julielle

I figured I'd do a little update. 3 months ago today I had VSG with Dr Ponce de Leon in Tijuana. I'm down 51 pounds since surgery day. Seriously best decision I've ever made. No regrets whatsoever. None. I was SO scared pre surgery. I knew that the odds were in my favor but it's hard not to go into a surgery without thinking "what if". I hardly slept the night before. But it went very well for me, I woke up in recovery a little uncomfortable but ready to start walking asap. There was pain, but not cry out loud pain. And even that was gone within 2 days. I remember sleeping a lot the first few weeks, but I will use any excuse for a nap The post op diet went well, I'm now on full solids and I can tolerate mostly anything. My body does let me know if I eat too fast or too much, it's not very pleasant. I've gotten the "slimies" a few times, blech. Food wise, a small quantity of protein fills me up quickly. Sometimes I can't eat an entire egg. A few bites of chicken and I'm full. I can pack in a lot of carbs though, they go through very easily so I have to stay away or carefully portion them out. Other than that, my energy is good, my back has stopped hurting me when I walk, I can now walk miles without pain, and I can stand in place without my lower back screaming at me. I'm sure my spine thanks me.

I didn't go to Dr Joya but I am Canadian (Montreal). I am 3 months post op now.

It took about a week or so before my weight started going down, I got home from Tijuana and I was at my pre-op weight for a while.

I aim for 70-80g of protein per day. I've read several VSG diet plans from different doctors and hospitals and this seems to be a good range for all of those plans. I've never seen a plan that recommended less than 60 though, always 60 as a minimum. I personally do 2X premier protein shakes (30g each, 160 cals = 60g protein for 320 cals) I also do an egg, ham and cheese omelette (small one) which is another 16g of protein. So that brings me to 76 grams of protein and 450 cals.

The quality of the care in Mexico is not subpar, they cater to international customers so the level of care is there. In many ways I found it superior to the level of care that I've experienced in Montreal area hospitals.

I felt like I had an elephant sitting on my chest for most of the first day or two. And the gas pain was a lot different than I thought it would be. I didn't feel it in my shoulder but I did feel it a lot in my neck and my lower back hurt a lot too. But it really does get exponentially better every day after, I promise!

Hmmm weird, they did with me! (When they were drawing blood and changing my incision dressings). Hope your surgery went smoothly and that you're walking the halls

I spent a month looking for that PDF and I gave up, every link I found was deleted.

Yes my surgeon gives his patients a video of their surgery. I didn't see my stomach after the surgery if that's what you're asking.

15k per year, and charging 5k+ to a credit card... that's going to take forever to pay off. I don't see how you *could* pay that off without a second job. I took the debt on because there's a lot I can cut from my budget to pay it off, I can cut cable tv, restaurants, cell phones and other luxuries, but what can you cut when you're already at the bare minimum? That would stress me out so much.

I haven't watched my surgery yet because I think I'd probably feel pain too Don't worry, it's really not a big deal.

You'll be fine, the Suprador was fine for the pain, tylenol would have been fine too. It's mostly discomfort when you're moving or trying to get comfortable in bed for a few days.

Me too, hope all is well!

I'm sure it depends on the surgeon, I had my period during surgery and with my surgeon it's no big deal, you just wear a tampon. So other than the inconvenience of having to change my tampon while wearing an IV in my err, tampon changing hand, it was fine. The pain drugs for the surgery kept my cramps at bay, so woo! I didn't have a catheter either.

I'm guessing since mid November. Zenoosh posted late October stating that she had 3 incisions and that they were going to start doing single incisions in a few weeks, so that would have put it around then.

Oh I get it, I have a 3 year old and a 6 year old too, I was scared that I might be one of the few who don't do well and get complications/die. I even went so far as to record goodbye videos for my children, what a ton of fun that was. In the end, my decision was just statistics. I am 35. My knees creak when I climb the stairs. I have no comorbidities but I was approaching 50 BMI. I couldn't keep up with my kids. I figured the chances of bad stuff happening to surgery was less than the chance of me developing diabetes etc during the rest of my life, needing joint replacements etc. So logically the surgery was the less dangerous course.

You can also check out Spanishpod101.com, I used their japanese site when I was attempting to learn japanese

It's like a 3 year waiting period here, no thanks!

I'm sure the cost of the hospital is a big part of it, and even within the same city there are more expensive hospitals and less expensive ones.

So I'm 2 months post op and some days I feel so normal that I forget that I've been sleeved. Case in point, last night. I spied some leftover chop suey in the fridge and I ate about 3 bites of it, but quickly. Didn't feel so well after that, it felt heavy in my chest. So since I'm so brilliant I decided to drink some water to help the food go down right. A few minutes later, I coughed, and all this beef flavored brown water came spurting out of my nose and mouth, my husband was quite revolted I'm pretty sure I'm never having sex again. Learn from my mistakes!

Oh I still have my receipt from Dr Ponce, you're right it was 5500$.

In October Dr Ponce's rate was 5000 under 50 BMI, 5500$ if you were over 50 BMI. He may have increased in January. Edit: Unless i'm crazy. I could have sworn I paid 5000$ but maybe it was 5500$. I just threw out the receipt for the cashier's cheque yestrday too!

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Bayside, the rooms were very comfortable, the price was good, the restaurant on site had a good tortilla soup broth (I had to ask them to strain it). Oh and free shuttle to the airport, it's only 1 mile from the airport so it's quick.

I don't need any follow up care for the first 3 months. My first follow up care per my WL surgeon was to get blood work done at 3 months. I'm 8 weeks post op now and still haven't seen any doctors since I left Mexico.