Got my Life Back - Mexico

I have been overweight my entire life. My highest recorded weight was 365 lbs. I went in for a doctors appointment in the Spring of 2014 and I weighed 351 lbs. At this time my A1C was 10.2 and I was put on insulin for my Diabetes. No insulins worked for me and I always felt so sick. My insurance did not cover weight loss surgery as it was an exclusion. I decided to research on line for alternative self pay surgeries. I am a registered nurse so I have a medical background. I wanted to make sure that I would find someone with an impeccable background. Upon researching and joining Gastric Sleeve groups on Facebook I came upon a particular person who was very forthright and shared her story with me. I joined the FB group Team Illan and stayed in the back ground seeing interactions and reading stories on peoples successes and failures. One day I applied for financing and was approved. I scheduled my surgery for 10/23/14. I flew from Boston to San Diego, CA. I was picked up by transportation and brought to meet Omar the coordinator that I had spoken so much too. I was then brought to Florence Hospital. The hospital staff is fully bilingual. The hospital although not modern was very clean and followed all US medical regulations. I had a H&P done by an MD, an x-ray done and labs were drawn. That afternoon I met with Dr. Illan went over the VSG procedure and signed all consents. I woke up 1 1/2 hrs later to find out the surgery was 45 minutes long as I had a past lap band that failed and I had adhesions. That night was the hardest due to nausea and gas pain. The next morning I woke up and started walking and felt 10000 x better. I was discharged 2 days later and brought by Omar to Hospital Angeles to have my Leak test. This test was done by Dr. Illan and I was told I had a very beautiful sleeve. We then went to Lucerna Hotel. This hotel is 5 stars and was so BEAUTIFUL. I settled in my room, my medications were given to me, schedule for medications, dressing supplies, a copy of my xray and labs were given to me as well.
Omar later brought me to a local Mexican restaurant where I had the most delicious broth I had ever had considering I hadn't had anything by mouth for 72hrs. Omar then proceeded to take me sight seeing for the remaining 2 days I was in Tijuana, MX. He took me to Ensenada and we had lunch by the ocean ... the best tortilla soup I have ever had. He took me to shops and many other places. It felt like a mini vacation all the time walking and getting rid of the gas that I had.

A realization happened to me as I sat there with Omar .. I no longer felt hungry. I was reminding myself to keep drinking but had no desire to eat. I hadn't eaten food in over 2 weeks as the preop diet consisted of 14 days. I was amazed. It is now 3/8 and I weight 248 lbs .. I have not weighed this much since 1992. I have made a huge lifestyle change. ... the VSG is the tool I needed to get my life back.

I would recommend Dr. Illan to anyone whose insurance does not cover weight loss surgery.

Pics of my journey

Woop woop I weighed in I am now 246.
i fit in size 16 jeans they are tight but they buttoned

Next mini goal is to be under 240.

Here are more before pics