Hello all,

I am having a heck of a time getting sleeve surgery scheduled with Ponce de leon. I have been dealing with Trudi, but despite exchanging emails for a week I havent heard from her in 3 days now (despite the message I left and email I sent days ago) and I am just getting the feeling This is a sign that I should look elsewhere.

I looked around a bit but most of the surgeries are $4500 or so and the doctors are not ones I have seen or heard of before.

Anyone have any hot leads for me and my wife? We both are wanting sleeve and looking to get it done in june.

Kltklass,

Thank you for all the info. Its not so much about the money. But since there are two of us getting it done, we are hoping to keep it reasonable.

My husband and I went down to TJ and had the gastric sleeve. Friday will be our 1 year anniversary! We have both reached our goals and couldn't be happier. We have also had 6, yes 6 of our friends take the same journey and they are all doing great. We used Alighterme, they where awesome and I would recomend them to anyone. We were able to receive a small discount although I too agree with comment KTLKLASS made that you should also research the Doctors. While I loved ours, it is important that you are comfortable with your choice. Good Luck on your journey.

I went to dr illan at BajaBariatrics.com

His coordinator Omar is amazing and gets back instantly. My husband and I both liked the dr.

This is a 'life-changing event' and a choice you will live with for the rest of your life. Don't sacrifice saving a few bucks with the risk of having complications which could potentially cost you more in hospital and medical bills than the actual surgery itself. $4,500 is already a great value and exactly what I paid for my surgery. I would not go any lower. Dr. Fernando Garcia was my guy and everything went perfect. I could not be happier. After 7 months I am down 100lbs. Just saying.

Edited May 15, 201412 yr by Chase30

I went to Mexico, I used Ariel Ortiz at OCC. I had a wonderful experience. I spent six months thinking I was going to use a less expensive surgeon (who shall remain nameless), I saw a nutritionist here in Seattle that specializes in WLS patients. She cautioned me to not use price as my deciding factor and then told me why. She explained to me that a skilled surgeon would know how to shape my stomach properly, and that her understanding was Dr. Ariel Ortiz had a good track record and is very skilled. She had a few patients that used him and did well short and long term. She reminded me that I'd have to live with this new stomach for the rest of my life and if it were misshapen, it could cause problems. She explained to me that a misshapen stomach sort of resembled an hourglass - bell shaped at the top, narrow in the middle, and bell shaped at the bottom. I followed her advice and I don't regret it one bit! For the record, she said she didn't know anything at all about the surgeon I thought I was using, she had never heard of him. I wish you luck in your search! I've heard good things about Dr. Illan and Dr. Garcia as well.

I too am using Dr. Garcia and ready4change. alma has been wonderful and I am scheduled for July1. I did a lot of research and decided to go with a doctor that friends recommended. I hope this helps.

Slvrsax- I am going to use Dr. A Ortiz too. Thanks for your advice. My surgery isn't until next summer though.

Just putting it out there, there are a couple Dallas area docs doing sleeves in the 4k range right now. Just fyi for those still researching.

I dont know of any doctors in dallas doing it under 10-11k except dr.kim. He does a special deal for $5k but you have to qualify. I think it is tough to qualify but not sure.

Will you be staying in a private room in a hospital the whole stay, or will they be sending you to recover in some hotel room? Make sure you get everything squared out, or you might be paying way more that what you think in terms of complications, etc. Just trying to help:) Wish you luck