nurses, that would suck. I would push the little button and they'd be there in 20 seconds.

The drain didn't hurt me, though it didn't feel pleasant coming out.

Does Dr Ponce use any other coordinator?

Hmmm, I don't remember. Several days I think. I think I took immodium before getting on the plane, I had looked it up and it was on the list of safe meds so I figured I'd save myself the issues with bathroom on the airplane. I stopped taking it once I was home though because I figured that stuff needs to come out right! After the diarrhea came constipation though, and that's definitely no better. Stool softeners my friends, stool softeners! Don't let it creep up on you because believe me, it is not fun to have to insert a glycerine suppository up in there.

Hmmm suddenly I'm craving sausage.

I was self pay in Mexico so I'm not sure about in the US, but with my surgeon if I wanted to have surgery 5 days after I called it would have been possible, the amount of time it took me was not due to the surgeon being unable to schedule me, but due to me needing to book at least 3 weeks out to get a decent airfare.

My sharts started when I got to the hotel room after my 2 nights in the hospital, so there's still time yet for you! Sharts = fun on airplanes!

This is probably different with every surgeon. All of your issues weren't issues for me. I was with Dr Ponce de Leon, and I never had to wait for anything. I mean sure at 3 am if I had a question that needed a doctor to answer, it took 30-45 minutes for an answer. But the nurses were always there, I was checked in quickly, I knew exactly where I was surgery wise (I had mine in the morning as they told me I would). My coordinator (Trish) was there every day. And again when she offered to take me shopping she gave me plenty of notice so that wasn't an issue. There was no line of sight to the OR table from the hallway or from the recovery room, so the OR (at INT hospital) was completely private. And I don't recall peeing bright green for days so either it didn't freak me out or it didn't happen to me. I did get diarrhea but I totally expected that, it happened after my C-section as well.

Good luck Amy

I've only ever had VSG and a C-section, I didn't find either surgery particularly painful. The gas pain of the VSG was worse than the incisions for sure and those went away fairly quickly (though at the time it certainly didn't feel quick). I'll need a lower body lift, thighs, arms and breasts done in the future probably, not looking forward to it. Probably an upper body lift too, bleh.

I had surgery on November 8th with him and he's awesome. He does not speak english well but he always has another doctor with him that does, so the other doctor translates. It really wasn't a problem. Trish will give you a list of spanish phrases too for things like "I have pain" etc, some of the nurses did not speak english but again it wasn't a problem, they just gestured that they wanted to change my bandage or change my IV bag and it was easy to understand Some of the nurses there were really awesome! I had a great experience, and the recovery was easy for me.

You can check out seatguru.com to find out if your row has outlets/personal entertainment thingies in the backs of the seat or stuff like that. Some do and some don't. If it's a small tiny plane chances are it won't. Usually when they have the seat back entertainment they also have outlets, sometimes they have outlets with no entertainment thing. Usually in the airports you can find charging stations to charge your phone too so you can plop down beside one during your layover if your flight doesn't have one. Oh and you do need to call your airline and let them know you require wheelchair assistance, they probably won't have someone waiting for you at San Diego (you'll have to ask them since they have no idea at what time you'll arrive) but they WILL have someone waiting for you at your connecting flight.

I would consider the Mi Doctor a hospital for the purposes we need it for. I was at INT hospital which I'm sure is similar, they are small hospitals, much smaller than we're used to in Canada or the US. But it wasn't what I would call a clinic by OUR definitions either. Doctors on staff 24 hours, operating rooms, ICU, INT even took ambulances. I chose Dr Ponce de Leon but I would have been comfortable with Garcia or the other surgeons at Mi Doctor, the tipping point for me was just Trish (Dr Ponce's coordinator), but since I went with my husband it wasn't even that needed. If I went alone the choice of a coordinator would probably have been a bigger deal to me. In the end, I think you have a lot of choices between a clinic and double the price, there are dozens of good surgeons that fall between, but I think if you're truly talking about Mi Doctor I personally wouldn't toss it aside as just being a clinic.

I'm sure I could eat a cup of oatmeal if I tried, anything carby just doesn't fill me, it goes right through and doesn't stay in the stomach so I can eat more of it. I suggest keep trying the Protein Shakes, there are so many out there that you're bound to find one that you tolerate. I tried a lot and they would trigger my gag reflex, but I find that the ready to drink Premier Protein drinks (from Costco) taste fine to me. Like a slightly thicker chocolate milk. Not too sweet. And it's 30g of Protein. This week I've been drinking 2 a day, and right there that's 60g of protein for 320 cals. With a sensible supper I can end up with 70-80 grams of protein for 500ish calories.