MissKay

My journey started only about 9-10 months ago when I first learned about the VSG. I approached my doctor, she agreed, and we started the process for insurance. However, by about April of this year I was entirely fed up with the constant hoops they were making me jump through, and the co-pays I was having to pay even just to meet their requirements. I started looking into self-pay with little hope as I don't just have that kind of money lying around. Then I saw Alex's post for the $4399 surgery in Mexico. My brother had suggested looking at Tijuana surgeons, but I had shot it down. I did some digging, educated myself, asked a ton of questions, and within a month I had a down payment, and a surgery date scheduled with the BariatricPalMX team led by Dr. Illan.



This all included getting picked up in San Diego, brought to Tijuana, the surgery, 2 nights stay in the hospital, 2 nights in the recovery condos. And then, voila! Time to go home.



Being picked up and brought over was non-stressful, easy peasy. Stacy, who works for the BariatricPalMX team, did a great job at easing my mind on the drive over. She was so warm and welcoming! Once arriving at florence Hospital, I had blood drawn, an IV put in, and chest x-rays done. Soon after all the doctors started coming in (sorry, I don't remember all names). Everything was explained to me, every question I might've had was answered.



I think the first time something happened that I wasn't expecting was straight out of surgery. I was in the recovery room outside the OR and I was in PAIN. Most people didn't seem to experience much pain, but I did. Whether it was gas pain or actual pain, I don't know. They gave me two doses of morphine, and that didn't do anything other than make me extremely warm and nauseas. After another hour or two, a different pain medicine was administered with some anti-nausea, something for gas, and then eventually something to prevent infection. The rest of that day I was really weak, really uncomfortable, and did some walking and breathing exercising as much as I could.



I also will say, don't expect to get some restful sleep, haha. Nurses in and out every hour or two hours. But this is just a testament to how attentive and on top of it the staff was during this time. Which was truly appreciated and made me feel taken care of. The next morning I was taken for my leak test, and once that was passed, I was given some ice chips, Water, gatorade and apple juice. Of course coming off from the liquid diet I went straight for the apple juice. It tasted like heaven, but my new stomach didn't really agree. The sugar content didn't settle well. So I backtracked to the Water, took that slow, and had to take a sip of the Gatorade (not G2) every 30 minutes or so to kind of work up to it. By late that night/early that morning, I was able to drink the Gatorade just fine! (btw Gas-X strips will be your best friends!)



Wednesday we came here to the recovery condos, I began just been relaxing, sipping away at water and gatorade, working out the new timeline for the medicines that was prescribed. There was a very helpful packet outlining phases and what to have and not have. Luis was wonderful and took us out into TJ and we went to Caesar's where Josh (the boyfriend) had a good looking fish dish and I had the beef broth. It was delicious and I have yet to feel full, but have stopped myself in fear of taking in too much.

While we were in the hospital, Roberto was great and always checking in on Josh and getting him food and drinks whenever he needed it. He was well taken care of even though he didn't want to leave my side.



Dr. Illan came in and checked on my incisions the day before we moved to the recovery condo and to see how I was doing. Again, everyone was very attentive and caring, and just been great. I couldn't have asked for better attention and being put at ease. I'm so incredibly thankful and am now just easing forward and looking forward to healing and getting my life back on track now.



Thank you to everyone! Dr. Illan, Bill, Stacy, Roberto, Luis, Rosa, Jessica, Denise, and every other doctor, nurse, or staff member who's played a hand in this and helped me reach this goal and start a new life.

Dr. Jalil Illan was mine. At the time he was at the florence Hospital which was nice. They're now at the Oasis of Hope hospital and the people who've gone recently have had nothing but amazing things to say about the upgrade. It looks beautiful.
No issues! You can read about my experience here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/370663-its-been-a-bumpy-one/#entry4190081

Dr. Jalil Illan was mine. At the time he was at the florence Hospital which was nice. They're now at the Oasis of Hope hospital and the people who've gone recently have had nothing but amazing things to say about the upgrade. It looks beautiful.
No issues! You can read about my experience here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/370663-its-been-a-bumpy-one/#entry4190081

Things do happen, and of course with any surgery there is risk. I think what severed the ties between BP and them was their lack of preparedness in the situation, their lack of bedside manner, their lack of stepping up and realizing that they did wrong by their patient. I went with Dr. Illan and every 30 minutes for the first couple hours I was checked on. They actually told my boyfriend not to help me up if I needed to stand up or move around, to get them right away if I needed to do so. I had monitors hooked up, and they were all very attentive and took vitals often. I honestly got annoyed with how often because it prevented me from sleeping a lot of the time. But I'm glad they did because it did make me feel at ease and knowing that they had my best interest at heart. I'm not going to say, "no, don't use him, you're stupid if you do", because to each their own. I just urge that you dig, do lots of research. Not just him, but other surgeons as well. Prices may vary, but sometimes you get what you pay for, and this is your health and your life in the hands of the surgeon and their team that you choose. You want to make sure and have faith that they're great and able to return you without part of your stomach and that's it.
If you do look into others, my personal recommendation is Dr. Illan, he was my surgeon, and his entire team is fantastic. They're even at a better hospital now than when I had my surgery, so you'd be getting a bit of a treat.
I've heard great things about Dr. Jaime Ponce as well.

Um plus there's this:

Wow, this is exactly what I needed to read. My surgery is scheduled for June 2 at Oasis of Hope. Unfortunately I have a few people with negative opinions of me having the surgery. However, I have tons of positive supporters as well. Thank you for sharing your story and I wish you the best!

You can see more info on them at the BariatricPal Store or PatchMD.com
They're basically a 1-inch square patch that you wear for 8 hours a day, and it's absorbed directly into your bloodstream instead of going through your digestive track. You absorb more of the Vitamins as well. I've had 2 rounds of blood work done since wearing them (getting another done tomorrow, actually) and have had no issues.

Dr. Jalil Illan was mine. At the time he was at the florence Hospital which was nice. They're now at the Oasis of Hope hospital and the people who've gone recently have had nothing but amazing things to say about the upgrade. It looks beautiful.
No issues! You can read about my experience here: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/370663-its-been-a-bumpy-one/#entry4190081

I'm a believer that we are allowed to have something "bad" every now and then so long as mentally we are aware of what we're putting in our mouth, and that it can't happen all the time. I had a small slice of cheesecake last night because we were celebrating a birthday. I had to have mine 3 hours after dinner, but I got to have a few bites of it and it was great. I've had some organic baked potato chips a couple of times. I've eaten popcorn at the movie theater twice. Those are about the extent of "bad things" I've had.
This surgery is not (though many seem to believe it is) meant to eradicate every unhealthy piece of food from your life for the rest of your life. That's really setting yourself up to fail because it is natural to want something "bad". What this surgery is for is to push us to eat healthy things first and have the bad things fewer and less of. That's what I stick to. I'm lucky enough that I can have these "bad" things every so often and stick to my healthy eating the rest of the time. In the beginning the first time I broke away from my diet (3 months post-op I had some cheesecake when we went out of town) I beat myself up for it so badly that I was so angry with myself. Then a friend of mine who was the opposite of me, she suffered from bulimia, scolded me for it because for 3 months I stuck to it and I went right back to it after that small piece. I didn't make it a habit, I didn't let it lead me to other things constantly. Her advice was to allow myself those things as a treat every once in a while to keep myself mentally steady. For me it's worked. I know not everyone has the willpower, and it can be a slippery slope if you let it. Be aware. If you're grazing, graze on healthy things like veggies. Save the "bad" things for the once in a while "treats", but only if you are confident that you can stay on track doing so. Having things once in a while doesn't make you a failure.

I've stuck to home brewed coffee for the most part, or Starbucks Double Shot espresso drinks in a can (the small like 5oz ones). They're lower-carb and lower-sugar. I've been tempted to try the sugar-free Redbull as I know I'm find with the carbonation (I've had a couple beers and did fine), but I know energy drinks can be harsher on the stomach, so I've been timid.

My journey started only about 9-10 months ago when I first learned about the VSG. I approached my doctor, she agreed, and we started the process for insurance. However, by about April of this year I was entirely fed up with the constant hoops they were making me jump through, and the co-pays I was having to pay even just to meet their requirements. I started looking into self-pay with little hope as I don't just have that kind of money lying around. Then I saw Alex's post for the $4399 surgery in Mexico. My brother had suggested looking at Tijuana surgeons, but I had shot it down. I did some digging, educated myself, asked a ton of questions, and within a month I had a down payment, and a surgery date scheduled with the BariatricPalMX team led by Dr. Illan.



This all included getting picked up in San Diego, brought to Tijuana, the surgery, 2 nights stay in the hospital, 2 nights in the recovery condos. And then, voila! Time to go home.



Being picked up and brought over was non-stressful, easy peasy. Stacy, who works for the BariatricPalMX team, did a great job at easing my mind on the drive over. She was so warm and welcoming! Once arriving at florence Hospital, I had blood drawn, an IV put in, and chest x-rays done. Soon after all the doctors started coming in (sorry, I don't remember all names). Everything was explained to me, every question I might've had was answered.



I think the first time something happened that I wasn't expecting was straight out of surgery. I was in the recovery room outside the OR and I was in PAIN. Most people didn't seem to experience much pain, but I did. Whether it was gas pain or actual pain, I don't know. They gave me two doses of morphine, and that didn't do anything other than make me extremely warm and nauseas. After another hour or two, a different pain medicine was administered with some anti-nausea, something for gas, and then eventually something to prevent infection. The rest of that day I was really weak, really uncomfortable, and did some walking and breathing exercising as much as I could.



I also will say, don't expect to get some restful sleep, haha. Nurses in and out every hour or two hours. But this is just a testament to how attentive and on top of it the staff was during this time. Which was truly appreciated and made me feel taken care of. The next morning I was taken for my leak test, and once that was passed, I was given some ice chips, Water, gatorade and apple juice. Of course coming off from the liquid diet I went straight for the apple juice. It tasted like heaven, but my new stomach didn't really agree. The sugar content didn't settle well. So I backtracked to the Water, took that slow, and had to take a sip of the Gatorade (not G2) every 30 minutes or so to kind of work up to it. By late that night/early that morning, I was able to drink the Gatorade just fine! (btw Gas-X strips will be your best friends!)



Wednesday we came here to the recovery condos, I began just been relaxing, sipping away at water and gatorade, working out the new timeline for the medicines that was prescribed. There was a very helpful packet outlining phases and what to have and not have. Luis was wonderful and took us out into TJ and we went to Caesar's where Josh (the boyfriend) had a good looking fish dish and I had the beef broth. It was delicious and I have yet to feel full, but have stopped myself in fear of taking in too much.

While we were in the hospital, Roberto was great and always checking in on Josh and getting him food and drinks whenever he needed it. He was well taken care of even though he didn't want to leave my side.



Dr. Illan came in and checked on my incisions the day before we moved to the recovery condo and to see how I was doing. Again, everyone was very attentive and caring, and just been great. I couldn't have asked for better attention and being put at ease. I'm so incredibly thankful and am now just easing forward and looking forward to healing and getting my life back on track now.



Thank you to everyone! Dr. Illan, Bill, Stacy, Roberto, Luis, Rosa, Jessica, Denise, and every other doctor, nurse, or staff member who's played a hand in this and helped me reach this goal and start a new life.

Yeah the hair hasn't lessened for me and I'm almost 9 months post-op. I have had a 'regular' period the last 3 months, though. And I had like maybe 2 periods a year for the last 7 years, so that's a good sign. The hair is annoying, but it's just a part of my routine to take care of it at this point. I'd rather deal with the hair then the lack of fertility and the weight.

My journey started only about 9-10 months ago when I first learned about the VSG. I approached my doctor, she agreed, and we started the process for insurance. However, by about April of this year I was entirely fed up with the constant hoops they were making me jump through, and the co-pays I was having to pay even just to meet their requirements. I started looking into self-pay with little hope as I don't just have that kind of money lying around. Then I saw Alex's post for the $4399 surgery in Mexico. My brother had suggested looking at Tijuana surgeons, but I had shot it down. I did some digging, educated myself, asked a ton of questions, and within a month I had a down payment, and a surgery date scheduled with the BariatricPalMX team led by Dr. Illan.



This all included getting picked up in San Diego, brought to Tijuana, the surgery, 2 nights stay in the hospital, 2 nights in the recovery condos. And then, voila! Time to go home.



Being picked up and brought over was non-stressful, easy peasy. Stacy, who works for the BariatricPalMX team, did a great job at easing my mind on the drive over. She was so warm and welcoming! Once arriving at florence Hospital, I had blood drawn, an IV put in, and chest x-rays done. Soon after all the doctors started coming in (sorry, I don't remember all names). Everything was explained to me, every question I might've had was answered.



I think the first time something happened that I wasn't expecting was straight out of surgery. I was in the recovery room outside the OR and I was in PAIN. Most people didn't seem to experience much pain, but I did. Whether it was gas pain or actual pain, I don't know. They gave me two doses of morphine, and that didn't do anything other than make me extremely warm and nauseas. After another hour or two, a different pain medicine was administered with some anti-nausea, something for gas, and then eventually something to prevent infection. The rest of that day I was really weak, really uncomfortable, and did some walking and breathing exercising as much as I could.



I also will say, don't expect to get some restful sleep, haha. Nurses in and out every hour or two hours. But this is just a testament to how attentive and on top of it the staff was during this time. Which was truly appreciated and made me feel taken care of. The next morning I was taken for my leak test, and once that was passed, I was given some ice chips, Water, gatorade and apple juice. Of course coming off from the liquid diet I went straight for the apple juice. It tasted like heaven, but my new stomach didn't really agree. The sugar content didn't settle well. So I backtracked to the Water, took that slow, and had to take a sip of the Gatorade (not G2) every 30 minutes or so to kind of work up to it. By late that night/early that morning, I was able to drink the Gatorade just fine! (btw Gas-X strips will be your best friends!)



Wednesday we came here to the recovery condos, I began just been relaxing, sipping away at water and gatorade, working out the new timeline for the medicines that was prescribed. There was a very helpful packet outlining phases and what to have and not have. Luis was wonderful and took us out into TJ and we went to Caesar's where Josh (the boyfriend) had a good looking fish dish and I had the beef broth. It was delicious and I have yet to feel full, but have stopped myself in fear of taking in too much.

While we were in the hospital, Roberto was great and always checking in on Josh and getting him food and drinks whenever he needed it. He was well taken care of even though he didn't want to leave my side.



Dr. Illan came in and checked on my incisions the day before we moved to the recovery condo and to see how I was doing. Again, everyone was very attentive and caring, and just been great. I couldn't have asked for better attention and being put at ease. I'm so incredibly thankful and am now just easing forward and looking forward to healing and getting my life back on track now.



Thank you to everyone! Dr. Illan, Bill, Stacy, Roberto, Luis, Rosa, Jessica, Denise, and every other doctor, nurse, or staff member who's played a hand in this and helped me reach this goal and start a new life.

That's a GREAT first NSV! Mine was fitting comfortably into the seats at a concert with my niece 2 months post-op. Before, there's no way in hell I would've been able to without dying and being uncomfortable. But thanks to just those 2 months, I was able to comfortably and we had a great time. It's the NSV's like that that mean more I believe.

Empty calories. High sugar content. Empty carbs. High fructose corn Syrup. The list goes on and on. The biggest thing is once post-op, a lot of people can't tolerate the carbonation. I'm lucky that I can, but I stay far away from soda because there is no health benefit to it at all.

Nope. I personally think those are hyped up fads. Skin elasticity is dependent upon genes, time you've carried the extra weight, and how fast/slow you lose it. I don't think there's anything you can do to regain the elasticity.

I'm only nearly 8 months out so I'm not there yet, but I have PCOS and talked to a few women who had it, had wls and then conceived fairly easily (for a woman with PCOS). So it seems to definitely help from what I've heard. The biggest thing I heard was that they just relaxed about it, they didn't stress and constantly worry. It was when they did that that it worked. Good luck to you! I know how heartbreaking and frustrating it is but you've come this far, you can do it!

Empty calories. High sugar content. Empty carbs. High fructose corn Syrup. The list goes on and on. The biggest thing is once post-op, a lot of people can't tolerate the carbonation. I'm lucky that I can, but I stay far away from soda because there is no health benefit to it at all.

Nope. I personally think those are hyped up fads. Skin elasticity is dependent upon genes, time you've carried the extra weight, and how fast/slow you lose it. I don't think there's anything you can do to regain the elasticity.

I've been through the process already! I was sleeved in June, and I'm 26 years old. I wish I had known about the sleeve sooner. I had written of bypass or lap-band because of the horror stories I had heard. When I learned about the sleeve in October 2015, I did so much research and then took it to my doctor in December 2015, and June I had it done. You will definitely be nervous and even second-guess yourself. I did even as I laid in the hospital bed waiting to be rolled into surgery. They had to give me a light sedative to calm me down because I was on the edge of a panic/anxiety attack.
I even felt a bit of remorse off and on for the first 4 weeks post-op cause I felt like poop from low energy. Now I'm almost 9 months post-op, and nearly 100lbs down from the day of surgery, and I only regret not doing it sooner.

I was a healthy weight until about 19 or 20 years old. Then my (at the time undiagnosed) PCOS symptoms kicked in. I started gaining weight like crazy, and the bouts of depression I slipped into were terrible. I was also going through a huge change of moving away from all my friends and family and being very isolated. I was also very poor growing up, so all the junk food and fast food and eating out I couldn't afford started to become affordable. I definitely took comfort in food. After a couple years when I started trying to lose the weight and change my habits, because of the hormonal imbalance, nothing helped keep it off. And then I'd gain everything back, and then some. It's only been 7 years that I was that big, but now as I'm getting smaller and fitting into clothes again and doing things I never could, I actually find it hard to remember that I once could do those things and just... didn't. So it's definitely something that helps me remember that I lost my health once before, and I'm trying to stay on track to never do that again.

I recently felt some hard spots on my side and found my hipbones!

This happened months ago, but I still get a kick out of it: collar bones. I have them. Hadn't seen them in years. Every morning in front of the mirror, there they are.

Absolutely!! Also, it might go against the grain for some, but I didn't have this surgery so I could diet for the rest of my life. I intend to have the occasional adult beverage, dessert, pizza, etc. The difference is NOW I only have a couple of bites/sips and I'm done... not an entire pizza, 6 pints of beer, 2 slices of pie (with ice cream). My real dietary issue was always large portions of "real" food- steak, baked potatoes, bowls full of macaroni-and-cheese, giant burritos, 20 chicken wings, etc. I will never again be able to eat foods in the portions I used to consume, and that's fine with me. I NEVER want to weigh that much again, and can't eat that much anyhow. However, I do not intend to live my life eating just chicken and salad all the time. I will enjoy foods that I choose to eat, in portions I know I can handle. As you said, it won't be excessive, and it WON"T be every day!
(Actually, I'd kill for a real salad. I can't handle it... fills me up almost immediately and I'm in the bathroom within 2 hours. Who knew I'd crave lettuce, tomatoes, onions, beets, carrots, olives, green peppers, and bleu cheese dressing... with croutons!)

I tend to follow this method. It may come as a shocker to some, but I do eat bread and drink soda. Well let me state it more accurately and clearly. I eat small amounts of breads (carbs) weekly, and I may drink a soda once in a blue moon (still very rare for me to consume carbonated beverages). Thing is, I like you, don't eat an entire loaf of bread in 72 hour time span or consume a large pizza in one sitting for lunch. Or try and finish down said pizza with a 2 liter of diet Pepsi. Its all in extremely low moderation now, which is what I needed. I needed the portion controls and the sense of feeling very full and satisfied after a few ounces of food in my tummy and not a few pounds. So I Portion Control like a mother, and I still try and follow the rule of Protein first, veggies/starches second, and carbs last if there is room to spare for them.

The trade off for this consumption of carbs from bread I do indule in, is that I have to burn off what I consume for the day in exercise. Mostly via cardio, but does include some resistance training to boot. So if I had about 80g of carbs then I know that I will need to burn off caloric equivalent of that in exercise for that day. How I do it may not work for everyone else, but it has been working for me.

I think the only thing I could suggest for anyone is that to make sure you have a good understand of the foods you are consuming into your body, as well as having a healthy relationship with food. If someone is getting over food addiction and carbs/sugars were their trigger foods then its probably best for them to avoid those things. Also talk to your doctor/nut about these things before you start consuming them if you have any questions.

Just my $0.02 worth of input here.