I know this has been asked in many ways on this forum, but I've never really seen what I'm looking for. I have chosen Dr. Kelly as my surgeon. I'm scheduled for July 29th and have already paid my deposit and paid for plane tickets for my husband and myself. But, with the recent death he has had (along with "encouragement" from GA Girl ) I'm beginning to doubt my choice. I'm looking for help from everyone here to either confirm my doubts and help me choose a new Dr. or confirm my original decision to use Dr. Kelly and give me the courage to stick with him. TIA for anyone willing to help me out with this!

So, my question is...WHY did you choose the Dr. you did? I don't want to know about how great your experience was, I can find that info all over here. I want to know what made you finally decide on that Dr. What I mean is was it because he's in so & so location, his medical history is this, his personal history is that, his experience is this much, his training was here, his rates of complications/infections/deaths is that or maybe just because you heard so much great stuff about him, or your friend used him. I hope y'all get my meaning. I want specifics ! I'm not asking y'all to do my research for me, I can do that on my own. I just want your personal reasons for making the choice you did.

Glad you were able to come to you decision that you are comfortable with. As the only opinion that matters to you is yours. Keep us posted on your journey.

thanks for the post! I have settled on Dr. Kelly also and my date is right around the corner. Love to hear anothers perspective and I love the surprise question you asked him and I appreciate your tactful and gracious posting of his response.

Thanks again,

Susan

My information is not gossip, it is the information I received directly from Dr. Kelly's office. I am not here to sell someone like those aceves idiots. I wanted to help reassure a person who was thinking about going through with surgery. I have every right to have my opinions in my posts especially since I actually had surgery with Dr. Kelly.

Could you please talk about your own experiences only. This is not a site for idle gossip or hearsay.

I was informed from the doctors office themselves that they have not had any leaks. If you do not know the information first hand it would be appreciated if you did not gossip from the information you may have heard from others.

My information is not gossip, it is the information I received directly from Dr. Kelly's office. I am not here to sell someone like those aceves idiots. I wanted to help reassure a person who was thinking about going through with surgery. I have every right to have my opinions in my posts especially since I actually had surgery with Dr. Kelly.

If you saw whom I replied that message to you would have seen it was not you and someone who was trying to negate my information I was providing. Yes you have every right to tell your information as do I and not to have someone give false information that would negate my information.

I chose Dr. Ortiz to do my sleeve surgery. I felt like I was bucking the trend by using a surgeon with a glowing track record for lap band surgeries, but who had very little information online about his sleeve work. The reason I chose Dr. Ortiz was because I had an opportunity to meet him, question him and his staff, and tour his facilities before scheduling my surgery. There was no pressure from him, he was honest and frank in all of his answers to me, and he and his staff were extremely knowledgable. While I was there I was also able to speak with other patients who'd had sleeve surgery and were doing very well. While I was having my own sleeve surgery, I met 4-5 other women who'd had the same surgery days before or on the same day as my surgery. Everyone did extremely well. In fact, out of everyone I met I was the patient with the roughest recovery and even I'm doing wonderfully now.

It came down to this. I felt safe. I felt an immediate sense of trust when I met my surgeon, the staff NUT, and the other physicians and nurses on staff. I had no troubles with communication and everyone in the waiting room when I came in looked perfectly healthy.

Since my surgery, I've had a barium swallow and CT scan at my local hospital (I went in because I was feeling dehydrated). My doctors all remarked on how beautiful my incisions were and how well everything looked on my scan. Yesterday I went to my primary care physician and informed him of the decision I made and set a schedule for follow up blood work in three months. He examined me, asked me a lot of questions about where and who I'd had the surgery with, and then he praised me and told me he thought I'd made a very good decision.

I know he doesn't have a lot of feedback here for sleeve surgeries, but I can't recommend Dr. Ortiz enough.

Stupid me, I apologize. your comment came right after my post I thought you were talking to me.

If you saw whom I replied that message to you would have seen it was not you and someone who was trying to negate my information I was providing. Yes you have every right to tell your information as do I and not to have someone give false information that would negate my information.

Stupid me, I apologize. your comment came right after my post I thought you were talking to me.

Thank you for the apology. Mistakes can happen and will for everyone. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend.

Lilly, not to buck the thread (and I am a happy Aceves patient), but per an email from Nina in March, Dr. Aceves has had a leak. If you email her, she will tell you the stats- but from her email: 1 leak in a gastric sleeve surgery and no sleeve infections only one infection with a lap band patient, .5% strictures.

I did not ask about any patient deaths, but I may do that- just so I have the info in case it comes up..

Does anyone know the website for the hospital Dr. Kelly is now using? I want to research it on the internet.

I chose my surgeon Dr Kelly based on the comparisons I did with my top choices, which were Dr Kelly, Dr Alvarez, Dr Aceves, and Dr Rodriquez. I looked at education, training, experience, and complication/mortality rate. A hospital with ICU was important to me, the trauma training Dr Kelly had was a big plus for me. I liked that he over sews the staple line, I liked that he uses a 34fr bougie because of problems I had seen others have with getting fluid in immediately post op and strictures with a smaller size bougie, and he also does a technique in which he does extra wrapping at the part of the esophagus where a lot of leaks can and do occur. I also wanted at least 2 nights in the Hospital. The complication rate/# of sleeves done ratio was something I considered. I used the search feature on this website as well as OH, and went back 7 yrs. I also went by which MX border was the safest at the time I was going, according to the News and what I found googling. Even if Dr Kelly was the same price as the other surgeons, I would have chosen him, but I found nothing in my research that warranted paying an extra $3k to any other surgeon after I did all this research and read all the reviews.

I have already shared my experience, and as you said in your post, you aren't really looking for that. But if anyone has any questions, I will be happy to answer.

oasisofhope.com

you can just google Oasis of Hope Tijuana and some other stuff will come up too.

I loved Dr. Kelly. I had my surgery in February and I have been so blessed with good results.

You will be happy in your choice.

I emailed Trish about the Oasis of Hope and she said that wasn't correct information. I'm confused...how can the doctor say he does surgery somewhere and his coordinator say something else???? I'm supposed to have a phone consultation with him this week so hopefully things get sorted out. Trish said he does his procedure at Florence Hospital.

I've "heard" that he has been through several hospitals , I think Oasis was one of them but he does currently practice at Florence.

The hospital is called both. When you go inside one side is for Oasis patients and the other side is where Dr. Kelly does his surgery. When you go, if someone goes with you, be sure to tell them they can have the cafeteria cookmanything for them. They mostly serve vegan but will special order