Taminski

My insurance requires 5 years of documented weight over a BMI of 40 in addition to 3-6 months supervised diet and other clauses if you don't have comorbidities. I have been overweight forever but I don't go to the doctor much and have usually been around a BMI of 38-39 or lower when on one of the many diets I have done. Since I don't have comorbidities I don't want to wait another 4 years for documented weight over 40 BMI or for comorbidities to develop so I am moving ahead on my own.

This is not going to be the first of such challenges you face. How many times will you give up something that is good for you (prime spot, sunlight, window) for something that is bad for you? Maybe this is a good opportunity to put yourself & what is good for you front & center, and deal with those old habits head on.

wow, I am so sorry that you are going through all of that. Support is an extremely valuable thing and I would not like to be feeling like I didn't have any at home. Just know that you can come here and get support whenever you need it! Someone is always here and available to help lift you up and answer questions. Do you have a friend or coworker that you could ask to take you to your appointment? Just remember you are doing this for your health and keep pushing forward. I have faith in you - you can do this!!!!

I'm and three and half months post op and my life has changed dramatically. I'm so happy with the healthy new me. Here is my before & after pic so far (before taken the night before surgery). It is amazing how quickly things can change

Thank you so much for your insight. I really appreciate the advice and I think you both are right. I do need to make sure that she feels important to me and I don't want to lose our friendship. definitely something to take to heart.

Thank you so much for your insight. I really appreciate the advice and I think you both are right. I do need to make sure that she feels important to me and I don't want to lose our friendship. definitely something to take to heart.

A lot of other people have posted about jealous friends but your friend doesn't sound jealous, she sounds afraid of you dumping her once you change. This reminds me of a lot of spouses we read about on the forum who are afraid their mate will leave them when they get thinner. Especially if this has happened to her in the past, then her fear is understandable.
Sounds me to your friend could use a little extra TLC from you right now. I don't know about you but I do tend to talk about the changes in my life, my eating, my body, me, me, me, a lot more these days! Maybe just be aware of that and focus on her a bit more?
You're lucky to have a friend that values your friendship so much that the thought of losing it depresses her. Love, hugs, and attention from you should go a long way to reassuring her.

I don't know if you know how to play the card game Bridge or not. One of the rules of thumb is that if you need your partner to have a certain card in order for you to win the game then you play the game as though your partner has the card that you need. If you don't play that way then you lose the game for sure. If you do play that way and your partner doesn't have the card, then you would have lost no matter what you did. If you don't play that way and if your partner does have that card, then you lost when you could have won. If you do play that way and your partner had the card, then you win.
I think that's what you should do here. You should not take this personally. Just assume that the problem is something that your friend is going through, and be supportive and understanding. In other words be a friend. If you're going to lose the friendship anyway, then you'll lose the friendship. On the other hand if it's possible to save the friendship by being there for your friend, and you are holding back to keep yourself from being hurt as badly, then you might lose the friendship when you could have saved. If it's a good friendship, it's worth taking a lot of emotional risk to save it.

Hello Im 9 days past surgery 16 pounds lost inthe two weeks liquid diet, 15.5 as of today for a total of 31.5 pounds inthree weeks

I am 2.5 weeks out and I feel the same way. I can definitely drink more than 1/2 cup at a time (although for some reason I still have trouble remembering to get all my Water in), I can take normal drinks, not sips, and don't get any kind of full feeling. I have not tried to push to far cause I don't want to cause issues but I often wonder if he took enough too or if I won't ever feel the restriction. People say that once we move to solid foods then we should feel it so I am hoping that is true.

Sure, from what I have read, heard and asked he sounds like a great surgeon that is very caring and compassionate. Lora his coordinator has been great in answering all of my questions and getting back to me quickly. With Dr. Kelly you don't pay a thing until you get there. I have started my pre-op diet already. He requires 1 week kind of Atkins style/low carb and 1 week full liquid. I did a few days low carb and am doing 2 weeks on full liquid just to make sure my liver is as small as it can get. I will let you know how it goes afterwards.

I had surgery on the 16th too. Doing really well. The pains not too bad and walking does help. I haven't had anything to eat but ice chips and can't until after my leak test tomorrow but I am hoping I tolerate food/broth ok. Hope everyone is doing well and healing.

I'm going to agree with the kids. That's quite the spreadsheet you have there. lol

I'm going to agree with the kids. That's quite the spreadsheet you have there. lol

So glad to hear that those that have already had surgery this month are doing so well. I wish you continued success in your recovery. Just 5 more days until its my turn!!!!!!

I think I might have convinced myself mentally that I've already had surgery or something. I seem to be having the opposite problem as most on my pre-op diet. I don't think I am eating enough. I was never a Water drinker except when trying to diet so I am really working on making sure I get at least 64 oz in a day. I was also a smoker for 25+ years who had tried to quit many times. Once I made the decision to move forward and scheduled surgery, I quit cold turkey without a problem!!! I have quit so many times over the years and it is always HARD, so I'm not sure why it was so easy this time. Now I'm not smoking (1 month now), I'm drinking my water, I gave up my Dr. Pepper addiction (3 weeks now) and instead of the 1 week full liquid diet my doctor requires I decided to do 2 weeks. I am 1 week in and getting about 400-650 calories a day and I'm not hungry. In fact between the water and the food I feel like I am always having something and I'm full. My typical day is 2 Protein Shakes, a can of Soup or some broth for dinner and sometimes a sugar free popsicle. I am going to try and make sure I have 3 shakes a day to try and up my calories. Now obviously this isn't the way I always eat or I wouldn't be where I am at now. And typically when I am dieting I am tremendously hungry all the time so this is all very odd to me. I guess I'm taking this to mean that I really am ready. I know I was feeling like I "cheated" on the process since I haven't been through the counseling and visits with nuturitionists and all. I already know I don't qualify through my insurance so I didn't even bother going that route. I did my research, searched my soul and decided this is what I wanted and scheduled it in Mexico. So maybe this is my body's way of telling me that I really am ready for all of this.

Good luck to all of you joining the losers bench tomorrow!! Here's to a speedy recover.

Good luck to all of you joining the losers bench tomorrow!! Here's to a speedy recover.

For everyone who has slipped on their diet - I got this from a WW leader and it has really helped me -
"Lapses become failures only when they successfully intimidate you into stopping your weight reduction program. Those who are ultimately most successful in sustaining weight loss learn from their lapses instead of being intimidated by them. The best thing to do when lapses occur is to go to sleep that night and wake up the next day recommitted to following your weight loss program. "

I think I might have convinced myself mentally that I've already had surgery or something. I seem to be having the opposite problem as most on my pre-op diet. I don't think I am eating enough. I was never a Water drinker except when trying to diet so I am really working on making sure I get at least 64 oz in a day. I was also a smoker for 25+ years who had tried to quit many times. Once I made the decision to move forward and scheduled surgery, I quit cold turkey without a problem!!! I have quit so many times over the years and it is always HARD, so I'm not sure why it was so easy this time. Now I'm not smoking (1 month now), I'm drinking my water, I gave up my Dr. Pepper addiction (3 weeks now) and instead of the 1 week full liquid diet my doctor requires I decided to do 2 weeks. I am 1 week in and getting about 400-650 calories a day and I'm not hungry. In fact between the water and the food I feel like I am always having something and I'm full. My typical day is 2 Protein Shakes, a can of Soup or some broth for dinner and sometimes a sugar free popsicle. I am going to try and make sure I have 3 shakes a day to try and up my calories. Now obviously this isn't the way I always eat or I wouldn't be where I am at now. And typically when I am dieting I am tremendously hungry all the time so this is all very odd to me. I guess I'm taking this to mean that I really am ready. I know I was feeling like I "cheated" on the process since I haven't been through the counseling and visits with nuturitionists and all. I already know I don't qualify through my insurance so I didn't even bother going that route. I did my research, searched my soul and decided this is what I wanted and scheduled it in Mexico. So maybe this is my body's way of telling me that I really am ready for all of this.

I too am self pay as I don't qualify for surgery through my insurance even though they cover the procedure. Per the conversation I had with them since they didn't pay for and cover the surgery they will NOT pay for any complications or aftercare related to it. That means if I have complications I am on my own. Need to get my Vitamin levels checked, again on my own. They will benefit down the road from my having the surgery and getting healthy but won't pay anything towards it. However I really feel like I need to do this. No I don't want to cause a financial hardship on my family and I am praying that there will be no complications but I can't go on like I am now either. So I'm taking the risk, on my own.

Im home from surgery. Everything went well. My church family was around a lot to help me and make sure thing went well in the hospital. For anyone else going I would say make sure to take our own pillow. It helped a lot to have extra pillows.
Good luck for everyone coming up in a few days.

Hi everybody,
I had my WLS on August 6. 2013 with Dr. Kelly Ramos and I would like to share my experience with you.
First of all, let me explain my condition: at 5ft 10’ I was 255lb. My BMI was somewhere between 36 and 37. That was the borderline minimum to have the vertical sleeve surgery. The way I appear from the outside, one could not necessary tell that I’m morbidly obese. The reason Dr. Kelly accepted to do the surgery is because of my high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, and cholesterol.
Having all of these problems, and being sick and tired of taking all the pills for my condition, I decided to take a more radical approach. I have to tell you that 10 years ago I lost about 90lb in an 8 month period through diet and exercise, getting to 175lb. I kept the weight of for 3 years by exercising and dieting but then I slowly lost control and regained almost everything back. I wanted to have a WLS a year ago but I thought, “I’m going to give dieting and exercising one more shot”. I’m 47 years old and it didn’t work for me. The only good thing is that my muscular tonus is pretty good and I have no trouble moving around.
Finally, I decided to have WLS… but which one? The lap band was out of question because of the foreign materials in your body and an adjustment procedure, the gastric bypass is involves bad Vitamin absorption, so the best procedure for me was the vertical sleeve surgery.
Living in Canada, I could have had the procedure done for free in 10 years after going through hoops and loops with doctors and nutritionists, or paying a lot of money in Montreal, or in the US. For this reason, I decided to go to Mexico.
Finding the right doctor is the most important thing, and with that, you have to take your time and remain focused. I would like to mention that probably 90% of the bariatric surgeons in Mexico are a better choice than your local bariatric specialists due to their experience and number of surgeries they’ve performed. It’s most likely that they have seen it all. No doctor can promise you 100% that you will be fine after a surgery. Not to mention, it is in their code of conduct not to do so.
After a long time researching on internet, I decided to go with Dr. Kelly from Tijuana. There was not a single complaint about him as a surgeon, and even after talking to his competitors, they had nothing bad to say about his skills. If you decide to go with him, you have to be persistent and not allow yourself to be swayed. You may find that when you try to contact him through the regular channels on internet you may end up being hacked by his competitors, who are still using his name on their sites. Furthermore, his competitors are more aggressive in contacting you and rushing you through the whole process. Doctor Kelly’s coordinators are not sales people. Sometimes you must put up with slight delays, but again, don’t lose the target, and DON’T lose a great surgeon due to some little hiccups which may appear during the communication with the coordinators. Don’t get me wrong, the coordinators are going to do their job very well, but if you are the type to get upset that they don’t answer your emails in 5 seconds and say, “I’m going to somebody else”, you will lose a great surgeon. The coordinators won’t try to win you back, it’s not their job to do so.
While trying to contact Dr. Kelly, I spoke to a former coordinator of his. She tried to sell me to a different doctor with excellent records and at a cheaper price, in a very decent fashion. But after explaining to her that I want Dr. Kelly and no one else, and that I wasn’t interested in the bariatric soap opera happening in Tijuana, she was very kind and gave me the contact number I needed.
I contacted Alina and Lora Lee which both took their time to tell me everything I needed and more. I had to fill out a medical questionnaire in order to be approved. I was a bit nervous, but in two days I was approved. Note that I said two days. That means the doctor actually paid attention to my info and ONLY after that he gave the approval. If you do that on different sites you’ll be approved in minutes.
I booked my flight according to the info package they sent me and my availability. I sent the itinerary to Lora and she worked around that schedule and booked the surgery. Every question regarding everything about the WLS can be answered by Lora or Alina. Usually everyone booked for the surgery is called by Dr. Kelly himself to address any questions and there is no time limit on the call. I was not called but I did not jump to conclusions. I didn’t have too many questions anyway, and I knew that I would have the opportunity to ask whatever I needed when I came face to face with him in person.
Before going, I had to agree to a financial contract and send it back to Lora. Please note that Dr. Kelly doesn’t ask for any down payment to book the surgery. He trusts his patients, as he expects the patients to trust him.
Travelling for the surgery with a companion depends on you. If you chose to bring a companion, they can stay with you in the same room in the hospital, sleeping on a little sofa, and then in a very comfortable double bed, in Hotel Lucerna, at no extra cost.
From the airport we were picked up by Cecy, the doctor’s wife and personal book keeper. She is very pleasant and speaks English well enough to get you by if you don’t speak any Spanish. However, if you have any command of Spanish she is a real joy to talk to as well. Because they use a medical line to fast track you through the customs, you’ll be in the hospital in no time.
At the hospital, after signing some papers and paying for the surgery, you will be comfortably set in your room . In our case, the name of the hospital was Nova. It is a little hospital; clean and quiet with friendly, very caring personal. I’m saying ‘my case’ because the doctor can change the hospital as he wishes, renting the OR and personal from the hospital himself. He always is very attentive at the way his tools are sterilized and has never had any complication due to sterilization.
The first doctor to take care of you is the cardiologist who will make sure that you are good to go; then follows the blood work and X-rays. They will let you know if everything is OK to precede and also provide a complete report including any problems you might have with your spine, lungs, and so on. All this takes about an hour and then Dr. Kelly comes to talk to you and answer any questions you might have. That removed all of my doubts I had about my decision to go through with all this.
In a few minutes after the conversation with Dr. Kelly, I was facing him and his team in the OR. Everyone was presented by name and position. I was not scared of the pain but of losing control during the anesthesia. The doctor knew about my concern, and like you would do with a kid, he kept me talking till I fell asleep.
I was back in the room about one hour later where I woke up with sporadic pains in my stomach. The night was painful, but being an afternoon surgery, I slept through the night with no problems. During the night, I was able to go to the washroom by myself. During the first day I was in pain, however, I was getting better by the hour. I was encouraged to walk down the halls to get rid of the gas pain. All of the medicine was provided through an IV. The personal was so caring. I could not have any complains. There will always be somebody who speaks English well enough to help you out. It never hurts to have few phrases in Spanish ready to use, or a tablet with Google translate since they have a wireless network to use for free. During the stay in the hospital, your companion will be able to eat excellent food made to order. My wife says it’s much better than most American restaurants and will cost about 5 dollars a meal.
The second day was a breeze. It seemed like only the surroundings and the IV attached to my arm were reminding me that I had a surgery. Every day, a team of doctors visited me briefly in the morning and Dr. Kelly visited me in the afternoon and night for a longer time.
After the second night, it was time to take out the IVs, and after a refreshing shower, roll out from the hospital to a different hospital with top notch leak test equipment. There is where you have your first reality check of what your new stomach feels like and how much smaller it is. After you painfully gulp down the apple juice mixed with a contrast substance you get the good news that the liquid doesn’t go to places where is not supposed to. And to prove that, you also get a copy made by X-rays technologist.
With that out of the way, you go to your Hotel to start the remaining of your “vacation”. Doctor Kelly will visit you the two remaining nights to make sure that you are fine AND that you are enjoying your stay.
My personal advice is to go to get your chicken broth across the street at Casa del Mole, where your companion can also enjoy the cream de la cream of fabulous Mexican cuisine!
The last morning, at 8:00 AM, it was time to say goodbye to Tijuana. We were transported back to San Diego Airport using again the fast line. If you are driving yourself, the last treat is that you won’t have to wait in line at the border either because you’ll get a medical pass.
This was the story of my vertical sleeve surgery with the wonderful DR. Kelly.
If you are planning to do the same surgery, choose wisely and don’t let it be any different.
Tudor Tugulan
Newmarket Ontario ,Canada
For any qustions regarding this contact me at
Tugulan@rogers.com