CandyPants81

Hey, y'all. I'm 5'5" and my starting weight is 241 (as of a few days ago). I'm scheduled for surgery July 22nd in Tijuana with Dr. Quinones. Just over 6 weeks left! C.

Good for you! Congrats! What's your date?

I completely forgot about the 30 minutes between food/liquids thing. Thank you. I actually have a My Fitness Pal account that has been lying dormant for some time. Time to crank it back up, I guess. As far as weighing food...just grab a scale from amazon, I guess? I've never had a food scale before. Thank you so much! C

Since I have 48 days until surgery (but who's counting), and I feel that time has pretty much slowed to a crawl, I thought maybe I could use this time to prepare myself for some of the lifestyle changes that will occur when I am sleeved. Some ideas I have are: 1. Getting more Protein in. 2. Trying out different shakes and powders to see which one are gross and which ones I like. I've heard my tastes may change after surgery, but I don't want to use that time to experiment when I could be doing it now. 3. Practice sipping Water all day instead of waiting until I'm parched and CHUGGING an entire bottle. 4. Practice cutting food into really small pieces and chewing for a really long time. 5. Start exercising. Walking a several times a week and weights tossed in somewhere. 6. Continue yoga. We have yoga at work once a week. I hate yoga, but I've only been twice, so maybe I'll keep it up at least until surgery. Who knows. Maybe it will grow on me. 7. Cutting out soda. 8. Cutting out the wine. Mostly. Ok, I'll cut BACK for sure. Do any of you who are waiting for surgery have any things you're working on? What about those of you who are already sleeved? Were there things you did in the months prior to your pre-op diet phase to prepare? Looking back, are there things you wish you'd done to prepare that would make your recovery and lifestyle adjustments easier or better? C

Congrats on your anniversary. I LOVE Disney World. We went last year with the kids. This year we will be traveling to Universal Studios (Hellooooo Harry Potter!!!) to celebrate 10 years. It will be after surgery when we go...so that will be a whole different kind of challenge.

Thanks for posting this topic. I am now thinking maybe I should have a couple of tests as well. One girl on another forum states that an ulcer was found (which delayed her surgery) during an endoscopy, so it's probably a good idea to have some of these tests before I head in for surgery next month. Good point about the insurance too. Bariatric surgery is an exclusion in my insurance policy, so I'm not sure how that would go as far as Humana covering the tests. I will speak to my doctor about it. C.

@@Sassypants92201 June 9th is coming up quick! So excited for you. It feels like time has slowed to a CRAWL since I scheduled. The months of research I did before I decided on a surgeon FLEW past, and now I feel like July 22nd will never get here. C.

Hi Rose. Dr. Q's VSG price is $4500. C.

Perhaps a good way to address it with the surgeon is to ask BEFORE you make the trip/decision. Like "Hey Dr. Such&Such, I notice in your video you didn't have your nose covered. I'm curious as to why as in the US we are used to surgeons with nose and mouth covered." I have a slightly unreasonable fear (regardless of surgeon-US or abroad) that something (gauze, clamp, scissors) will be "forgotten" inside me. I watch too much tv. I'm sure it's a crazy fear but I fully intend to let my surgeon know that is my fear and ask him to double check that everything that should be out is out before they close me up.

I will be there after you on the 22nd with Dr. Quinones.

@@RoseFlorish I will be in Tijuana with Dr. Quinones on July 22nd. Best of luck to you!

@@camper-girl That is awesome! Please post back as soon as you feel up to it after surgery! I'm excited for you!

When I spoke to the coordinator for Dr. Garcia she told me "there days when he has 1 and days when he has five or six, but on average he only does about 3-4 per day". This information was from Michelle Medkoff at Tijuana Bariatrics. She was really nice about answering questions.

@@KQH Bill is great! Such a genuine and sincere person, it seems. I love my interactions with him so far! July 1st is coming up quick! Congrats! So exciting. @@DarbiMolly Right! I was cool as a cucumber until I scheduled and put it on my desk calendar. Then suddenly it was like "This is REALLY happening". I'm definitely excited, but certainly nervous as well. @@zmdh39 I feel so good about my choice to go with Dr. Quinones. I went back and forth between a few surgeons, but when I researched Dr. Q everything just "clicked". That gut feeling everyone talks about? I felt it when I decided on Dr. Quinones for sure. c.

@Travelmego Great! I'll be right here!

I've heard some folks say that it's a good idea to have a little pillow between your tummy and the belt on the flight home, so maybe I'll get an extender to accommodate me and the pillow comfortably. I guess I won't know until I sit down whether or not I'll need one. I tend to squish out when I'm seated, so it might just have to be one of those things I find out when I try it. Great thing is that if it turns out I do need an extender it will be the first and last time I ever have to ask for one. C.

I've seen prices starting at $3700 up to $8900. It depends on the surgeon. My surgeon's regular price is $4500 with a $500 deposit required to hold a surgery date. C.

So far the only people I have told are my mother (she's not happy, but she's not being negative about it either...just keeps sending me new diets to try), my husband, and my best friend. My sister, who I am very close with, is very anti-WLS so I'm not telling her until I come back. I also work for a small nonprofit, and I know I'm going to have to tell my coworkers SOMETHING, as there is no way for me to slip off for an hour, let alone two weeks, unnoticed. I mentioned to them many months ago that I was considering WLS, and the response was not positive. Throw Mexico in the mix and I anticipate someone may faint. I still haven't decided what I'm going to tell them yet. c.

@@woo woo You might have a point there. Don't want any hiccups and certainly don't want to get stuck away from home right after surgery. I will research traveling without a passport today and tomorrow. I know if I'm going to get one I need to apply by the first of next week for sure. C.

After months of research and months of thinking, talking to various patients, and questioning the hell out of patient coordinators, I am happy to say that I FINALLY settled on Dr. Quinones to perform my sleeve surgery! I paid the deposit today and will have my surgery on July 22. Bill, Dr. Q's patient coordinator, has been so kind and helpful up to now, even with me emailing him in the middle of the night, and calling him before daybreak in the morning. He has been very patient, and has never made me feel like I'm bothering him, or like I'm asking too many questions. I felt a little nervous today after I paid the deposit. Just a little flurry of nervous energy, but nothing too bad. I'm confident in my choice, and mostly I'm just ready to get the show on the road. C.

Thanks so much for all the tips! I spoke with my patient coordinator who told me that we can travel without a passport as long as we have certified birth certificates and state issued ID. I'm going to go ahead and purchase my plane tickets as I'm afraid that if I continue to wait, the prices will only continue to rise. C.

Wow. Great tips. And I laughed aloud at the exorcist style vomiting. Thanks so much. I tend to over pack so thanks for that tip in particular. Great information! C.

I'm leaning very heavily toward Dr. Quinones at this point. Spoke with Bill (his coordinator) and was very impressed with his sincerity and level of knowledge. I also saw some videos of Dr. Quinones and I liked what I saw.

Thank you guys! So from what I gather so far I can chill out about having to purchase an extra seat for extra me. Also I should check some of the travel sites for tickets and unless I'm flying southwest I should be able to choose seats at booking. Sounds like the very first step, though, is going to be securing the passports. I will start that process tomorrow. Thanks so much. Keep it coming if you have more info to share! C.

Hey, y'all. Forgive me if this has been covered before but do any of you frequent travelers/fliers have any travel tips you care to share? I haven't flown as an adult and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with everything. There's the possibility of having to buy two seats for myself on the plane because I'm heavy (had no idea that was really a thing they make people do). Then there's the cost of tickets (round trip Georgia to San Diego for myself and my husband is looking like $800+...YIKES). Also worried about how to make sure that we are seated together on the plane (I thought this was a guarantee if you purchase together, but apparently it is not). On top of that, we still have to get the passport process started. Haven't scheduled a date for surgery just yet, but I'm aiming for the last week of July/first week of August. Any and all tips, tricks, or knowledge anyone would like to share is very much appreciated. I've Googled the holy heck out of all this stuff, but I'd like to hear from the forum. Ah, and if it helps or matters, I am just barely 5'5" and 240-245 lbs depending on the day and my husband is 6'2" and pretty lean. Thanks, all. C.