sxynana

So I had my 6 months check up at the hospital on Thursday, 1 day before 7 months.
I saw my surgeon who could not be more thrilled with me. I have lost 82% of my excess weight. (which is a little strange as I have lost 91% of what will give me a normal BMI) They don't want me to loose too much more weight as I'll start to look sickly. They don't think I'll need any plastics, as I don't have an over hang and my blood results are great (the doctor at my support group will probably disagree. All my values are within range, but some are in the lower end, and since she is a specialist on supplements for bariatrics, she prefers us in the upper range). They also have a score that they calculate, that I don't remember, but it was very high, and she called me a success case. I don't go back until my 1 year check up. (I'll just have blood drawn in 3 months and show my support group doctor)
They were actually fully booked for the BIA test, but the surgeon wanted med to have one, so she called and asked if they could fit me in, and they could. They are done by the nutritionist.
She was also very impressed when she saw me, and after the test she could not be happier. I have the values for all 3 tests (1 month pre op, 6 weeks post op and 7 months post op) I managed to gain another 4 lbs before starting my pre op diet, so it wasn't at my very highest.
The only negative thing was my phase angle. It has dropped. It's a measurement that shows how well your muscles are getting nutrition. That along with my total Protein (from the blood test) she wants me to eat more, and get more protein. Other than that, everything was great and she was so impressed, especially how much muscles I still have. All the working out and walking has helped tremendously.
I have included pictures from about 6 months and 7 months post up. It's only like 5 lbs between the pictures, but I see several changes.

Did you have plastic to remove excess skin? You look awesome! HW 350 SW 301 CW 214 GW 140

You look great! I had surgery Oct 3 in Mexico with Dr. Cabrera (awesome), just over 5 mths ago. My starting wt: 350 CW: 227 I am 5ft3. I have alot of loose skin and am trying to keep extra hydrated to help with that. I do 30 min cardio and 40 min resistance bands. YOU LOOK AWESOME. I also am curious as to what exercises you are doing and other things to skin looking good.[emoji109][emoji109][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

I use measuring cup for everything but meat. I use a pocket scale to weigh meats. Bought mine at "head shop." They looked at me with doubt when I told them I just needed one to weigh my food. Lol.

Increasing Water intake helps reduce this problem for some people. I try to drink 80 oz or more a day. Don't always get there, but my skin isn't a crepey as some people and I've lost a little over 150. My doctor still advises me to increase fluids tho.

Wow!

Did you have plastic to remove excess skin? You look awesome! HW 350 SW 301 CW 214 GW 140

Did you have plastic to remove excess skin? You look awesome! HW 350 SW 301 CW 214 GW 140

I will just relay a short story about my experince in Mexico. I am a nurse and have worked in surgery for 12yrs. I had my lap band removed and a conversion to VSG. I had complications in Mexico and did not feel the hospital was adequately equipped to deal with serious issues. The nurses spoke very broken English and there where no CT scanners or MRI machines nor ICU beds. IF everything goes well Mexico is a great option. My best friend had same procedure same day. Did great. For the 95% of people that go and do perfect Mexico is a God send (we were both self pay) but it's a choice you ultimately have to make yourself. I am now 4 weeks post op and have a 1mm stricture in my stomach and require further surgery. The same complication could happen at ant hospital to any surgeon the difference is in the US the hospital and staff have the equipment and knowledge to handle just about anything..... so my point is this. Think hard and long about how willing you are to accept the consequences of your decision. [emoji738]

I had a very positive experience in Mexico having the VSG, and I felt more confident about it from speaking directly with other patients. This forum provided some insight, but on RealSelf people posted more detailed reviews that included pictures, and that was helpful. I PM'd with about ten people who I felt reasonably sure were genuine and not slyly working for coordinators, about the surgeon I chose and others I considered. I also found articles from legitimate newspapers that were positive. Most were from Canadian newspapers detailing how people opted to go to Mexico to avoid the lengthy waits for having it locally. YouTube is another source because some people created videos showing the hospitals / clinics where they had their surgery, and discussing their experience. Coordinators should be able to provide the full credentials for the surgeons they work with, so you know they're certified.
As for research on WLS itself you can find ample studies on it from leading hospitals, and articles in more trustworthy papers. Best wishes to you!

For me going through Mexico was the far easier route, for two main reasons. The first was what I wrote about in my previous post - my BMI was around 32 at the highest, and my insurance only provides coverage if your BMI is over 40, or over 35 and you have co-morbitidies (my conditions do not qualify with them for eligibility). So I would have had to gain a substantial amount to be covered, and even then would have to go through a lengthy process. Or pay $29,000 to $35K which wasn't feasible at this stage of my life. The other reason why it was so much easier was full control over when I had the surgery. I didn't have to go through six months of nutritional classes, psychiatric evaluation, or a plethora of tests. I felt confident I was a strong candidate based on my endocrinologist's recommendation for having the VSG and the research I'd done on it specifically for low BMI women with PCOS. She ordered a full panel of blood tests to rule out cause for concern before I booked the surgery. I also had a blood test and EKG in Mexico before the surgery. I was able to choose the exact date for the surgery. I'm a professor and was wanting to fit it in during the stretch of time I had between quarters so I could recover before returning to work. It was an uncomplicated and stress-minimal experience.
In some respects I think going to Mexico requires more work on the patient's part to become informed because you have to educate yourself instead of receiving all the info from your surgeon's office. I did receive information from my surgeon's office - a binder - but that was after, not before, the surgery, and I wanted to be prepared in advance. It was simple to do, though, with the ample amount of information posted on sites like the ones for the mayo Clinic's bariatric center, Stanford, UCLA, etc, plus learning from forums, YouTube, and the like.
I also loved that I paid for the surgery, and that was that. I've gotten sucker punched by medical bills before, such as when I was treated in the Emergency Room and found out later on that the doctor was not in my network. That was painful. People on here have written about getting similarly unpleasant surprises, such as huge bill for an anesthesiologist who wasn't in-network, even though the surgeon who performed the WLS was.
So when someone says going to Mexico is the easier route, I don't take offense to it at all. As Einstein said, "everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler." Some people really benefit from the educational classes their surgeon provides and all the required testing, and they can get their surgery fully covered by their insurance. For them, having the surgery locally makes perfect sense. I do think that going to Mexico because you were deemed to be too at-risk for the surgery in the US would be an entirely different situation. Someone over 65, diabetic, with a history of blood clots, etc, would be taking on far more of a gamble with their health than someone like me who was low-risk. The woman who died in Mexico might have had risk factors that contributed to her death after WLS, and she might not have; she might have been in fine health besides her weight. One of my friends who was never overweight, never drank, never smoked, was a runner, and the epitome of health died in January of a heart attack at age 32. She had no idea she had a heart problem because she'd never shown any symptoms of it, and was too young for the routine testings older people have to detect issues and treat them.

Sometimes people who go to Mexico just don't have an insureance that covers WLS!! To state that people are taking the easy and cheapest way out isn't very fair. Legit people go because it is an option that they can get their WLS done.

My husband is a physician at a top-ranked Los Angeles hospital, and it's not uncommon for their patients to decide to make the short trek down to Mexico for a myriad of treatments, because of the extreme difference in costs for comparable care. Even with top-of-the-line insurance the costs can be astronomical. Medical tourism has become so common that several US insurance companies now provide coverage for it. The Canadian government has reimbursed some of the costs affiliated with bariatric surgery for their citizens who have it in Mexico, mainly to avoid the lengthy wait periods (in some areas it can be a decade's wait). It's not just WLS, but cancer treatment, orthopedic surgeries, and a whole host of other medical issues that people seek treatments for, and so long as the facility and doctors they chose are reputable, the outcome can be comparable. It's why it's imperative to do due diligence when researching and considering any type of surgery, in the US, Mexico, or anywhere else.
I personally went to Mexico for the VSG because my BMI was under 35, and even if I gained weight I still would not have met my insurance's eligibility requirements because my conditions (PCOS and hypothyroidism) did not qualify. My endocrinologist had recommended the VSG to me to boost fertility, and said that other women my age and size had successful outcomes with the surgery. I first consulted with local surgeons, and the quotes given were $29,000 to $35,000. I would have had to pay this entirely out of pocket. I then asked my doctor if she ever had any patients who went to Mexico for surgery, and she said she did. She'd apparently made a wildly inaccurate assumption about how much money I have, which is why she hadn't mentioned that option to me at first and instead had recommended the local surgeons I saw. She agreed to provide me with all follow-up care for having the VSG in Tijuana. The total cost of my surgery was $4200, which included two nights at the Marriott. I had no complications, and a very positive experience. That was 18 months ago. I've been maintaining at a size 2-4 for about six months. Many of my issues with PCOS have been alleviated.
Just the other day I was reading on here about someone's surgery costing $70,000. $70,000 vs. $4200. Surgical complications and deaths can occur at any facility. At the hospital where my husband works patients died due to medical equipment that hadn't been properly cleaned (the fault mainly lying with the manufacturer of the equipment for providing inaccurate directions on how to clean it) and caused massive infections. Healthy young people have died during routine surgeries right here in the US. Teenagers have died having their wisdom teeth removed, most often from an underlying medical condition unknown at the time. People have died from blood clots after very routine procedures. Joan Rivers died in NY from an unexpected complication to a minor surgery.
I'm not at all surprised that a patient died after / during bariatric surgery. What needs to happen is for the surgeon's office and the coordinators working with him to be transparent about what happened. That's what other reputable facilities / surgeons have done after a death - provide the factual information about what happened. What looks shady is obfuscation.

Because there are some very good and experienced surgeons down there who perform the same surgery for a fraction of the price.
Not everyone in the US has medical insurance, and many insurance companies eliminate coverage for bariatric procedures because they can get away with it.
Medical Tourism, just like domestic medical, involves doing your homework about the organization and surgeon and making sure you're scrupulous about aftercare. And just like domestic surgery, there will be some great businesses, some who give the bare minimum, and some who need to be shut down.
There's really no reason to come on the SURGERY IN MEXICO forum just to say you, personally, don't believe in medical tourism at all.
Why would anyone completely change their plan because one random person on the internet has the opinion that an entire country's population is substandard?

I use measuring cup for everything but meat. I use a pocket scale to weigh meats. Bought mine at "head shop." They looked at me with doubt when I told them I just needed one to weigh my food. Lol.

You look great! I had surgery Oct 3 in Mexico with Dr. Cabrera (awesome), just over 5 mths ago. My starting wt: 350 CW: 227 I am 5ft3. I have alot of loose skin and am trying to keep extra hydrated to help with that. I do 30 min cardio and 40 min resistance bands. YOU LOOK AWESOME. I also am curious as to what exercises you are doing and other things to skin looking good.[emoji109][emoji109][emoji122][emoji122][emoji122]

When's the next challenge starting?!

Yesterday weight:225
Challenge goal weight: 224. Missed by 1. Thank you for this challenge.

Yesterday weight:225
Challenge goal weight: 224. Missed by 1. Thank you for this challenge.

When's the next challenge starting?!

I hained 15 lbs immediately post op. Was only air, fluids and inflammation from surgery. Lost that plus at about 2 weeks out. STAY OFF scales FOR ABOUT A MONTH

I hained 15 lbs immediately post op. Was only air, fluids and inflammation from surgery. Lost that plus at about 2 weeks out. STAY OFF scales FOR ABOUT A MONTH

That is so exciting! I can imagine and understand that you are nervous and unsure.. but honestly having your current loose skin removed will help SO much in your day to day life. I would say it's totally worth it to go ahead and do this now and once at goal to do the revision later! Not having the painful loose skin will make it easier for you to exercise and get around which will help you get to goal.. so I say go for it! No matter what you decide or what happens, I know you can do this and it is so awesome how far you have come in your journey so far! Congrats girlie

Body fortress whey banana and chocolate flavors from Walmart.

Sent from my SM-J700T1 using BariatricPal mobile app

CW: 227.1
GW: 224.0 I'm losing inches too, so I am satisfied.