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10 months later and things are great!
It’s been 10 months since my sleeve surgery with Dr Alvarez in Mexico. I’m down 80 pounds and I m a new woman. I cannot recommend Dr Alvarez and his state of the art new hospital enough! If insurance won’t cover your weight loss surgery in the US, I highly suggest you go to Dr Alvarez. He only performs gastric sleeve surgery and he has done over 10,000 of them! Now THAT, is who you want as your surgeon!
Every October Dr Alvarez hosts a patient reunion and prospective patient forum. The last few years it has been at the beautiful Guesthouse at Graceland Hotel in Memphis, TN. I made the trip to the reunion from Chicago in October 2017 to learn more about Dr Alvarez. That trip solidified my decision to choose Dr Alvarez to be my surgeon. I was amazed to see so many of his former patients and how great they looked.
Personally, I travelled alone for the procedure. Once in San Antonio, I met two other people having the procedure the same day as me. They were my surgery sisters! Because I was alone, I decided to stay two extra nights at the Hampton Inn in Piedras Negras at my expense. The room rate was so reasonable that I actually reserved a suite. In that early stage, you don’t want to eat anything so having an ice machine down the hall was very convenient for sucking on ice cubes for hydration. Stating two more nights allowed me to rest and relax a bit more before my solo journey home. I then connected with a new group of Dr Alvarez’s patients for the drive over the border back to San Antonio.
Don’t wait another day. A thinner you is possible. You must be willing to do the work and really want to change the body that you are in!
Every October Dr Alvarez hosts a patient reunion and prospective patient forum. The last few years it has been at the beautiful Guesthouse at Graceland Hotel in Memphis, TN. I made the trip to the reunion from Chicago in October 2017 to learn more about Dr Alvarez. That trip solidified my decision to choose Dr Alvarez to be my surgeon. I was amazed to see so many of his former patients and how great they looked.
Personally, I travelled alone for the procedure. Once in San Antonio, I met two other people having the procedure the same day as me. They were my surgery sisters! Because I was alone, I decided to stay two extra nights at the Hampton Inn in Piedras Negras at my expense. The room rate was so reasonable that I actually reserved a suite. In that early stage, you don’t want to eat anything so having an ice machine down the hall was very convenient for sucking on ice cubes for hydration. Stating two more nights allowed me to rest and relax a bit more before my solo journey home. I then connected with a new group of Dr Alvarez’s patients for the drive over the border back to San Antonio.
Don’t wait another day. A thinner you is possible. You must be willing to do the work and really want to change the body that you are in!
Made it to the other side
I’ve been sleeved and resting in a private room an bathroom at Dr Alvarez’s brand new Endohospital. Think goodness I did not vomit post-op. It is a possibility that you may dry heave and have some blood come up. When I got up to use the restroom for the first time, I almost lost it. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on breathing and it passed.
Some stats about me are that I am 54 years old. My starting weight was 241. My weight before surgery yesterday morning was 229. I was supposed to do the pre-op liquid diet for 7 days, but I chose to do it for 10 days.
I have done about four laps around the nurses’s station with my IV pole on my first day. I feel heavy pressure/pain all in the center at the very top of my stomach and below. The only gas that is coming out from me is the occasional burp. But not too much.
I am going to try to post some pre-photos of me from a few days ago.
Time to go back to sleep ????.
Some stats about me are that I am 54 years old. My starting weight was 241. My weight before surgery yesterday morning was 229. I was supposed to do the pre-op liquid diet for 7 days, but I chose to do it for 10 days.
I have done about four laps around the nurses’s station with my IV pole on my first day. I feel heavy pressure/pain all in the center at the very top of my stomach and below. The only gas that is coming out from me is the occasional burp. But not too much.
I am going to try to post some pre-photos of me from a few days ago.
Time to go back to sleep ????.
Sleeve Gastrectomy w/ Dr Alvarez of Endobariatric in Piedras Negras, Mexico
Tomorrow morning I will be picked up at the La Quinta hotel near the San Antonio Airport by Endobariatric and driven approximately 2.5 hours to the border town of Eagle Pass, TX. There, we will cross the border to the town of Piedras Negras to the Hampton Inn.
Since 2006, Dr Guillermo Alvarez has performed over 11,000 vertical sleeve gastrectomies. This is the only surgery he performs, making himself an expert and perfecting the entire procedure. He is one of 12 bariatric surgeons world-wide with the highest designation of Bariatric Surgeon of Excellence.
My journey started in Feb 2016 at Loyola University’s Medical Center in the Chicago area. After attending an informational seminar, I was told that my insurance approved me for the bypass or sleeve. I went though about 9 months of nutritional counseling, a psychologist meeting, bariatrician, nurse practitioner and surgeon meetings. When the time came to schedule my surgery date, I received a call from the hospital saying they re-verified my insurance benefits and I was NOT approved for surgery. They discovered that bariatric surgery was an exclusion in my health insurance plan! I was devastated and upset, because why did I go through all this! The hospital said they used a 3rd party company to verify benefits and they were going to have the recorded tapes pulled. In the end they said it was UnitedHealthcare that made the mistake saying that I was approved. It was all terrible news for me. The hospital offered me a special private pay price for either surgery at $28,500!
Needless to say I began researching options for surgery elsewhere in the US and then eventually in Mexico. I narrowed my research down to three surgeons in Mexico and communicated with each of their representatives via email. One of those surgeons was Dr Alvarez, of Endobariatric in Piedras Negras. I happened to notice on his website that he was hosting a patient reunion in Oct 2017 in Memphis, TN. I thought it might be great to travel to this event and learn more about Dr Alvarez.
I attended the event at a lovely hotel in Memphis to hear Dr Alvarez speak and lead a Q and A session, with dinner and another speaker. It was amazing to see how many former patients of his attended this event. I met several people who had nothing but great things to say about Dr Alvarez and their sleeve surgery. I also met others, just like myself, wanting to learn more about what surgery with Endobariatric would be like.
Well, I liked what I saw and heard in Memphis, and now it’s my turn for surgery in 2 days! Honestly, I now have more confidence in Dr Alvarez than the surgeon I was going to use in Chicago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the Chicago surgeon is very good. But, what I like is that Dr Alvarez ONLY does this surgery and has it down pat!
Since 2006, Dr Guillermo Alvarez has performed over 11,000 vertical sleeve gastrectomies. This is the only surgery he performs, making himself an expert and perfecting the entire procedure. He is one of 12 bariatric surgeons world-wide with the highest designation of Bariatric Surgeon of Excellence.
My journey started in Feb 2016 at Loyola University’s Medical Center in the Chicago area. After attending an informational seminar, I was told that my insurance approved me for the bypass or sleeve. I went though about 9 months of nutritional counseling, a psychologist meeting, bariatrician, nurse practitioner and surgeon meetings. When the time came to schedule my surgery date, I received a call from the hospital saying they re-verified my insurance benefits and I was NOT approved for surgery. They discovered that bariatric surgery was an exclusion in my health insurance plan! I was devastated and upset, because why did I go through all this! The hospital said they used a 3rd party company to verify benefits and they were going to have the recorded tapes pulled. In the end they said it was UnitedHealthcare that made the mistake saying that I was approved. It was all terrible news for me. The hospital offered me a special private pay price for either surgery at $28,500!
Needless to say I began researching options for surgery elsewhere in the US and then eventually in Mexico. I narrowed my research down to three surgeons in Mexico and communicated with each of their representatives via email. One of those surgeons was Dr Alvarez, of Endobariatric in Piedras Negras. I happened to notice on his website that he was hosting a patient reunion in Oct 2017 in Memphis, TN. I thought it might be great to travel to this event and learn more about Dr Alvarez.
I attended the event at a lovely hotel in Memphis to hear Dr Alvarez speak and lead a Q and A session, with dinner and another speaker. It was amazing to see how many former patients of his attended this event. I met several people who had nothing but great things to say about Dr Alvarez and their sleeve surgery. I also met others, just like myself, wanting to learn more about what surgery with Endobariatric would be like.
Well, I liked what I saw and heard in Memphis, and now it’s my turn for surgery in 2 days! Honestly, I now have more confidence in Dr Alvarez than the surgeon I was going to use in Chicago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure the Chicago surgeon is very good. But, what I like is that Dr Alvarez ONLY does this surgery and has it down pat!
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