Hi,

I'm in the research phase of getting the gastric sleeve done in Mexico and I'm wondering if anyone has had their surgery with Dr. Mario Camelo Ramos at florence Hospital??

I can't really find a lot of information on him specifically. The same popular names keep coming up when I search and I do know there are other surgeons that are just as qualified but they may not have the "celebrity" status like some of the other surgeons.

I'm just want to make sure I make the right decision so any insight or if you know where I could search that would be so helpful also

I felt fine enough to drive almost cross country like a few days after surgery. So I think I will have no problems

Thank you so much for your feedback. My surgery date is January 19th, 2015. I too fly in a day before. They are going to let me have my hotel day the first day and since my flight leaves so early on the 22nd I will stay at a hotel in San dieago the night of the 21st. My flight leaves at 6:00am on the 22nd. Did you loose weight from the pre op diet and did you find it difficult to adhere to? Are you extremely hungry?

Are you in the military? What made you pick Mexico? Wouldn't Singapore/Thailand be closer?

Yeah I lost a little weight from the pre op diet but I didn't stick to it 100%. I lost about 10 pounds on the 2 week pre op diet and after surgery about 8.3 pounds. The diet wasn't so hard to stick to but a few days I had to go to Christmas parties and I ate only a little. But now I'm not hungry. I haven't been hungry since surgery. It feels so good not to think about food all the time.

I'm not in the military. I honestly never thought about doing the surgery in a country closer to me until after I decided to go with Dr. Ramos. I have to say I would feel more comfortable doing the surgery in Mexico vs Thailand. I know I know I'm feeding into the stereotype the same way some people do with Mexico ????

And whenever I was doing my research on cheaper options only Mexico came up

Hey Ky89, I read your post earlier today, but I was out and about. I could not wait to get home to write you back. It is really nice to speak to someone about my fears with regards to this wls. Especially, since you went with the same Dr. that I am going with. Your answers to me make sense. I am much older than you (47yrs young) lol and struggled with this decision for almost a year. When I went to Medical Tourism, I filled out the information for the BMI answered some questions and then Bianca emailed me the next day. We spoke and I made the decision to place the 250.00 down payment. She then emailed me a questionnaire with minimal things about my health. It was payment (of course), travel procedures and hotel. once I completed that, I was then some how paired with Dr. Mario Camelo Ramos. I then initialed off on another questionnaire indicating what the pre op instructions were. I went on line and found little information on the doctor, only edited testimonials of less than a minute and of him sharing his experience. All his credentials are in spanish so I did not understand what they meant. Was this how your story went as well? As I pointed out before, If I had not gotten in touch with you, I probably would of cancelled my surgery. What are you eating now, if anything? How are you tolerating liquids? How are you getting your Protein in? What is your support system like? Here I go again with the questions? I just can't help myself. Lol.

Hey Ky89, I read your post earlier today, but I was out and about. I could not wait to get home to write you back. It is really nice to speak to someone about my fears with regards to this wls. Especially, since you went with the same Dr. that I am going with. Your answers to me make sense. I am much older than you (47yrs young) lol and struggled with this decision for almost a year. When I went to Medical Tourism, I filled out the information for the BMI answered some questions and then Bianca emailed me the next day. We spoke and I made the decision to place the 250.00 down payment. She then emailed me a questionnaire with minimal things about my health. It was payment (of course), travel procedures and hotel. once I completed that, I was then some how paired with Dr. Mario Camelo Ramos. I then initialed off on another questionnaire indicating what the pre op instructions were. I went on line and found little information on the doctor, only edited testimonials of less than a minute and of him sharing his experience. All his credentials are in spanish so I did not understand what they meant. Was this how your story went as well? As I pointed out before, If I had not gotten in touch with you, I probably would of cancelled my surgery. What are you eating now, if anything? How are you tolerating liquids? How are you getting your Protein in? What is your support system like? Here I go again with the questions? I just can't help myself. Lol.

Yeah I'm glad I can help in any way. Yes that was basically the same for me. Choosing a doctor and signing off on a bunch of paperwork. Now I'm eating a full liquid diet. So I can have Soups and yogurt and Protein drinks. Basically anything soft and mushy. I'm on this diet for 2 weeks and then I can go on to normal food. I don't have such a problem getting protein in. I have Protein Bars that have a lot of protein in it and I try to chew that up until it's mushy because I'm not sure I'm supposed to eat those but they don't upset my stomach so maybe it's ok.

Actually with the support system thing... Originally I flew into California and went to Mexico and I was going to fly back home to Japan but I have a month off of work and I decided to surprise my parents for Christmas. And long story short I told my mom yesterday and she supports me. So I'm glad about that, but when I go back to Japan I won't have anyone there to talk to or anyone to help me if I need it. But I personally don't need a big support group. I tend to do things on my own.

Lol you don't have to worry about that. I don't mind answering whatever questions you have ????

Hey lady, where have you been? Haven't seen anything from you are you ok? How's everything going? 21 days left before I am a sleever. I bought some pure protein powder, Chrystal light and some stevia powdered sugar. Just before my flight leaves I'll get the gas x. I am excited and nervous. I am praying my recovery goes as well as yours did. Your story is amazing. I can't help wondering did your recovery go so well because of your age? The body tends to recover better at 25 than at my 47!!!!!! I guess I am being paranoid again. I am such a worry wart. Did you have these feelings of excitement and then share panic?

Hey lady, where have you been? Haven't seen anything from you are you ok? How's everything going? 21 days left before I am a sleever. I bought some pure protein powder, Chrystal light and some stevia powdered sugar. Just before my flight leaves I'll get the gas x. I am excited and nervous. I am praying my recovery goes as well as yours did. Your story is amazing. I can't help wondering did your recovery go so well because of your age? The body tends to recover better at 25 than at my 47!!!!!! I guess I am being paranoid again. I am such a worry wart. Did you have these feelings of excitement and then share panic?

Hi. I'm fine I'm not on here a lot I've noticed. I said I would stay on here even after I've been sleeved lol. There is a Facebook group that I'm on more often so I think that's why I'm not on this site a lot. They have so many Facebook groups it's crazy lol. Your surgery will be here and gone before you know it!! I do wonder why I never had a hard time and a majority of other people did. I did see a few sleevers that didn't have a hard time and I think they were around my age so maybe there's something to the age theory. Lol I had a bunch of different emotions. Excitement, sadness, worry, happiness, etc. but towards the end I knew I was going to go through with it so I shouldn't stress myself out. I was honestly more afraid of the flight to the states vs the actual surgery.

Hey Lynnez are you out there? Would like to talk.

Nice to hear from you ky89, I don't have a Facebook account. I don't know that many people. Lol. I was paranoid again....I have a question for you. I paid my $250.00 through pay pal, after re-reading the paperwork they seem to want a cashiers check made out to him. Did you do that for the remaining balance? I don't feel comfortable sending it to his bank account. Can you give me an idea about your diet/eating habits?

Also on the pre op diet, what was your total protein and carb intake for the day?

Lol no prob. I paid the deposit and the remaining balance(a few months later) through PayPal. They gave different options but I preferred PayPal.

I have a question, I can't remember if you said or not, but are you doing the surgery alone? As in will someone be with you when you get out of surgery. Have you told anyone about it?

Honestly I don't think I'm getting in my Protein like I should but I'm back in Japan now so I don't have food temptations at my parents house so I can be more strict with protein and more Water. I always had trouble getting in all my water before the surgery so I really need to work harder on that. It has nothing to do with the surgery, just my lazy 25 year old diet. But I don't want to become dehydrated or mess up my work from surgery so I'll work on these things.

But as far as diet now, yogurt, I have protein bars I try to chew up very well and I have Protein shakes here in Japan but I don't think they have a lot of oritein in them ????. But I can move in to soft foods soon and I'll try to get my protein from that.

My pre op diet was protein shakes and water. I skipped to the last stage if the pre op just because I knew I would do better on that vs the 1st and 2nd stage. I wouldn't stick to those stages but I knew I would with the last stage. Strange I know but I do a little better with skipping stages like that.

I don't know the total carb or protein, I didn't check and they didn't give an amount. I just needed to drink protein shakes but protein was maybe 36 grams a day. Maybe a little less.

What was your coordinator name at Florence Hospital? What is your first name? Was your surgery on the 19th of December?

What was your coordinator name at Florence Hospital? What is your first name? Was your surgery on the 19th of December?

My coordinator at the hospital was Veronica. The one I talked to through email was Cyrel Partosa. Kyesia. My surgery was December 17th