Proud2BMe

@@Alex Brecher Thank You!

@@CanyonBaby What would you recommend to season regular broth? I've tried black pepper, red pepper, and garlic but it's still really bland.

@@Zachnchrissy After surgery there is a tendency to retain Water. However, if your pro-op diet was mostly protein and then you switch back to a mostly carb diet you will automatically begin to gain weight back as your body can more easily process the carbs into sugars and fats and store them in your live or fat cells. Once you heal from surgery and can eat regular food again try to go back to a more Protein based diet. Or talk to your doctor and see if you can do it now. That means you will need to cut out all sugars, no fruit juice or other sources of sugar either.

@@mrmrshandie Pre-op, most likely but check with your doctor. Post-op, it will probably hurt. Your life post-op will be completely different. You may never be able to tolerate spicy foods again and/or you may lose your cravings for it. Swanson's also has new flavored broths out that are awesome.

@@Soonerjoseph Who's Rocky?

I'm just going to go ahead and say this. For some reason there has been a slight influx of people who either are not getting weight loss surgery or who have had it in the U.S. who come on to the Mexican sub-forum and try to either pass shade on the thought of going to Mexico or try to spread fear by implying it's not safe. This really needs to stop. Everybody freaks out over a death. This is understandable. However, what people fail to realize is that people can and do die during the most seemingly simple of surgeries. Death is always a risk in any surgery. It's a low risk but it is a risk. If you feel you can't have the surgery even though the risk is low then there's no need for you to come on this board and speak about your fears or misconstrue the risks based on your fear of having the surgery or fear of where the surgery took place.

@@Cleo's Mom You can still die in a hospital. Also, you may not realize this but patients in the U.S. are routinely transferred to other hospitals based upon the situation. So you may be in an emergency and the closest hospital is say 5 minutes away. However, if that hospital decides it is not the right location for you or that another location is better you will be taken there instead, even though it may be 10, 15+ minutes away. Also happens if by chance the hospital is full.

@@Edavidson Please keep in mind that other people don't share your concern. Many people have been helped by having their surgery in Mexico. For those who have to pay out of pocket for the surgery it's a godsend. Many people already have a physician lined up just in case they have complications back home in the U.S. However, many people do not and have zero problems. The complication risk is actually low for this surgery. It's not zero and no surgery is. But this risk of complications for gastric sleeve is far lower than with gastric bypass. Another thing you need to realize is that many doctors in Mexico have more experience with gastric sleeves and perform more surgeries. So they have more experience than many doctors in the U.S. That's a plus.

@@Edavidson Same with me. I worked with a gal who got the gastric bypass. A couple weeks later she died of an infection. So I knew I didn't want that procedure. However, I foolishly dismissed all weight loss surgery because of that. Now I'm a bit more educated and realize that other surgeries, such as gastric sleeve, are different and have less risk.

@@Edavidson The reason why you weren't able to get that much information on gastric sleeve is because it's relatively new. Gastric bypass has been around since the early 80s. Gastric sleeve is just about 10 years old.

Update: I only lost one pound since yesterday. So this is proof that your weight loss will slow down on your pre-op diet as your body becomes accustomed to the diet. The days that I felt like crap, the first two days, were the days I lost the most weight. I am going to try to get some more exercise in. Monday I will go on a full liquid diet and hopefully that will shock my system so that I can lose more weight before surgery.

@@SuninVirgo The risk of heart attack is highest upon given anesthesia as it can raise the blood pressure significantly. Again, it depends on the health of the person before surgery. Many obese people are literally dangling off of a cliff health-wise and may simply not realize such. However, knowing that one simply can not hold natural deaths like a heart attack against a doctor this news would not cause me to change my mind. What would change my mind is the experience level. I want a doctor who has performed thousands of gastric sleeve surgeries, not someone who is just starting out.

@@Helena101 Yes. Or go to the emergency room. The emergency room will not turn you away and if you need emergency surgery they will perform it. You will get an outrageous bill though.

Freddie is right. Also most do not cover you in the U.S. You would have to return to Mexico if anything went wrong. I too was offered it but turned it down.

@@freddie8_8 San Diego is 25 minutes from Tijuana, not hours away. If a doctor is charging below say $4,500, then it's usually because they are a new doctor trying to get established. I personally want a doctor who has done hundreds of procedures and who is not just starting out. I don't want to become a new doctors learning lesson. Tijuana is right next door to San Ysidro, Ca, in case of a Medical Emergency the border is opened up for the ambulance it takes mere minutes Most Hospitals are no more than 5 miles from the Border some are even closer People who are transported to the USA go back there because they do not want or have the money to pay the medical bill for their care so they are taken back to the USA so they can have their insurance cover the expenses

@@SimplySharon The point is that you should have already been made aware that you might die during surgery. If anyone is going into this without understanding that there is risk for surgery then please realize that you have not researched this enough. No surgery is 100% safe. However, you need to do some soul searching to find out if the risk is worth it or not. Many people who chicken out of having the surgery will go on to die of an obesity-related illness. For example, I knew a woman in the early 2000s who canceled her gastric bypass within days of doing it. She lived for 2 more years and died of a heart attack brought on by the fact that she was morbidly obese, weighing over 400 lbs. So don't think that you are safe by canceling your surgery. You just need to be aware that there is a risk of death and a risk for complications. If you feel the benefits outweigh the risk then go ahead and do it. The majority of people do fine with gastric sleeve. This board is filled with people who have had the surgery and are pleased with the results. Speak to your doctor if you have any more concerns.

@@SuninVirgo You don't know what the health of the person is going into surgery. Not every death is from negligence. In fact most surgery-related deaths are natural, part of the risk of having surgery. Simply being obese puts you at a greater risk for dying during surgery. Did you know that? The higher your BMI the greater your risk of death. If you are diabetic or have high blood pressure then your risks for death during or shortly after surgery are even higher. Then again, even healthy people sometimes die in surgery. I've heard of a case of a healthy 20 year old guy who had a heart attack when given anesthesia and died. So this belief that surgery should be 100% safe is simply not correct. Whichever doctor you chose will let you know that there is a risk of death. No doctor can promise you that you will not die or will not experience any complications. There are things you can do to lessen your risk of death. If you are diabetic or have high blood pressure, get it under control before having surgery. Follow the pre-op diet and lose as much weight as possible before surgery. If you plan your surgery for a month or longer into the future don't wait until two weeks before your surgery to start your diet. Start your diet right then and there. The lower your weight at surgery the higher your chance of surviving.

@@Kristomoto Good luck!

Okay, updated for those who haven't started the pre-op diet yet. The first 2 days were horrible! I had a constant headache, felt like I was going to faint, and had zero energy. I almost gave up and caved in but I am determined to be successful at this so I kept marching onward. I'm on day 4 and I feel much better. No more headache and no more feeling of faint. However, I still get periods where I feel I have no energy. I started the diet on Monday. I don't eat Breakfast so I have a Protein shake for lunch. Then between lunch and supper I have a sugar free popsicle. For supper I have lettuce and some skinless, unbreaded chicken or other lean meat. Then later in the evening I have some sugar-free Jello. Starting on Monday I can no longer have the lettuce and meat for supper and have to swap that out for another Protein Shake. I have lost a total of 13 pounds since Monday. However, I suspect that as my body is getting used to my diet that my weight loss will slow down. As long as I can lose 7 more pounds before surgery, for a total of 20lb lost, then I will be pleased. Next week I also have to stop drinking caffeinated beverages, mostly diet pop, which I am addicted to. I probably will once again have some bad headaches as I get weaned off of caffeine. So I'm not going to lie. The diet is hard. But if you can find the strength to keep with it for the first 2-3 days then it gets a whole lot easier.

@@Salonboi I'll check into the sugar free pudding next time I'm at the store.

People seem to forget that death is always a risk with surgery. Patients who have comorbidities, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, lung problems, etc., are at a greater risk than those who do not have such issues. The risk of death is small for a relatively healthy person. However, every patient needs to be aware of the risks before going into this.

@@Salonboi It's a negative on the "cream of" soups. They have too many carbs. I'm supposed to stay under 5gm carbs a day and just one can of cream of mushroom as 18gms of carbs, if you eat the full can. I made 2 full boxes of sugar-free Jello last night and ate it all. I felt like such a pig until I checked the calories. 2 boxes of sugar-free jello only have 80 calories. LOL

@@Salonboi They didn't tell me anything about broccoli or cauliflower. I'll have to check. Ditto on the "cream of" soups but broth is okay. I never even thought about sugar free pudding. I'll have to look into that! Thanks.

@@PMJ Thank you!

May 12 for me but with Dr. Sergio Verboonen in Tijuana.