Great Dr.

So... where to start?? I had my balloon adjusted last week. I immediately felt that it was a little to big and notified the Dr. He advised I drink liquids, broth, teas, etc. I did. Felt horrible during those days. I was weak, kept throwing up constantly, continuously bloated and I felt the balloon literally beating inside of me. I checked myself to the emergency room on Thursday and was not released until yesterday (saturday). The size of the balloon blocked all liquids trying to enter my stomach and caused a severe dehydration and my kidneys to fail. As of now I am still laying in bed with a huge pillow under my legs trying to keep the balloon in a position that doesn't cause extreme heartburn and discomfort. Hardly any success. I will see my dr again tomorrow to either figure out if he will or remove it. Has it been worth it? I dont know...missing over a week mat work, 3 days in the hospital, and over a week of not feeling like myself kinda make me lean to NO side of that scale.

I had my intragastric balloon placed on May 5th this year. After quite some research I decided to go with Dr. Verboonen and have the Spatz balloon instead of any of the others in the market. The reason for this was the lifetime of the balloon. Spatz is 12 months and the others are kept in the body for about 6 months. I live in San Diego and am very familiar with TJ, and know Mexico has some amazing Doctors so I really was not afraid of having the procedure done in Mexico. The clinic is just minutes away from the border. On the day of the procedure I simply walked across the border and one of the Doctors that work with Dr. Verboonen picked me up and took me to the clinic. Everyone was super nice, the nurses we're amazing and made me feel very comfortable and at ease. The only person that made me feel a tad uncomfortable was the coordinator who didnt seem to be aware of the price that Dr. Verboonen and I had agreed upon and I for a second felt some sort of guilt trip. He wasn't mean, disrespectful or anything just seemed a bit disappointed that I got the price I did.

I met the anesthesiologist before the procedure. Prior to that I had only seen Dr. Verboonen once but he always made himself available by text messages and by email. Which was amazing since we don't always have the smartest or most important questions come up during the initial consultation.

The 1st day was just a ton of weird sensations. I felt heavy, I felt some kind of chest pain something as if I had the need to burp and couldn't. I also experienced some sore throat which I thought was an infection but may very well have just been me being a little extra sensitive to the endoscopy. The next 3 days were not so much fun, I for a minute or two questioned my decision to put myself through this. I had no spasms but I did have nausea. Throwing up was effortless. All I had to do was get up too quick from bed and there went all the fluids I had been able to ingest. Sleeping on my side was a firm NO. The 1st 2 days I slept on my couch, pretty much in a sitting position. After the 1st week I had no more issues, other than constipation.

The 1st month with the balloon I dropped 10 lbs., I began weighing a fluffy 179. Now, 7 weeks later I fluctuate between 163 and 165. Honestly, I thought I would lose weight at a much faster rate. I also thought that I would be way less hungry and that my stomach's capacity would be much less. I am able to eat less but it doesn't feel to me like it is "less enough." I have decided to not wait 6 months to get the balloon adjusted and will try to make it in next week to have it adjusted. I don't want to lose motivation if I continue to see that the weight loss is slow. Dr. Verboonen explained to me that this was not as fast of a result as an actual surgery would be but I still (like many of us) want to get results as soon as I possibly can.