I'm Melinda, I have recently decided to go forward with the gastric sleeve. I planned to originally do the lap band but then decided that since I am self pay, the follow up visits for fills, etc.. would be additional costs and plus I want the weight loss to be a little faster than the lap band.

So here I am. I am currently trying to figure out which doctor to use, etc... Any advice, suggestions I would greatly appreciate.

I am 5'8 and weigh 238lbs, and have lived the past 10 years NOT living and need to do something about it and truly have thought of this for many months now and am ready.

I guess the most important right now is finding the right doctor. There are so many and I will be traveling to Mexico alone.

I was very relieved to find this forum. It is great to be here with so many others who are going through the same thing.

Blessings,

Melinda

I'm Melinda' date=' I have recently decided to go forward with the gastric sleeve. I planned to originally do the lap band but then decided that since I am self pay, the follow up visits for fills, etc.. would be additional costs and plus I want the weight loss to be a little faster than the lap band.

So here I am. I am currently trying to figure out which doctor to use, etc... Any advice, suggestions I would greatly appreciate.

I am 5'8 and weigh 238lbs, and have lived the past 10 years NOT living and need to do something about it and truly have thought of this for many months now and am ready.

I guess the most important right now is finding the right doctor. There are so many and I will be traveling to Mexico alone.

I was very relieved to find this forum. It is great to be here with so many others who are going through the same thing.

Blessings,

Melinda[/quote']

If you want to message me I can share my experience with you. I was sleeved June 14th in Tijuana :-)

I had my sleeve in Mexico and LOVE it. I used Dr. Verboonen, the facility was clean and the staff was very kind. You will only have on regret....that you did not do it sooner:-)

We loved Garcia and the whole exerience with him and his staff at Hospital Mi Doctor. I think most of them are pretty good in TJ. I've heard a lot of good things about Kelly also. Rarely do you hear any bad things about any of them.

Thank you I am very excited..hopeful and ready!!! Of course I have tons of questions, concerns...especially going alone but this really is about me and about my life and getting back 'out' there in the world.

How fast after you arrived did the surgery happen? The next day?

Next day. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and spent the first night at the hotel and the next morning around 7 am they drove us to the hospital, did blood work, chest xray and ekg and surgery was around 10 - 11 am. Surgery took 1 hour 15 minutes. because she had an extra long stomach it took 2 additional staple cartridges. Stayed 2 nights in hospital then 2 nights a hotel. It all went by very fast the people were wonderful. We will go back for plastic surgery. My daughter is down to a size 6-8 from a size 20. Her surgery was Jan 23rd by Dr. Garcia.

That's amazing!! So happy to hear such positive outcomes. I keep going back/forth about gastric bypass or sleeve but definitely think my decision to go with the sleeve is the right one. Thanks for the info.

Hello Melinda and welcome! I totally understand going back and forth with which procedure to get. I was the same way... I chose to go with the sleeve because it doesn't have the malapsorptions that the RNY has. As for doctors I chose to go with Dr. Alvarez ... Good luck on your journey

Hi Melinda! I am still pre-op, still researching Dr.'s as well. I'm leaning towards going with Dr. Ortiz. Check his website out www.obesitycontrolcenter.com...

I used Dr Rodriguez in Juarez at Star Medica. Star medica was a great hospital and they had an amazing staff who spoke English lol, as well. We were treated like royalty =) I had a great surgery and had no recovery problems at all. It was important for me to be able to stay in a hospital since I was in Mexico, just a preference in case any problems came up etc. Right down the street from the US consulate, English speaking staff, and a great surgeon with thousands of surgeries under his belt, it was just a great fit for me. I went through a company called Belight Weight and my co-ordinator was Jessica. I used them because they did in house financing for a little over half of the $6800 surgery fee. There are lots of great surgeons in Mexico so there are lots of choices but this is Jessica's # if you should want to check them out =) 503-539-3023 Good luck with your journey!!!