I am leaning heavily towards Dr Aceves.. and have been for years that I have been researching and looking into having VSG done....Does anybody have their personal journey documented so I can be more prepared? Thanks

I will make a separate thread once I a home. For now I will have to spend the next 4 days in San Diego with only the clothes on my back. My return flight is not until Sunday.

I will make a separate thread once I a home. For now I will have to spend the next 4 days in San Diego with only the clothes on my back. My return flight is not until Sunday.

I sent you a PM.

With your permission I will keep you in my prayers.

AmandaRae - I very much appreciate your well-worded, correct grammar, smart responses. I'm a geek that way.

I'm wondering, if you would consider sharing, what questions and answers you received prior to surgery.

Thanks much - Amy

AmandaRae - I very much appreciate your well-worded' date=' correct grammar, smart responses. I'm a geek that way.

I'm wondering, if you would consider sharing, what questions and answers you received prior to surgery.

Thanks much - Amy[/quote']

Ha! I'm a bit of a grammar geek too.

I checked my Mexi-sleeve email folder to see if I still had all of the Q&A's saved. Alas, I do not. I held onto them like a talisman for "good luck" until I came out the other side and made it home safely. Then I deleted them. I don't like clutter. Even in my email.

I will do my best to recall as much as possible.

I was (am) terrified of anesthesia. I wanted to know if they ever had a WLS patient never "wake up". I was told no, that has never happened. The anesthesiologist confirmed he had never lost a patient during an elective surgery. His patient losses were trauma related and the odds were against them. I really appreciated his candor. It set my mind at ease. A lot.

I admit it. I asked about bougie size. I was informed Dr. Aceves uses a 36Fr which, as it was, the smallest size I was comfortable with. My bougie size range was 36Fr - 40Fr. The smaller the bougie the greater the risk for complications like postop GERD or even leaks. Or so I've read. I've also read it makes very little, about zero impact actually, difference in weight loss success postop.

I asked about leaks. If I remember correctly, and I'm not swearing this to be gospel as I'm trying to remember as many questions/answers as I can and there were many, I think I was told there have been 3 leaks. One leak was his 1st surgery and I believe it may have been a revision, but I am not 100% sure of that.

I asked about losing a patient. Again don't quote me, but I'm thinking it was one. It was explained there were contributing factors.

Nina would be able to confirm the details as I'm trying to recall back several months ago into the mind of the extremely anxious and emotional individual that I was while researching and preparing. I was such an anxious mess that I truly don't recall every Q and every A.

I was very concerned about them being equipped to care for me if my heart acted up. I was told they were more than capable. They then had the opportunity to "show me" even though I'm not from Missouri.

I was a surgeon flip flopper. Initially I was going to use Dr. Lopez at Mi Doctor. I changed my mind, mentally about a 1000 times. Per day.

I was not confident Mi Doctor could handle it I went into a-fib. I didn't want to have an emergency while recovering in a hotel. Almater Hospital is a 24/7 365 day a year full service, in every way, hospital. I needed that. Unfortunately I did go into a-fib. It was late at night. In Mexico, where my Spanish is subpar. Fortunately I was exactly where I needed to be. In the hospital. Recovering. They kept me an extra day at the hospital with no extra charge.

To those who've had surgery with Dr. Lopez and/or at Mi Doctor please understand this. I'm not putting that choice down. It has worked out wonderfully for others, and I believe it will continue to do so. For me, I made that choice that was best for me. Dr. Aceves. I chose wisely. :-)

Jesser, do you remember the deets from Nina from your research?