fletcherette

March 11th marked my 1 yr anniversary. I haven't been active on these boards For awhile but wanted to come back and share my story and success because I know when I was preparing for my surgery reading about other peoples experience was a comfort. I had my surgery with dr. Garcia through Ready4Achange at mi doctor. (I believe if you look through my old posts you can find a. More detailed posting of my experience) I have lost 75lbs, which is ALL the weight I wanted to lose ( yes I was a "lightweight"). at about 8 months out I had reached my weight loss goal and have been easily maintaining my weight since. Never once have I regretted this surgery, in fact I have made many, many positive changes in my life since (from career changes to relationships) and feel that my weight loss was a positive catalyst to me living a better life! I actually have fond memories of my trip to Mexico, albeit there was some difficulties while there (some last minute confusion. With the coordinators and mi doctor was pretty bad, but heard dr Garcia has since moved hospitals. Aside from that the marriot was awesome and so was dr Garcia and his team). but overall it was actually a fun experience, yes I said fun I truly enjoyed being there, everyone was so nice and accommodating (plus I went with my mom so it was nice to have a mini vacation with her). I honestly wish i was having my surgery again so I could go back for another trip! Lol I hope to some day go back for an actual vacation. I am attaching a picture of my before (which was taken in the hospital immediately after surgery) and after. To anyone having the surgery I say take a lot of before pics, I unfortunately didn't take many pics of myself at my highest weight and wish I had because when I look at the few before pics I have I can't believe I was the size I was. Always nice to have those visual reminders. Here's to living a better life!

Doing great! Only have to lose 7 more lbs to have a healthy BMi (although iwant to lose atleast another 17)

Sw 197

Cw 147

Gw 130

Down 50 lbs

Just looking at some pre op photos and I can't even believe that was me. The before pic is from my passport (had surgery in mx) and the after was taken two months ago (my face is even thinner now) wonder if ill ever get over the shock of seeing before pics compared to current pics of myself

Not gonna lie' date=' I feel a little cheated that all they had when I was there were "meat Popsicles" hahaha But I did just fine without them! Lol

I'm sure you'll be ok. Sounds like you did well quitting as soon as you realized it! And I doubt it'll effect you too much even if you did get a few strands. But maybe something worth mentioning to the coordinators so that they can either talk to the hotel about maybe carrying another flavor instead or at least letting the patients know to be aware of it![/quote']

Ick yes when I was there in march the Popsicles were nasty! To make it worse the broth was hit or miss, sometimes I'd get a good bowl and sometimes not. Thankfully after surgery I wasn't hungry and Gatorade was more than enough

You've probably already had it removed by now but yes I felt loads better once it was out

How weird' date=' I wonder why he didn't when we were there. We saw Irene at the hotel quite a bit, but she wasn't with him when he came. Like I said, must have been a one time/one week thing! I feel better knowing three normally is though![/quote']

If I'm not mistaken you were there the same time when his fling was right? Chances are he came alone that time to be with her...

Weird! Maybe I was mouthy enough they figured I could handle myself alone with anyone! Lol He was alone for me and the rest of the women in my group though. May have just been a one time/one week thing if they were understaffed or something. I had no idea they usually use a chaperone. That would have made me feel better about the whole situation in the beginning. Wouldn't change my opinion but definitely an important factor that I was unaware of!!

I went with my mom and he knew she was with me (she met him way before I did and talked to him quite a bit while I was in the hospital) and he still came with Rosie. I always assumed he came with someone. He really shouldn't have gone alone at all to anyone's room.

I always wonder if those Drs that blow gas into the removed stomach do it to show the patient how stretchable the removed part was and how big you could have filled it with food- though I'm sure not as big as they blow it up.

I wanted to see my removed stomach but he didn't show it to me. I was too out of it until the next day to ask again until it was too late.

I may be wrong but I think they fill the removed part up with air to check for leaks ( if there's a leak on the removed part then there could be a leak on the remaining stomach)

It's in a comment on a post. It's not a post he made' date=' but one he responded to.

The only thing with his answer that was odd to me is that he said the doctors will only go to the hotel to check on patients with a chaperone and said "the way it has ALWAYS been done." I was visited by Dr. Luna alone in my room. Obviously it was fine, but did everyone else have a chaperone with the doctor that visited them for Garcia (Luna or otherwise)? Not really a big issue, just curious [/quote']

Yup when dr Luna came and took my staples out he came with someone from the coordinating company

For anyone interested dr. Garcia posted a response to the dr. Luna question on his Facebook. It is out there in public for anyone willing to seek it out.

I knew Dr Garica was of good character .. Good for him for stepping up to the plate and doing what's ethically correct.

Agreed, I'm not surprised. While I feel for dr. Luna, I believe he is smart enough to know that this would catch up to him eventually. Hopefully this is a wake up call for him to really think about his actions. And for those going to dr. Garcia in the future your experience will be amazing, the other dr who assists Garcia is dr. Velazco, who I think should be receiving more praise on this board than she gets she was the one who i interacted with the most during my surgery and couldn't have asked for a more understanding dr. She had the bypass (done by dr. Garcia) and really understands patients

Thanks for the response. This is frustrating, I wish there was a definite answer on this. When surgeons all have different advice it makes me think they are just going by opinions and not fact.

I am four months post op and was wondering if anyone has tried this fruit drink that is "lightly carbonated"? What's everyone's experience with carbonation? Wat was your doctors time frame for it?

I must have missed the Dr. Luna scandal

Ah well you didn't really miss anything

Thanks all my hope is that in posting this in the wake of the Dr. Luna scandal people who are scheduled with Dr. Garcia will feel confident in their decision. I'd hate for the recent drama to stop people from making the step to do something that can be a positive life change.

Wow you look great!! And your dog is so cute! Do you mind me asking how much you have til goal? You look like your at goal

Thanks everyone. It does feel awesome to be active, I feel more alive now. I was just thinking today that if I never lost another pound I would be completely content. I may just be "average" sized now but I love it. I do however want to lose as much as possible. I remember when I first started researching this surgery someone saying that you should lose as much weight as possible in the beginning in case you have any regain. So to err on the safe side I'm going to try and lose another 10-20lbs.

Ha! I will bring mace and a mean attitude, look out. If you knew me, that would be super funny. I'm about as intimidating as a butterfly. But my cousin who is traveling with me ... don't mess. She's mean. And will never leave my side, especially now. Thank goodness.

I think it's an incredibly smart idea to take someone. I know a lot of people go alone and are fine but in my opinion there's always safety in pairs

I'm officially 4 months out tomorrow and down nearly 50lbs-woot woot! Wanted to share this pic. The before was taken the day after surgery so I was def. more bloated then usual(lookin all sexy in my hospital gown with my drainage tube and pole) the after was taken last week. I was out hiking with my 1y.o german shepherd pup and outlasted her! I ended up having to cut the hike short cause I could tell she was dragging

Geez. My sister, who was sleeved in February and also posts to VST, warned me about this thread over the weekend and I've been trying to catch up today while busy doing other things. Holy moly, am I ever going to have deal with a case of the "I-told-you-sos" from her. She warned me to stay stateside, and I insisted on going to Mexico, because if I am going to pay for this out of my pocket, I want a world-class surgeon that costs half as much. But this lack of professionalism (to put it MILDLY) concerns me. I'm scheduled later this summer with Dr. Garcia, and while I still have faith that his surgical skills are far superior to what I am able to get in the US, it gives me no comfort to read this thread.

I went with Dr. garcia and met Dr. Luna (the man hugged my mother and put his head on my back to hear my lungs but other then that he was fine LOL) I say be smart be safe, get in get the surgery and get out. You'll come through fine with no problems and once you've lost weight you'll be feeling great and beyond happy with your decision I think this has happened only due to the OP allowing it to. Common sense goes a long way and on a humorous note if he did try to put the moves on you he's just a little guy it wouldn't take much to take him down :-P

I feel for your Kristina, you're a good friend because to be quite frank I don't think I would've backed her up at all considering how unstable she has acted. I guess it's just hard for me to understand how desperate and insecure a grown person must be to fall for the " love at first sight" stuff with a foreign doctor who found you online. It's not only creepy and worrisome that he pursued her, but equally creepy and worrisome that she went along with it...I mean come on...

ETA: I admire you Kristina, looking through your posts over this debacle I personally think you have conducted yourself in an upright manner- good for you!

AND on a side note, if anyone finds Jose Luna's Facebook page- you can see he has pics of him and a girl kissing (which was posted on his FB before the OP had her surgery...so yeah a little looking around you can find out stuff about a random guy whos blowing smoke up your bum)

I have no need or desire to "get rude with you" as you say. I don't have sympathy for the OP either, but only be because she threw her friends under the bus. I agree she handled it wrong. I have no idea why and neither do you. My response was not about the OP. She headed for the hills some time ago it seems to me. I don't hold her to any standard though; it's her job to moderate herself and to live with her mistakes just as it is for all adults. I do however hold physicians to a high standard no matter what country they practice in. That was my point of contention and whether or not the OP has back-peddled all the way to China it stands. Right will always be right and certain lines are not to be crossed.

opps sorry, my post was in no way directed at you. It was a general statement about the situation. She did handle it wrong and we may not know the exact reason why she went about things the way she did but its fairly easy to put two and two together and figure out a logical theory behind her actions. I agree right is right and neither the OP nor dr. luna are in the right.

Obviously the OP doesnt hold doctors to a very high standard. If she had expected more from her doctor she never would have interacted with him in such a personal manner, but she did therefore she willingly opened the door for him to be held to a low standard. To me, if Dr. Luna had emailed me prior to surgery and was being friendly that would have been a huge red light that would've sent me running in the other direction.

Again I think she needs to be in therapy because she seems to be unfortunately insecure and allows herself to be put in dangerous situation for a bit of attention.

My BIGGEST piece of advice to anyone going into MX for surgery is to use your brain, be alert, go in get the procedure done and get out, no need to get so involved. And if at all possible don't go alone-you need that support person to be fully concious and watching out for you.

This person is new and came on just to discredit the OP. I see a mole' date=' rat, a*****e etc[/quote']

I wouldn't be surprised if we see more newbies coming on, I went with r4ac with dr. Garcia and will be the first to admit these companies and drs will do some shady stuff to keep business ::: shrugs:::

No. He seems to be the same as the rest of them except that he is a Dr' date=' he trolls weightless forums looking for women and he sleeps with his patients. That isn't flirting or complimenting. There's another name for it.[/quote']

Yeah but you can only be trolled on if you allow yourself to be. It takes two to tango. Common sense tells us to not put ourselves in risky situation. Did he take advantage? Yeah. But remember she opened the door for him to do so and was a willing participant. Would she have EVER said anything had the relationship gone good? No she wouldn't have. And further more had the relationship blossomed into a serious committed romance people would be encouraging her.

IF she is really concerned like she claimed she was she should have taken it to the proper people and not blasted it on a post board. Dr. luna was also in the wrong and most definitely be reprimanded for his actions. but feeling the need to "warn" people to not sleep with someone they dont know iin a foreign country is ridiculous. most people with any type of sense at all already know NOT to do so. It's like warning an adult not to touch fire, duh we all learned that as children.

Sorry IMO I have little sympathy or pity for her. She seems like a highly unstable individual who should seek serious counseling. (And yes get as rude with me as you want but I am allowed to judge this situation based on what I know, everyone is entitled to their opinion and its an open forum where we are allowed to voice them)

I feel by now a lot of ppl have figure out who the Op is. Please know you will still get support here. Don't be afraid. If you need someone to talk to PM me. Or any of your supporters. We can be there for you. No questions asked. I have a daughter if she needed help I would hope someone would be there for her. Sorry I made the comment about Karma. This CRAP sucks!!!! No one deserves this.

Hmm I mustbe far out of the loop. I don't have a clue who the op is,would've given more credit to her story to know who it really is. IMO posting such claims under a pseudo name looks sketchy

Eta: nvm figured it out, wasnt hard to do. Op fails to mention what. She really did (or who...) day 4 after surgery in one of her post op posts...

I am not at liberty to say everything I know or how i know it. But I can say that Dr. Garcia himself is looking into all of this now.

Maybe I'm just unknowing but how do you know? You speak with an awful lot of authority in these dr. Luna posts and I'm just wondering if you really know whats going on or just know things through the grape vine? If its the latter than I don't think we should put much stock into your claims of whats going on.