Dr. Ariel Ortiz at the OCC

[hthr 26]

I'm packing!!

Slip on shoes, loose clothes, toiletries, ipad, cash and blistex

Anything to add?

Hope you guys are all well!

Heather

[freddie8_8 37]

Biotene spray for dry mouth after surgery....liquid tylenol

[hthr 26]

En route to San Diego ????

[hthr 26]

Did you guys bring your suitcase to OCC from hotel? Or just shove what you need in your purse and only the clothes you wore there

[JewelTee 3]

Did you guys bring your suitcase to OCC from hotel? Or just shove what you need in your purse and only the clothes you wore there

I wish I had brought a large bag or backpack. I had to bring the stuff I wanted in my suitcase, because it didn't fit in my purse.

[back2barb78 890]

En route to San Diego ????

Hthr are you at the hotel tonight? I will be there in the morning to see Dr Medina for my second attempt at my plastics consult ????????. Maybe our paths will cross. If you see me say hi!! I'm going to try to get an after pic with Dr Ortiz (I'm going to be so sad if I don't). I'm not staying at the hotel. I'm just coming for the appointment at the Ariel Center and going back. If I don't see you good luck!!

[JamieLogical 8,727]

En route to San Diego

Hthr are you at the hotel tonight? I will be there in the morning to see Dr Medina for my second attempt at my plastics consult . Maybe our paths will cross. If you see me say hi!! I'm going to try to get an after pic with Dr Ortiz (I'm going to be so sad if I don't). I'm not staying at the hotel. I'm just coming for the appointment at the Ariel Center and going back. If I don't see you good luck!!

Hey, Barb. Great to see you here! Would love to see your after pic with Dr. Ortiz, so I hope you can make that happen!

[back2barb78 890]

???????? I'm hoping to get the pic too. Just got picked up by the driver.

[gtmikki 33]

It has been a while since I have posted. I have been doing great since surgery. My sleeve is still very noisy and it will surely let me know not to put anything else in my mouth. But I must say, I experienced my first dumping syndrome today. I know that sleevers don't dump like bypassers but I surely did. So today for Employees Appreciation, they were handing out Outshine fruit Bars. I looked at the nutrition facts and said 80 calories and 19g sugar is not so bad. I believe my WLS is no one's business and have not told anyone at work. So against that voice in my head saying do not eat the fruit bar, I did anyway. I ate maybe 3/4 of the bar. I talked with several co-workers that I had not seen in awhile for maybe 10 minutes and I went back to my office. About 15 minutes later a feeling came over me that I really can't explain. I felt faint but then I got hot as hell. I was sweating profusely and my breathing was fast. I got up and closed the door to the office. If I thought no one would knock on the door, I would have stripped down to my undies. The sweating went on for about 30 minutes and afterwards, I literally had to take a nap.

This was the first time I cheated and you can believe, I will not do it again. That fruit bar was definitely not worth it.

Highest Weight: 281 - Surgery Date: 12/19/2014

Surgery: 254.0

Month 1: 238 (-16)
Month 2: 227 (-11)
Month 3: 219 (-8)
Month 4: 210 (-9)

[back2barb78 890]

I got to see Dr Ortiz yesterday when I went to see Dr Medina. So happy to be able to thank him in person. He's so awesome. Dr Medina is awesome too. I had my consultation for plastics for upper body work and lower body work. I haven't made my final decision (I had another consultation today which gave me a few things to think about) but I will very soon. Anyway here are a couple pics ????

  

Edited May 7, 2015 by back2barb78

[JamieLogical 8,727]

@@back2barb78 Yes, yes, yes!!!! I am SOOOO glad you were able to do that! I'm sure Dr. Ortiz was happy to do it as well. He must be thrilled with your progress and results!

[rhoste 21]

Barb can you pm me about your plastics consult? I am ready to look into it myself

[back2barb78 890]

He was Jamie! I think I'm going to do a testimonial for the OCC. I sent lots of pics too. @@rhoste I will PM you.

[dede0314 356]

For those who have had surgery with Doctor Ortiz how do you do your follow ups. I'm in the process of trying to get insurance approval but have been denied I'm doing a second level appeal but if that fails I'm seriously thinking about going to Doctor Ortiz but my main concern is post op care.

[JamieLogical 8,727]

For those who have had surgery with Doctor Ortiz how do you do your follow ups. I'm in the process of trying to get insurance approval but have been denied I'm doing a second level appeal but if that fails I'm seriously thinking about going to Doctor Ortiz but my main concern is post op care.

 

@@dede0314 First, I met with my local PCP to make sure she was on board with ordering follow-up blood work and doing post-op check-ups. She absolutely was, and I definitely recommend you do that with your PCP. She ordered my first round of blood work ahead of time, so I went and had that done a couple weeks post-op then saw her at the one month mark for my results and a check-up. I have since had blood work and follow-ups with her at the 2 month, 4 month, and 8 month marks.

 

Secondly, OCC provides you with email addresses and phone numbers for the nutritionist, the cardiologist, the radiologist, etc. So if you have an pre or post-op questions, you can contact them. I was also provided with my surgical report post-op (came via email a few days later because they translate it into English for you). That included the full surgical report including all the details about incisions, state of internal organs, types of staples and sutures used, etc. It also included the results of the blood tests and EKG that OCC did the day of my surgery. I gave copies of all of it to my PCP.

 

OCC will send you multiple follow-up "surveys" in the days and weeks following your surgery. They include questions about whether you are taking your meds, experiencing pain or nausea, getting your Water and Protein in, etc. If any of your feedback on those surveys is alarming, they will contact you. The surveys become fewer and further between the farther out you get from your surgery. I only get one ever 3 months now.

 

You will also have scheduled follow-up phone calls with the nutritionist to check on your weight loss progress, whether you are getting all your Vitamins and protein in, how much exercise you are doing, etc.

 

Dr. So is the physician you will most likely correspond with the most post-op if you have questions about how your incisions are healing or anything like that. Dr. Jimenez answered all of my pre-op questions about when I should stop/start my medications and supplements befor/after surgery.

 

There is a whole team to support you and they will promptly answer your questions. I remember emailing Dr. So late one night on a weekend, because I was worried my drain hole might be infected (it wasn't) and he called me back immediately.