sleevydreams

Mine is January 7th, today is my 1st on the pre-op diet. I'm excited & a little scared too. But I am mostly excited about the future

Another January 7th right here!

Yep. I do have a Facebook. I have made a new page just for this journey. My name is Michelle Harwell & the page for my vsg stuff has sleevy dreams in the parentheses next to my name.

@@time for june! I love that!! @@DaiDai I'm also scheduled for January 7th. I don't have a specific weight loss requirement before surgery, just a liquid diet to shrink liver, but I was instructed to start 10 days before surgery instead of 14...I guess just different surgeons have different preferences, but I am considering doing 14 just to be in the safe side. I want to make this as uneventful of a surgery as I possibly can.

Well, its as good as written in stone for me. I just finished booking our flight & paying my deposit. We're flying into San Diego a day early so we've booked a hotel room there too. No turning back now & I couldn't be more thrilled!

We're all getting so close! It's exciting!!

Dr. Verboonen will be doing mine. That's awesome that yours is tomorrow. Good luck! Hope you have an easy recovery and a great experience there.

Oh my! I don't know for sure which hotel I'll be at. I fly in the morning of surgery, spend the 1st 2 nights in the hospital then just the last night in the hotel. I hadn't even thought to ask the name of the hotel because from the time I found out I would actually get to schedule a date, everything feels like it's moved so fast lol. I will email my coordinator though & find out.

I certainly will. a friend of my daughters had to get hers quickly about a year ago & she said it was back in 2 or 3 weeks after she applied. Since we're just getting the passport card, the fee to expedite should only be about $60. Good luck & I hope you get yours in plenty of time so you don't have the added stress of that to worry about.

Scheduled for January 7th with Dr. Verboonen in Tijuana. Can't wait!! I'm so thankful for this forum, I've really learned a lot just by cruising all the different boards. Good luck to everyone!

My surgery is scheduled for January 7th in Tijuana with Dr. Verboonen. I'm so excited!! When I first scheduled earlier this week, the plan was for me to go alone but my husband and kids are freaking out about that, lol so my husband is going to apply for his passport card on Monday & pay an extra fee to expedite it. We've heard you can get it back in 2-3 wks when expedited so keeping fingers crossed for that. Other than his passport, my next steps are booking our flight & getting my supplies all together for preop diet & stuff to pack. I'm so excited!!!

I am for sure going January 7th! Finances are all in order & I think my husband is going to get to go too! I'm so excited! Yay!!

How exciting! I'm still working on the financial part but hopefully I'll hear something soon. :-/

I am hopefully having my sleeve done 1/7/15 with Dr. Verboonen in Tijuana...just waiting to hear about financing I've applied for. (Fingers crossed!!) Anyone else going to be there during this time? Anyone recently had their surgery there that can offer up any tips?? thanks in advance!

Yay! I'm so glad to hear from others that have had their surgeries with him. I live in a small community & several people here have went to him but most of the ones I actually know have went to his cancun practice. It's good to hear good things from the tijuana site since that is where I'll be going. . I had my first real step in the right direction today, I got all of my stuff turned in & sent off for my passport card! Lol, I feel kind of goofy for being excited since I don't even have a date yet.

Well, I'm still in the research phase, but pretty certain I will go to Tijuana, MX to Dr. Verboonen. Several people from around here have been to him in either tijuana or Cancun & have had great success & have had nothing but great reviews of his staff & facilities. My insurance covers no part of anything weight loss related so I'll have to pay out of pocket. The price they charge includes everything but the airfare so it's a more "do-able" option for me. Oh btw, I lived in owasso for part of my 5th grade year. It is a very nice place.

I'm about 2-2 1/2 hrs SE of Tulsa. Grew up in & around Tulsa off & on my whole life.

Did your insurance cover yours in Tahlequah?

I'm in southeastern oklahoma. I haven't had surgery yet, I'll be a self pay so probably going to have to go to Mexico.

RedDirtRoads I love your screen name too. yeah, unfortunately I found my "certificate of benefits" book & it clearly says they will not pay anything for weight loss including medications, any kind of treatments, nothing. I expected it but it's still a bummer seeing it in writing under their list of exclusions. I will still do this, the road is probably just a little longer & uncertain as to where it ends up. Good luck to you though & keep us updated on how it goes for you.

Good luck to you as well! I'll be honest, the thought of going all the way to Mexico to have this done and not being near my surgeon afterward scares the crap out of me. His cash pay price is under $10,000 for the sleeve so even with the reduced cost for the procedure in Mexico, after you add in airfare or gas/rental car to drive for yourself, not to mention if you're taking a family member or friend too... Just seems like it would cost nearly as much in the end. The big thing that sold me on this clinic is how much importance they put on follow up and their support groups. You get a year of post op visits with your total cost and they have a $300 package they require (insurance will not cover that) that has 2 years of monthly nutrition and fitness counseling. You can tell they care about your success. You're so right about the anxiety of going to Mexico, I've thought a lot about that. But, I live in a fairly small community & there have been several women from around here that have went to one particular Dr. & have had great success & rave about what great care they received. They had a seminar here back in June but I was unable to go. They're having another one next Saturday in a town about 45 min from where I live so I'm going to it for sure. I really wish I could afford to go to weight wise, but I found my benefits book for bcbs & it specifically states that it excludes ALL weight loss treatment including for the morbidly obese, and also excludes any care after any weight loss treatments. I plan to keep researching though & looking into ways to pay no matter where I go.

Thank you. That definitely gives me an idea of what to expect & where to start. Good luck to you in this journey!

Hi everyone. I'm in the research phase I was looking into going to Mexico but now that I've read all of the posts here I'm really considering weight wise. I live in Southeast oklahoma & would love to not have to travel to Mexico if at all possible. Obviously finding a good surgeon is the most important but cost is definitely a close second for me. My question for you all is, I have BCBS of OK. Anyone else here have them? Do they cover any part of this process? If so, could you give me just a ballpark estimate of what to expect out of pocket? Thanks in advance. It's so exciting to read everyone's stories. Good luck to all of you no matter what stage you're in.

I'm from Oklahoma. I'm just in the beginning / investigation phase right now. It's so expensive here that I'm focusing on looking into going to Tijuana or Cancun to have the surgery. I get nervous just thinking about it but only because I've never been out of the country...therefore my 1st step will have to be getting a passport. I'm also looking into HOW to pay for it because even though it's cheaper there, it's still more money than I have "just lying around."