JamieLogical

@@GinaCampbell That sounds truly terrible! I am so sorry you are going through such rough complications. Hopefully they will resolve of your medical team can find better ways to address them. It sounds like you aren't truly getting the care you need right now. Do you have any other options for seeking care?

How far post-op are you? It's very common to experience "buyer's remorse" in the early days/weeks. But typically, within a month or two, once people are recovered and adapted to their new way of eating, there are few regrets.

I did go with OCC. There were a couple of major factors in my decision. First was Dr. Ortiz' reputation. He is internationally respected, so that boded well. I also preferred to have my surgery in a surgical center versus a hospital. Some people prefer hospitals because they have emergency services on site, but I prefer surgical centers because of the lower risk of infection. If you do go with a hospital in TJ, make sure it is a real hospital with a real ICU. Many "hospitals" there are little more than surgical centers themselves. Another big factor for me was the follow-up support OCC provides. They have a nutritionist available to answer any and all questions, day or night, as well as several doctors on staff who can answer questions about medications, complications, and address any other medical concerns. Plus they continue to follow-up with me via email almost 2 years post-op now! Finally, I had read many many personal accounts from past patients and that made me feel very confident in my decision.

I stayed one night before the surgery in the hotel, night of the surgery in the surgical center, next night back in the hotel. I then went back across the border to San Diego, but stayed a night in a hotel there across from the airport, just because of the timing of my flight. I definitely could have flown home that day and not stayed in a hotel if there had been a later flight available.

@@goplay94123 That's beautiful! Should be great motivation to run!

You guys are going to make me cry! I am so happy to have inspired and motivated you! Running is not for everyone, but it's for a lot more of us than we probably think. I never ever would have thought I could be a "runner", but programs like C25k really make it possible for any of us who don't have chronic injuries. Sunday I ran a half marathon. Not officially, just for my full marathon training. I was scheduled to do 12 miles for my long run and between my warm up and cool down, it ended up being a full 13.1 miles. Crazy!

Most of us ae told to aim for 80-100 grams of protein, so that might be part of your problem. You may not be getting enough. You also didn't say how many calories you are getting. If you are exercising, and only eating protein shakes, you probably aren't getting enough calories. I pushed hard to get up over 800 calories by the time I started exercising and then about 1100 calories before I started doing any more than just walking.

Depending on the surgeon you choose in Mexico versus where you would be having surgery in the US (some cities have much higher costs than others) you can expect to pay about 1/3 to 1/2 of what you would pay in the States. I had an extended tummy tuck with muscle repair, breast lift with implants, fat grafting to my butt, and all-over lipo in Mexico in 2011 for about $11,000 (including the recovery house stay). Where I live in the US, I would have paid probably a little over $30,000 and would have been sent home a day or two after surgery to fend for myself!

My signature has the stats for how much I lost each month post-op. My numbers are even lower than VSGAnn's and yet I still reached my goal and have been maintaining for 10 months! I don't know why everyone is in such a hurry to drop the weight. How fast you lose soooooo doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Once you are at goal and maintaining, the rate of loss is completely irrelevant.

Get a new PCP. You should be able to change to another within your network. My PCP has been amazing through multiple surgeries in Mexico. She has done all of my follow-up check-ups and blood work from my VSG and my plastics. She's the best!

That's exactly right. No insurance company is going to pay for self-pay complications for surgeries done in the US and not surgeries done in Mexico. They are either just going to pay for complications or not.

Are you tracking your food? Are you exercising at all? Are you drinking your calories or eating any slider foods?

OCC? Absolutely. They have a fantastic facility, a world renowned surgeon, and a great team that will keep in touch with you for months and months post-op. I have heard a lot of great things on this site about the surgeons BariatrciPal is affiliated with as well. They seem to do their due diligence when vetting surgeons to partner with and seem to offer a lot of support. Definitely make sure that any surgeon your friend chooses offers follow up support and has a nutritionist on staff.

Amen to that! I don't know how I would have gotten through all this without this site and the people on it!

@@Oak Park Lorena Glad you are back to running! Down time from running is the worst! You'll get your conditioning back sooner than you think. @@chrisredjeep I am so thrilled to hear I helped inspire you to run and you are enjoying it so much. I think that for those of us with no natural aptitude for running, it is all the more fulfilling when we can call ourselves "runners".

I've been to TJ for surgery twice by myself. I'm glad I went alone. I would have felt obligated to keep a companion entertained and I was in no shape to be worrying about that. It was nice to only have to think about taking care of myself.

I simply contacted my insurance company and asked. They said any infection or hospitalization post-op would be covered. My PCP has ordered all my post-op blood work and my jnsurance had paid for it all, no pronlem,

So as a runner, this is something I *really* struggled with. I did not want to lose anymore weight, but as I was training for a half marathon (now training for a full marathon), the scale kept creeping down. The first thing I did is replace some of my meals/snacks with more calorie dense foods. cheese and nuts are great sources of extra calories, while still getting your Protein in. I also had to add in one or two extra "snacks" per day. I had been eating 5 times a day. I now eat 7 times a day most days. I also, finally caved in and started having a carb-only snack. Before my runs I will have a Clif Bar or a piece of whole grain toast with Peanut Butter. I also got a FitBit Blaze so I could more accurately track my calorie burn through the entire day (had just been using a heart rate monitor while running). And by logging my food for a while (don't have to anymore) I was able to make sure my calories in vs. calories out were pretty balanced. So far so good. I got to my lowest weight of 10 pounds below goal, but I have been sticking there for a while now.

What's your surgeon's name? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App Ariel Ortiz of Obesity Control Center

@ Yes. No matter how this works out, I definitely have a story to tell. I am so sorrg about your incident!

Well, he definitely scored a lot of points for being so awesome about the whole thing. I mean, if that's not "trial by fire", I'm not sure what is! Definitely looking forward to spending the weekend with him. He's meeting my sister tomorrow and I'm going to his best friend's birthday party on Saturday, so I guess things are getting pretty serious!

Complications since my surgery have been few and far between. I'm now almost 22 months post-op. I am in the process of divorcing my husband and have begun some casual dating. It's already been interesting navigating dating. I hadn't "dated" in probably close to 15 years... I am no longer in my 20's (I'm 37)... I am now much thinner and more attractive than I ever was in my previous dating periods... and I have my surgery preventing me from your normal kinds of dinner dates. So last night I was on a date. I hadn't told my date about my surgery, he just knows I eat Protein first and don't eat much at one time. So we were scheduled to go play Lasertron (fancy laser tag) and we wanted to grab some dinner ahead of time. We went to a restaurant he recommended, which I'd never been to before. I had half a burger without the bun and a few tatter tots. Not really any more than I typically eat at a "large" meal these days. But I must have eaten too fast or not chewed well enough or something, because I was feeling uncomfortably full after. It's a feeling I rarely encounter, as I am an "old pro" at this whole sleeve thing now, right? We went to Lasertron. I was still feeling full, but not too bad. I was able to run around and shoot children with the best of them! It was a ton of fun, but I did get very hot and sweaty. Afterward I bought some G2 from the little cafe there to re-hydrate and two sips in I was on the edge of throwing up. There was just no room in there for it to even get down my esophagus. I rushed to the bathroom where I experienced foamies for just the second time since my sleeve. Having experienced this once before (at Thanksgiving), I knew that it meant something was "stuck" and I was going to continue to be miserable until I actually vomited and dislodged whatever was stuck. Unfortunately, my attempts at vomiting just brought up the G2 and lots of mucus. So after the second round of attempted vomiting, I had to tell my date I was not feeling well and needed to go home. Of course, "home" was his house, because we'd only brought my car to dinner and Lasertron. At his house I proceeded to nearly vomit a bunch more times. He sat with me on the bathroom floor. Then he got me a bucket so I could lie down on the couch. FINALLY I actually threw up and felt a million times better. But completely humiliated by the whole thing. He was amazingly great about the whole thing. Even gave me a brand new toothbrush to use after the whole ordeal. I guess I have to marry this guy now, right? For being so great through that. And he still wants to keep dating me! I still didn't tell him about my surgery though.....

I gained 7 pounds of muscle while losing a total of 113 pounds. I guess I was speaking more from my personal experiences. As a former amateur competitive power lifter I was used to eating 300g of protein a day or more on a 7000+ calorie diet. I couldn't possibly and never will be able to eat that much in a day now with 75% of my stomach missing. Well you are certainly a special case. Most of us go into a situation where we needed surgery by eating loads of carbs and not enough protein and nutritious foods.

And your following stalls will last longer Sent from my SM-G930P using the BariatricPal App Hahahaha! Thanks for that!

Heh! That's exactly how I feel. I eat a lot, but I'm able to maintain 10 pounds below goal just by keeping up with my running!