SerendipityHappens

Alhamdulillah! I was so worried about you stuck at the airport all by yourself. I'm so glad you got that all resolved and Insha'Allah this will be the ONLY excitement for the entire trip! Don't worry about a thing when it comes to your surgeons. They are AWESOME and will take such great care of you. I'm looking forward to your updates!

Unfortunately, that number is for Mexico Bariatric Center so I doubt they'll be much help. I don't have a number for Dr cabrera or Valenzuela.. just email addresses.

I sent you a PM. I called a driver for you. He said he can help you.. I don't know the cost but he is very professional guy. I tried all the numbers but I can't get through to anyone. I'll send you a PM with my phone number so I can get you more information OK.. Don't stress hon!

Well, I can only give my personal opinion based on my own experience but for ME, if I'm sneezing I take it as a sign that next time I should take one less bite.. Do I think I'm stretching my sleeve? No, a sleeve can't stretch very much and I believe the doctors who say that it takes some extreme behavior to stretch a sleeve... but I do feel that sneezing is a sign that I should have stopped a bite ago. Your mileage may vary!

My post op diet seemed to progress at around the same pace as what I "felt like I could handle" By six weeks I was eating complete albeit small meals with no foods disagreeing with the sleeve.

Well when the weight loss praise wears off there's always :"new haircolor praise", "face-lift praise", "awesome perky new boobies praise" and my personal favorite "ginormous new diamond engagement ring praise" Actually, I take that back.. I think "awesome perky new boobies praise" is going to be my favorite.. I'll return and let you know how it goes once I get some.

It's from a website put out by one of the coordinating companies. I'm not saying they aren't excellent doctors... They definitely ARE.. I used them and am very happy. They have good specialized bariatric training under Dr. Corvala, have done a lot of surgeries and the provided me with great care and are an excellent value for the money..... I'm just saying that the website is NOT an objective source.

The petites are only "petite" compared to the regular size.. How big are the regular ones?????OMG can you say HORSE PILL? I find the petites go down much better if I just swallow them whole rather than make them all jagged by cutting them.. They are also fine to crush so you can crush them into a powder and add to a drink... just crush them really well into a powder using a spice grinder and you can just add to a drink.. they have no real flavor. Alternately there are some powdered calcium supplements out there provided by some of the bariatric Vitamin companies that you can try. Bariatric Advantage also has the wafers you can get and they come in flavors like orange, berry or cinnamon. The chews taste yummy but they're expensive and might be adding more calories than you might like

YAY!!! So happy for you!

If I start sneezing I make a mental note to take one bite less next time.

Protein shakes count as liquids.

Doritos and all tortilla chips. I can't have any wheat (gluten is ok from other sources or from maltodextrin, but no actual wheat) so these are one of the few grain snacks I can have. Today I ate 1/2 of a single serve bag and used the chips to scoop my 1/2 cup cottage cheese. I can only have them when I'm not doing ultra low carb so I enjoy then when I can.. as long as I'm meeting my protein/calorie/nutrient goals, I'm ok with 70 calories worth of Doritos.... I don't save the other half of the bag however.. cuz I'm not to be trusted.. I measure out half of the bag and throw the other half out. Wasteful? yeah, but better that than eating them all!

You are not alone, not all Surgeons prescribe it. It's kind of like drains, oversewing the staple line and forbidding soda.. some people feel passionate about it and tend to believe that if THEIR surgeon does it then any surgeon who does not follow the same protocol is "wrong"

I too was thrilled to hear he had the surgery... It's so funny I was actually thinking he seemed like an excellent candidate one night as I was watching him taste the food.. When he just takes the bite and savors the taste and looks up in the air to focus on the flavor he looks like he's in another world. Someone who loves food that much and really can take the time to appreciate the flavors should REALLY do well with the sleeve! I know for me I'm even MORE focused on flavors now that I don't have to worry about eating massive quantities just to fill up my big ole belly. I hope he has great success!

I think the problem may be in the original wording of your post. When you said: So when you stated YOU WILL HAVE to have gallbladder surgery in a month or two AFTER surgery, it sounds pretty alarmist... Maybe you were referring to those who ALREADY have existing gallbladder problems? If so, then what you're saying might make sense but that's not how I understood your original post.

I would have told her that perhaps there is a reason she's not to give "off record" advice is that it is so incredibly rude and unwelcome.. and that you'll be sure to let your doctor know that nurses in the hospital are dispensing medical advice that conflicts with his course of treatment.

My highest BMI was 60 and I'm ALMOST down to a 40 BMI... Personally YES I would definitely get this done at a 40 BMI,... Even when my BMI was 40 in the past I was still yo-yo'ing up and down and eventually went all the way up to 360! Also, everyone has a different tolerance for their weight. At my current weight I can work on my feet all day, do an hour Zumba class and then 30 minutes on the elliptical... but for others they can't make it a few blocks.. and still others can climb mountains at 400 pounds. The point is.. when you reach the point where your weight feels like too large of a burden and you recognize that you need a little extra help to lose it, then it's time to consider WLS.. It doesn't matter if that is at 80pounds over weight or 300 pounds overweight!

Master Chef judge Graham Elliott just had VSG too. He chose VSG for the same reason that we did.. So he can still enjoy a variety of flavors but just be more sensible about portion sizes. I can imagine he went through a lot of struggle with deciding.. I mean, it's not just his enjoyment on the line but his entire career!

Franks Red Hot.... Prior to being sleeved I always had a bottle in the fridge but never used it except if I was making buffalo chicken.. and even then I'd hold out a few pieces for myself without any sauce on it BUT.......Since being sleeved I finally understand their slogan. Seriously, I put that S%^T on EVERYTHING!.

'nuff said?

Up until a month ago I was still wearing clothes from 100 pounds ago.. yeah they were loose but not "falling off" loose. then BAM all of a sudden my 28s were falling off of me and I'm in a 20????? I'm not complaining but it was crazy.. So don't worry.. it will happen!

Iron needs to be taken several hours apart from calcium.. so if your multi has iron in it, don't take it with calcium.. Calcium should not be taken in doses any higher than 500 mg at a time for maximum absorption. Most Vitamins are better when taken with a bit of food.. even if it's just a bit of a Protein shake. I take a portion of my Multivitamin dose and my calcium with D3 with my three main meals.. then just before bed I take my iron. (I don't take the iron daily though since my iron levels are good)

It's not a contest to see who can have the least amount of pain so don't feel like there's something wrong with you for experiencing more than others.. Everyone's pain tolerance is different and everyone's pain is different. I had what I would consider less than the average amount of pain following my sleeve..Actually I didn't even have any pain.. just some discomfort and some stomach spasms that were quite startling. Oh, and I could drink lots and lots straight out of the gate LUCKY ME! Now when I had my gallbladder out years ago it was the WORST pain I ever felt! I had an especially rough surgery due to the fact that my gallbladder had ruptured and the doctor had to spend a lot of time moving stuff around in there to make sure he got out all the infection. For the entire first day I couldn't get out of the bed at all.. My nurse was all "well when I had my surgery I was released the same day." When I asked for more pain medication I was informed that "most people don't need this much" Finally I complained to my surgeon about this and he ripped the nurse a new one. How DARE she compare her surgery to mine.. According to my doctor mine was the WORST gallbladder he'd ever taken out and he was quite certain I would have died had I not had the emergency surgery that day.. no wonder I had so much pain and a several day hospital stay.. Maybe you had unusual anatomy which required a bit more moving around of your organs.. or maybe there wasn't a lot of room for the doctors to work.. maybe your body has a more acute inflammatory response. Don't compare yourself to the lucky ones like me.. just recover on your own schedule. Before you know it you'll be loving your sleeve just as much as those of us who didn't have these early struggles. Happy healing!

Like the other poster says.. go to the main page and scroll way way down to near the bottom.. there's a whole active sub forum of mexico sleevers.. I was sleeved in TJ and my experience was great.

I don't know if it's right or not, but I tipped room service a few dollars each time they brought something even though the meals were included in my package. I tipped housekeeping $5.00 per day of my stay. I tipped my driver to and from the airport $10.00 each way. I did not tip the hotel bus driver because I never really saw him. I didn't tip the hospital staff or my coordinator.