SerendipityHappens

Mi Doctor is NOT the hospital in the strip mall. Mi is a small hospital with just four floors. The hospital itself is not old, but some of the equipment is on the older side.. Like the EKG machine is older but in good working order. Here is a youtube video from Medicaltourismco.. it shows very accurately what MiDoctor looks like You'll see clearly that it is small.. the ICU is just one bed (cuz really it's rarely needed) The hospital you are thinking of is Jerusalem Hospital and it is NOT a hospital, and is indeed a clinic in a strip mall.

I had a great experience with booking with Dr's cabrera and Valenzuela through Mexico Bariatric center. The surgery was at MiDoctor hospital. I stayed two nights post op there. If you have someone with you, they'll give you a big room and a second bed for no extra charge.. After surgery you go to the Marriott for two days. I booked an extra day just to be sure I'd be good for the long flight home. The doctors were fabulous and they have a third doctor now Dr Guillermo Garcia who is in the surgery room and does a lot of the regular follow ups. I completely trusted this surgical team and I had a quick surgery and fantastic recovery. I think the price is 4700 now. They are one of the cheaper teams but they're well trained young doctors.

No, it does not taste "just like peanut butter" .... but it's a very good substitute. I add a pinch of stevia and salt to mine and I eat it with half a banana. Can't wait until I can have apples and use it as a dip for apples... I could eat regular peanut butter by the spoonful (shocking how I got to 360 pounds huh?) but I couldn't imagine chomping down on a spoonful of PB2.. the flavor is not the same and I do miss the oily feel.. but I definitely recommend it even though it's not *quite* the same.

My advice is DON'T CHEAT... Cheating just prolongs the agony. First few days you might feel horrible but stick with it and resist the almost overpowering urges to eat... after day 4 or so you'll feel SO much better and those urges will diminish greatly. Good luck!

Just a plug for puritain's pride.. Been using them for mail order Vitamins since before the internet. They are a fantastic company and really great prices.

Joe, I tend to have a low resting heart rate and fast recovery time which is good... but my heart goes way way up with exercise beyond what the formulas say it should.. My pcp a few years ago when I first noticed this trend was also a cardiologist. He ran some tests and said I'm perfectly healthy and that I should pay attention to how I'm feeling and to my breathing during exercise and not really worry to much about the heart rate exercise formulas.... my experience should not be mistaken for medical advice.

We all can eat different amounts that's for sure. I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum. At three weeks out I routinely eat half a cup of food... 1/4 cup of dense protein and 1/4 cup of something else. I see people who are way further out than me eating a tablespoon of tunafish and 1/4 of a piece of cheese and I'm like WTF??? I'm comforted to know that it's not necessarily a measure of the final capacity of our stomach.. and honestly, if My final stomach size holds a bit more than average, I'll be ok with it and still "rock my sleeve" the best I can!

Mine was about 45 minutes. I could have someone with me in the hospital for my entire stay if I wanted... they bring an extra bed if you have someone staying with you.

Good point. I hope you are right. I do tend to take what people say as literal... My head was about spinning around because he's been offering nutritional advice to other sleevers which included things like "McDonald's fish bites" so for him to say he's a dietician really threw me for a loop.

Seems to me that if you are able to eat so much that you wouldn't be needing to also supplement with protein shakes. Certainly as a dietician, you know how to get your protein from food sources.. chicken and eggs are not "specialty items" they are inexpensive, easy to prepare, stick in your sleeve and are protein rich. I'm just having a hard time wrapping my head around your need to buy Protein drinks if you are eating as much as you claim. You say your doctor botched your surgery, i get it, I would be mightily frustrated too, but you are also full of excuses and seem to be making very little effort here. I think you are right on the money. You definitely should NOT have had this surgery, It is definitely not for you. Shame on your doctor for giving you false expectations and for operating on you in the first place. Even if the surgery would have gone perfectly, I don't think it would have worked for you.

Bariatric Advantage capsules- 6 small capsules per day (I choose to divide them into 3, 2 capsule servings) Ferrochel chelated iron taken before bed Calcium citrate with D3 mini tablets- 6 per day.. I take them with my multivitamin so it's easy to remember. I buy from puritain's pride for the best price b-12 sublingual (3x a week) probiotic beads with 2 billion cultures two a day.

I was hoping you'd respond here. I think it's important for you to voice your views on this topic. You are in the minority here but your experience is just as valid as everyone else's. I know in another thread you mentioned that having had the surgery makes you feel isolated socially. I also hope in time you will see it differently. I did 3 and a half months of an 800 calorie VLCD preop.. it was not easy.. it was like eating like a sleever but with a full size stomach. For the first three months I felt so cut off from everyone since food is such a main part of socialization and since I didn't eat then I didn't go anywhere that had food. Then two weeks before surgery, something clicked for me and I realized that I didn't have to be separated from the socialization just because I was not partaking in the food. The week before surgery my sisters were shocked when they asked "what do you want to do" and I said "Let's go to chinese" I just drank the tea and we talked and had a great time. My not eating was a non-issue. I hope in time, your eating habits and new smaller appetite will become a non issue for you too.

My taster must just be more acute than Butter's because I definitely think they have a taste.. and that taste is GOOD! Especially delicious and refreshing with a squirt of lime and pinch of stevia.. YUM... Or in Green juice.. DOUBLE YUM!

There ARE some protein shots that are not collagen (yes whey ARE 100% whey).. you just have to be careful is all because most brands are NOT whey but they try to lead you to believe that they are... As far as the taste goes.. I've never read a review that didn't say that they taste like feet, or worse.

Ladies.. there comes a point in life where you must choose.. your face or your figure... Fat in the face really helps keep a youthful appearance. I'm HATING how my face is looking and I'm only 1/3 of the way into my journey... but I know that I have to take off the weight for my overall health. I'm loading up on night cream.. and day cream.. My neck is the worst.. where I used to have a regular double chin.. I now have a wrinkly old lady turkey gobble.

When I was 360 pounds and hiking a lot, I would get stress fractures in my feet and what you are describing is what they felt like. Now I wear merrell hiking shoes even for walking in the city and I lace them up tight... I even wear them if I'm at the gym on the treadmill! Once I'm below 250 I'll experiment with something different but for now, I can say that wearing these uber-sturdy hiking shoes for my weight bearing exercise is helping to keep my feet healthy!

My post op advice says a minimum of 64 ounces of liquids.. it does not matter the form.. Protein shakes, coffee, Jello... all count as liquids. Also I was on clears for the first week.. not even taking protein until day 7! When I first started adding back in the protein, I'd mix with a sugar free drink or Water.. the Protein Drink was very thin this way since I use jay robb powder which makes a thin drink anyway. I didn't start using dairy milk until around day 12 since it can be kind of hard on the brand new tummy. Also, I am allowed two cups of coffee a day. Vanilla Protein Powder mixes nicely with coffee if the coffee is not too hot.

I used to have reflux before giving up WHEAT. Since going wheat free haven't had reflux even once... even since being sleeved. The sad things is, When my reflux was really bad before, I'd eat things like pretzels and toast thinking it was going to help me! I just mention this because if this was your first experience with wheat products after being sleeved then who knows.. could be an issue.. also some people experience problems with other Cereal grains as well (corn, oats, rice)

Seems every doctor does it differently. First week I was on clear liquids. 2nd week I could do milk with protein powder in it.. 3rd week I could do yogurts and purees. Now I'm in my 4th week I'm adding cheeses and soft fruits/veg and soft meats. My diet is fairly middle of the road.. I've seen some people who say their doctor cleared them for regular food after week 2 and I've seen where others were on liquids for a full month!

Well since many of us use food as something to calm ourselves down and comfort us, not being able to do that might cause anxiety for some. I literally burst into tears and my heart was racing on more than one occasion during my 3 month preop diet because I "needed" certain foods. My grandmother used to mix Peanut Butter, honey, cocoa powder and coconut and keep it in a jar and call it her "nerve candy" She was using food to soothe her nerves. We ALL knew that we were welcome to anything at Grandma's house, EXCEPT we'd better not touch her "nerve candy". It was literally her drug of choice and if you took that away she'd be a basket case.

I'm 3.5 weeks out and my gurgles are getting better already.

The thought of having to take chewable vitamins made my pre-sleeve stomach turn... I can't imagine having to take them on my new tiny tummy... I have been taking the bariatric advantage capsules and they go down so nice and easy. The serving size is six capsules so I divide it up into three two capsule servings and take them with my meals. By taking them with meals and taking smaller doses more frequently, you are less likely to feel nauseated from them.. also the capsules are nice and small and slippery- smaller than my omeprazole capsule. A 90 day supply was $40.00 from amazon.com

OUCH! I'm soooo sorry that you are having to go through a painful recovery. Having a revision is so much harder on your tummy than just getting sleeved. I didn't have a revision so my surgery took less than 45 minutes to get sleeved... If yours took 4 hours you can imagine how much more trauma your poor tummy had to endure than someone like me who didn't have to go through the revision process! Feel better soon!

If you make your own yogurt at home instead of buying the yogurt, it will taste even better... When you make it homemade you can control how sour it is so it doesn't have that strong sour taste that many commercial yogurts have. Give it a go, you won't be sorry.

You mean funny taste like you've been chewing on a tin can? If so it could just be a ketonic reaction to the low calories low carbs.