I arrived in Tijuana this afternoon. i was met at the airport by Samuel (Dr Garcia's driver) and taken to the Ticuan Hotel. I will be going to the hospital for the surgery tomorrow at 7AM. Thus far, I have been pleasantly surprised by the hotel and the Professionalism of the driver. I live in Puerto Rico and I speak fluent Spanish but I havent had to speak Spanish at all since I've been here. Actually, from what I have seen so far, people speak better English in Tijuana than in Puerto Rico.

I'll post here after the surgery when I am feeling up to it to let you all know how it went. This forum has been very useful to me and I am eager to contribute by giving an informed report of my experience. I am a 4th year medical student so I think I will be able to give a very informed opinion of the standard of care here. For what it is worth all of my research thus far indicates to me that, at least in Dr. Garcia's practice, the standard of care meets or exceeds standars of care in a US hospital. After the surgery I will let you know if my opinion remains the same. Thanks to everyone on here who has posted their opinions and experiences as they were very helpful to me :-)

Wishing you well. Let us know about your experience.

Good luck and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Best of luck to you!

Good luck, and looking forward to hearing your experience!

God Bless! Praying for a great surgery for you!

Well the surgery went well and im in my hospital room relaxing. I will post later with more details because all i have is my iPad right now. But thing are gng well.

It's good to hear that your surgery went well.

Yay! Glad to hear it went well! Keep us posted!

Glad to hear you are doing well!

_{Glad to hear things went well. I was sleeved on Monday with Dr. Garcia. I love his demeanor, He is very soft spoken. I like Samual. Ask him what he does besides being a driver. You will be surprised. He gets around in that Volvo.}

Yay! Wishing you a speedy recovery. Tell Alex and Silvana that Arlea and Paula say Hi! Love those nurses there.

Just a little Update. I was discharged to the hotel today, and I am feeling quite well given the surgey I just had. I'm toleratipng oral liquids, have very little pain and am resting quite comfortably. I will write a detailed account of everytng once i get home and have a computer instead of just my ipad. Thank you all for your kind words!

Wow glad you had such a great experience. I am going to Mexico in March for my surgery with Dr. Kelly...can't wait, getting very excited! But also nervous....

congrats on the surgery!!! I will be sleeved by Dr. Garcia the 16th, yay!! Please if you have any tips, advice, or anything to tell about your experience I would love ot hear it!! thanks

Well, I'm home in Puerto Rico and resting and recovering comfortably. I'm glad I'm a single guy with relatively few responsibilities, because right now, while I'm only in very minimal pain, I just want to lay in bed and watch TV. But I am very happy that my recovery is going as planned.

So, as promised, here is a more detailed account of my experience!

The hotel shuttle took me promptly at 7AM to the hospital, where I checked in, got settled in my room, and met two lovely nurses who took care of me for the day. The started my IV, and took an EKG. The machine they used for the EKG was a relic. I'd actually never seen one of these (only heard stories about what a pain they are), with big metal electrodes that you attach with gel. This isn't a standard of care issue, as the machine still produces accurate tracings from all the leads. I looked at the EKG and verified that the tracings were exactly what I expected them to be. I then met with an internist, who took my history, ordered some labs, and then she told me about her personal experience with the gastric sleeve that she had done two years ago. She said it was the best decision of her life, and I truly believe that my decision to get the gastric sleeve ranks among the best decisions in my life.

I should note here, that all of these conversations were in Spanish. I'm not sure how well they spoke English because I never tried to speak English to them. The internist, I think, speaks fluent Engish, and so does Dr. Garcia and the Anaesthesiaologist. So after I was cleared for surgery, Dr Garcia came in and we talked about the procedure, asked any questions I had, and then he explained everything in English to my mother who was with me (and didn't speak Spanish).

The Anesthesiologist came in and immediately started speaking to me in English. Dr Garcia told me that he specializes in cardiac cases, doing anesthesiologist for heart transplants and such, and that he chose this anesthesioloist because frequently people who are morbidly obese have cardopulmonary issues that make their anaesthesia more complicated and he wants to be fully equipped with everything.

Once that was done, they took me in a wheel chair to the OR, set me up on the table, and I made small talk with the anesthesiologist about the drugs he was giving me. Next thing I know, I woke up. I was in pretty servere pain and nauseus, and they immediately gave me a shot of burpenorphine and zofran, and I felt better within a few minutes. I vomited a clot of blood, and was immediately reassured that this is normal. I needed to urinate and the nurses helped me do that while I was still in the recovery bed. It would have been embarassing but I as still pretty out of it and just glad for the help.

After a couple of hours where I mostly slept, they transferred me to my room. My mother had been updated about my progress and immediately I started walking, first around the room and then around the ward. The walking really helped, and every time I complained of pain the nurses gave me what was necessary to keep me comfortable.

The next day, I was feeling way better and went for the first leak test. It was really cool because I got to watch the flouroscope in real time. No leaks! yay! The second leak test, a few hours later, was the methylene blue, which was nasty but hey, none of it came into the drain so I passed the second leak test and was cleared to start liquids. Apple juice, ice chips, and gatorade. I worked on that as best I could and slept quite a bit. I should mention that Dr. Garcia came by to check on my regularly, way more than surgeons I have worked with personally checked on their patient.

The next day I was discharged to a hotel, to recover a bit more before my flight. Prior to leaving, Dr. Garcia talked to me for a long time, answered all of my questions and gave me a big hug. It was a successful surgery and recovery, and I could tell he was happy for me and proud of his good work. And, ladie's and gentlemen: it was great work in a great facility!

I had top class nursing attention the whole time I was there. Experienced physicians, fully facilities and everything made the whole process go very smoothly, and I feel like they have really give me a great gift of a new life. I feel so strongly about this that I won't hesitate for a moment to recommend my own patients and family to them. This is a top notch, world-class center of excellence with great people.

If you are worried about the language barrier, I think you will still be fine because all of the doctors can communicate with you in English. The coordinator provides a sheet that you can print off with common phrases that you might need to communicate with a nurse who doesn't understand you. Obviously, being able to speak in Spanish will make things easier, but don't let the language barrier or stereotypes about Mexico be what gets in the way of making this life changing decision.

I think a lot you agree that growing up as the fat kid was a special kind of hell. At least for me, I carried on a lot of those scars into adulthood, and I think I immersed myself in my studies and work to such a degree that I hardly have a life outside of medicine. I'm working now on getting therapy to leave that baggage behind and get a new, happier life, and I know without a doubt that this was the right first step for me, and that Dr. Garcia was the right surgeon for me.

On another note, in the hotel I met several patients who had gone to another Doctor (I won't name him because I'm about to say negative things about him, and its not fair to spread third hand information that is damaging to someone--you have to be 100% sure of all the accuracy in order to do that). But this girl was discharged and went to a hotel while still being unable to tolerate oral intake. She was getting dehydrate, vomiting a lot and in a lot of pain. This is a cardinal rule of any hospital medicine: if a patient isn't tolerating oral intake you can't discharge them home because they will get dehydrate and come right back to the Emergency Room. So the lesson here, is when you are choosing a surgeon, ask about the aftercare, and when they discharge patients. Patients should not be discharged until they are stable and tolerating oral liquids. There are great operations in Tijuana, and I think there are sketchy ones too. I'm very glad I was lucky enough to find Dr. Garcia, because he and his operation was top notch, great, with the quality you would expect from a pricey US Center of Excellence.

If anyone has any more questions, please feel free to ask me. This community has been great for me when I was researching and planning my surgery, and I'm happy to give back the information that I can!

Best wishes to you all for success and happiness!