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Help Me Decide: Dr. Kelly Or Dr. Garcia? Anyone Have Any Input?



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I'm so very glad you said this! I too am having surgery with Dr. Garcia on July 9th and had allowed myself to get freaked out to the point I was questioning my decision. My decision was based on tons of research from people I know as well people here on the boards. But I've decided I'm not changing my mind and I won't allow myself to be sucked into that mess again. You're exactly right, it could have been any country, any hospital, or any doctor that you could develop an infection from. Thank you so, so much!

I will see you there, I'm scheduled 7/9 with Dr Garcia also. Im getting nervous but also excited. Are you going with someone? my husband is coming with me. See you soon!

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My mom is traveling with me. I'll see you there! I'm getting so excited. :)

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I went with Dr. Kelly.

My close friend went with Dr. Garcia a few months later.

I ultimately had the better experience, but she still loves Dr. Garcia and had a great experience in Mexico with her care. Dr. Kelly has (I could be wrong on exact numbers here) 12 years of experience, Dr. Garcia has 2-3.

Here was the difference in our experiences: A few days after surgery, I had symptoms of being allergic to one of my post surgery medications. When I called Dr. Kelly (on a Sunday at that) he called me back within 20 minutes and spoke to be at length, and called me again the next day to follow up.

When my good friend was having dysphoria and odd flu like symptoms after surgery, she called A Lighter Me and the hospital that Dr. Garcia performed the surgery at, and it took an entire 3 days to hear back from either. She ultimately went to the ER here and discovered she was severely dehydrated. Had she had Dr. Garcia's direct phone number, she may have heard back far sooner, but the hospital ultimately she be prepared for things like this and ALM bears the responsibility to be available to patients before and after they have their money.

I have total confidence that Dr. Garcia is great, my friend is in superb shape and is quite happy! I am quite happy with my decision to go to Dr. Kelly, and I'd recommend him first soley based on our two experiences. I think they are both great choice, and as you'll see patients of either doctor will recommend the one they went with!

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if I was having symptoms after my surgery, I wouldn't wait 3 days for any doctor to call back. I would go the nearest ER for treatment. Since I'm having my surgery in Mexico. & live in AZ, I'm not sure what ALM could do for me, except to say go the ER.

I am sorry that your friend had issues. Hope she is doing better.

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I read the thread you are talking about and that is very strange to me because they told me how to clean my incisions before I left the hospital and gave me dressing changes to change them everyday. They checked on me daily after leaving the hospital as well as seeing 4 doctors everyday while being in the hospital. If you feel like something is wrong it is always best to ask before you leave the country. I am so sorry she is going through this. There could a lot of factors contributing to an incision infection however.

Hi 2besmallagain. I M so glad your experience was a positive one. I did not have any of the services you described in yours. I never said that those complications arose from Dr. Garcia. I love him. He is great. All I am saying is perhaps if I would have received the aftercare this could have been caught in time. The doctors with dr. Garcia are wonderful. It is strange no one has followed up with me even after emails. Everyone make sure your follow up is done. I am sorry I did not get anyone to tahe me back to Dr. Garcia as I should have. I also wish they would have responded to my emails. Oh well, I am on the road to recovery which is good. I don't know why my experience was so different than yours but I will put this behind me. I do know that I would never go through something this big alone again. Thanks for posting

Kat

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 0 replies
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
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    • KimBaxleyWilson

      Three months and four days ago... I was in Costa Rica having a life changing surgery! Yesterday we had a followup visit with Dr. Esmeral via video chat and this morning my middle number changed.  I'm down 47lbs and two pants sizes. I can wear a Large tshirt for the first time in like... 14 years! Woot!! Everything is going great. I have zero regrets. I went down to the riverwalk with a friend and walked 2 miles on Monday without even getting fatigued. And no more snoring or chugging pickle juice for crazy leg cramps! I need to go to the gym more... I'm making new shirts next week so that will motivate me. LOL But I'm also just not as TIRED all the time! I have a LONG way to go...but seeing the progress on the scales and in the mirror is a huge motivator!! Thank you all for cheering me on and supporting me!!
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    • bellaamey

      https://alluniqueguide.com/java-burn-coffee-reviews/
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