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Surgeon TestimonialGuillermo Alvarez M.D.My whole experience has been wonderful. I found so much information on weight loss surgery on Obesityhelp.com. That's where I found out about VSG. I checked out the forums and found the VSG group to be happier with their surgery and results as well as reporting fewer side effects and complaints. I decided on the VSG and started looking all over the Internet for the doctor most experienced. Dr. Alvarez was by far the most experienced and the best price I found anywhere.
Susan made the planning go so smoothly and had answers to all of my questions. She did the initial evaluation and sent the information to the doctor. She kept me informed of everything through phone calls and email and provided a ton of emotional support. I feel like I know her although I haven’t met her.
Rosie picked me up in San Antonio along with Leigh Ann, another lady going for the surgery. Susan had put is in touch by email and it was great having someone there I felt like I knew. The ride there was actually fun. We laughed and talked silliness, mostly out of nervousness, all the way there.
Leigh Ann and I went out to have a late lunch in Piedras Negras the afternoon before surgery and had a wonderful meal. Just forget the margaritas! They were delicious but caused us both to be dehydrated and made the blood work harder than it needed to be. Of course, we told the doctor.
Meeting Dr Alvarez was almost anticlimactic because I felt like I already knew him. He was exactly like everyone said, polite, calm and professional. He paid 100% personal attention to each of us. Although he must have had a ton to do he never appeared rushed or that he was trying to move us along a conveyor belt. He was also as charming and good-looking as everyone said he was. We each had a weigh in along with our personal interview with the doctor and met his gorgeous assistant Dr. Gabriel Rosales. We got to see the outgoing patients who were headed back to San Antonio. It was reassuring to see them looking well, although walking a bit gingerly.
We got our room assignments and as we walked toward our rooms we got to see the hospital. It was very old fashioned with nurses in white uniforms and paper caps. I noticed then and every other time I was out of my room that there was ALWAYS someone mopping and cleaning.
The rooms were really nice and had computers with Internet access. We had blood drawn (remember not to have the alcohol!) and then off to surgery. I was already passed out so didn't get to experience the famous passing through the window from one gurney onto another gurney into the clean surgery room. I'm pretty sure that's a rarity if not unknown in the United States!
Saturday afternoon after surgery wasn't great. The main thing was getting the anesthesia out of our systems. I had some dry heaving which was horrible. I only had them two or three times and they were gone by Saturday night, for sure within 12 hours after surgery. I also had several rounds of nausea but didn’t throw up at all; it just felt like I was going to. I’d just go to the bathroom and spit until the sensation passed. I got nauseous maybe a half dozen times but not past Monday, two days after the surgery and it was mostly after I’d do something slightly more strenuous, like taking a shower. On Sunday, Dr. Alvarez allowed my IV to be removed. I was so glad because my hand was really swollen and the meds burned like the Dickens going into the IV port! We started on the ice chips and he said that pain meds could be taken orally and nausea meds by injection. I didn’t need either one though.
Priscilla, the English speaking nurse, kept getting me up to walk but by Sunday I felt 100% better and was off the meds and walking and resting all on my own. Priscilla was wonderful and sweet. If only she could be cloned and be a night nurse also! The Spanish-speaking night nurses were sweet but the language barrier was apparent. They did, however, understand our grunts and gestures. Good caveman communication crosses every language barrier!
I never had real pain from the surgery. I had stiffness, swelling and discomfort, but not pain. Within three days I could sleep on my left side and within a week I could lay comfortably on my stomach. The internal stitches itched but are healing up wonderfully!
At the end of our 48-hour hospital stay Dr. Alvarez and Dr. Rosales checked us for leaks and gave us our little boxes of medications and our detailed instructions. He made sure we understood both our meds and our diets. Again, he was relaxed and spent all the time we needed and never once checked his watch. That was pretty amazing.
We got to see the incoming patient as we were leaving and then Rosie took us back to San Antonio. Since I wasn’t staying in San Antonio they didn’t reserve a room for me but Leigh Ann let me take a nap in her room before I drove home to Houston. The hour nap helped quite a bit but I could really have slept another five.
I had to leave to be at work Tuesday morning. I only took two days off work but one was to get there and the other was to get home. I only really missed one day of work because of the surgery. I have a desk job so could actually have worked that Monday as well, although not comfortably.
The three-hour drive was fine. I stopped once to stretch and use the restroom. I was really glad to be home and get into my very own bed! I did get nauseous once just as I was leaving San Antonio but I think that trying to read directions and drive added to the stress I’d already gone through. That was about the last time I had any nausea.
I can't say that I did it by myself because I had Leigh Ann, Rosie, Dr. Alvarez, Dr. Rosales, Priscilla and the night nurses all looking after me at various times. I hope I gave some of the comfort back by looking in on Leigh Ann and encouraging her as much as she did me. We are truly sleeve sisters and have a bond for life!
I am hoping to afford to take my daughter and my mother for the surgery. My dream is for us all to be healthy and slim for life. I would recommend Dr. Alvarez and his team to anyone. Don't be deterred by the fact that it's in Mexico. The United States isn't the only place with good health care. I don't think I could have found better anywhere else.
Member Interests
- Fitness & Exercise - Making the time to take care of myself
- Travel - We have been to Greece twice, I think Costa Rica is next.
- Dogs - I have 2 lab collie mixes, we call them lollies =)
- Poetry - Cathartic and cheaper than therapy
- Writing - I enjoy writing and it's cheaper than therapy
- Teaching - It's my declared major. I'm still not quite sure...
- Billiards & Pool - When Robert's home frm Iraq, otherwise, it's better to stay outta the pool halls
- Adventure - I love to travel and find new adventures
- Vacation - I am thinking about being a travel agent for the discounts!
- WLS in your 40's - Fun, fun, fun.
Latest Surgery Support Comments
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Check out www.vsgfaq.com for more great info on the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.
To our good health!
Dorothy
6 Month Update; Down ___ pounds! 1 day ago
Starting Weight 200.4
Now I'm in a size 8
This month I did a 5 day pouch test to get the numbers dropping. I have to work harder each month to maintain about a 5 pound loss! It's worth it cause I'm ALMOST at 50 pounds off and am SO close to the magic "not overweight" goal of 145!
Month 1, down 21 pounds to 179,
Month 2, down 10 pounds to 169,
Month 3, down 5 pounds to 164,
Month 4, down 5 pounds to 159,
Month 5, down 3 pounds to 156,
Month 6, down 5 pounds to 151,
Total loss 49 pounds, yeah!
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Hurrican Ike! on September 22, 2008 2:46 pm
We were without electricity for 9 days. Two of my trees fell, one onto my roof which is still pending repair. One went onto my neighbors roof. Friends helped me cut branches from off the roofs. Fortunately, my neighbors house was only damaged on one corner and it was mostly the gutter.
I'm behind at work and school. Yuck. Time to hit the ground running. I really miss Robert being here to guide us out of all this whack.
Oh well. I'll do what I gotta do.
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5 Month Update; down 46 pounds! on September 6, 2008 2:31 pm
Starting Weight 200.4
Now I'm in a size 8/10
Month 1, down 21 pounds to 179,
Month 2, down 10 pounds to 169,
Month 3, down 5 pounds to 164,
Month 4, down 5 pounds to 159,
Month 5, down 3 pounds to 156,
Total loss 44 pounds
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4 Month Update on August 5, 2008 5:50 am
My stats today
Weight 159, Total loss 41 pounds, Size 10/12,
Month 1, down 21 pounds
Month 2, down 10 pounds
Month 3, down 5 pounds
Month 4, down 5 pounds,
Total loss 41 pounds. With only 5 pounds off again this past month I am starting to walk and jog now. I hope it helps! Also, 5 pounds off this month is a bigger percentage than the 5 lost in month 3 because I weighed less to begin with. How is that for justification?
=)
Dorothy
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My diet philosophy on July 22, 2008 7:01 am
Try to make at least 90% good choices. In my book that's still an A and I am an overachiever. Scoring myself that way allows me to be successful while cutting myself a little slack.
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Archive
My Story Hi! I am an apartment manager and college student in Houston, Texas. I have a 23 year old daughter and an 11 year old son who live at home with me. My fiance and I bought a house in the Spring Branch area last year (2007). I've been fixing it up while he is off contracting in Iraq (Starting his 3rd year now. I miss him SO MUCH!).
When we got engaged in June of 2006 I was 140 and a size 8. That was really skinny for me and I got there with Phantermine, water pills, low carb dieting and karate. I couldn't keep it all up with the added responsibilities of the house and dealing with a long distance relationship. The house is a LOT more work than an apartment! Anyway, I got up to 200 pounds and a size 17/18. That's a gain of 60 pounds and double my clothing size in two years. Hopefully it'll be all gone in 6 months, before the honeymoon period with the weight loss is over!
For anyone who thinks they need to wait until the "ideal" time to have their surgery; Don't wait! Take care of yourself NOW! If I had put off my surgery until I got my "act together", I would probably never have been able to have it! We all go through our crazy or difficult times in our lives. I deal with adult ADHD and am ALWAYS trying to keep up with what I need to do and to stay out of trouble for not getting done what I was supposed to have done. Every day is crazy and challenging.
My son has ADHD as well and is always in trouble at school. He is a sweetie with a loving heart but is never quiet or still. Sometimes I think I'll lose my mind but other times I zone him out, to both of our detriment. Despite all that, he made it through elementary school, Yeah! Today was his last day of school. Now he has to be off his meds for the summer (oh yeah) so he can gain weight and grow. He does not eat while on his meds.
I am in the process of evicting my ex-husband who lives at the apartment complex where I work. He didn't pay his rent for May 2008. He just got discharged today from the hospital for what he thought was another heart attack but apparently it was just side effects from the COKE he did last weekend! So THAT'S what he did with his rent money! My daughter actually had the nerve to take him over to my house after discharge because his electricity is cut off! He is soaking up my air conditioning and watching my cable on my TV because he has utterly failed to take care of his own responsibilities. My daughter and I will be having a heart to heart tonight.
My 23-year-old daughter still lives at home with me. She had CFIDS (Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome) from the age of 12 and was home bound from school for two years. She barely managed to graduate because of the physical challenge of being in school on a walker or a wheel chair and the pervasive mental fog. She has not had a relapse in several years but I'm always looking for signs. My worst fear in having children was that they might get something I couldn't fix. That was my worst nightmare.
I'm so thankful for her current health. She is taking college classes online now, working part time in the child care/home workroom at our friends’ local tae kwon do after school program. She does not, however, lift a finger at home despite the fact that I work full time and am in college as well.
Ok, so that's just a little bit of what I am dealing with today. Tomorrow it will be another assortment. I frequently don't deal with things as they crop up so I end up dealing with it for the long haul. It's not constructive or healthy and I am aware of that. Still, it's my baggage that I have to sort out. No more food field to keep the gremlins at bay!
Sometimes I just need love and nonjudgmental support. I know damn well what I need to do. It's the HOW and the ongoing management of it all that stumps me.
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