47 Yrs Young, Mother to 3 Kiddos, Gatric Sleeve in Tijuana Mexico 5'7" 220lbs - Tijuana, MX

I have fought weight my whole life. I can remember around 8 years old my dad saying to me that I needed to go on a grapefruit diet. Not words any 8 year old should ever hear from their parent! At a weigh of 238, I had lapband in May 2011, lost approx. 70 pounds within a 7 month period and maintained that weight for another 16 months. In March 2013 it was discovered that the band had grown into my stomach and I had to have it removed. I was a cash pay patient for everything and am barely paying it all off now. Since the removal of my band, my weight has steadily increased. I'm back up to 220. I have chosen to have gastric sleeve in Tijuana, Mexico with Tijuana Bariatrics and Dr. Fernando Garcia. I did a lot of research before choosing him and I feel confident of both his abilities and the hospital where I will have surgery. The hospital is said to be a brand new facility and is a full functioning hospital to include surgery center, ICU, etc. My surgery date is this coming Friday, March 11th. I will fly from Central Texas to San Diego with my husband on Thursday arriving around 11a. Keep me in your prayers! I can't wait to get this journey started.

I'm back and doing great. Flew into San Diego on 3/10 where we were picked up and transported to the Marriott in Tijuana. Hotel was very nice. We stayed one night and checked out the following morning Friday, 3/11 and were picked up and transported to the hospital. I was first up since I was considered a "revision" surgery since I had previously had lapband. Surgery took approx. 1.0 hours and I was in recovery for a couple of hours. Honestly my husband nor I can remember what they said was the reason for the long recovery time. It took me most of the day to sleep off the anesthesia and I was sore, swollen with maybe a small amount of pain. The hospital staff was very good about giving all medication on time and there were several. Some where through the IV and others orally. We stayed at the hospital for 2 nights. The hospital appeared fairly new and was as nice as any basic hospital in the US. I have several complaints that I will mention. First, all the doors on the rooms squeaked with every opening and closing. Apparently they haven't heard of WD-40. Next, and bigger, is that there was one shift of nurses that seemed to be there to have a great time on the day of my surger. There was much yelling, laughing, singing, etc. that could be heard out in the hallway and the nurses station. Mind you, our room was nearly directly across from the nurses station. They would also barge in, as many as 3 at a time, reading my chart out loud as if they were on Grey's Anatomy. When they would barge in, the door was noisy, they would flip on the lights, and start talking very loud and it was very startling since I couldn't seem to stay awake on that day. At one point when they came in like this my husband and I both spoke up and said their behavior was unprofessional, unnecessary and not conducive to patient healing. They seem to be taken back by us speaking up but it did make a difference. Outside of that, a handful of nurses where very caring and great and there were a few who seemed to be pissed off to be working there. The last complaint is that on the morning of discharge we were told to be packed up and ready by 8a to go to another clinic to have our final "leak" test. We were on time but the driver was not and claimed to not have had it on his "schedule". I must say being late is somewhat a common event in Mexico so be ready for some of that. After the leak test we returned to the hospital, had the drain tube removed and transported back to the hotel for the next 2 nights. On the day that we checked back in to the hotel (2 days post-op) my husband and I took transportation downtown to Revolution street to do some shopping. I felt fine other than being sore, very swollen (tummy, ankles and hands) and feeling hungry. Upon my return home, I weighed myself and had gained 10 lbs since my departure to Mexico. The reason is all the fluid retention. After about 1-2 more days I had already lost that weight again plus some.
3/10 Pre-surgery weight 209
3/17 One week later 208.4
3/20 Today as I write this post 202.5
So to summarize, I would do this all over again. There is really nothing to be afraid of. It's a fantastic option for those of us who are "cash pay" patients.