Anyone here from Alb., NM

Has any one from albuquerque a have there surgery done in El Paso. I was just wondering how it work being away from home having surgery.

Hi, Arlene and welcome!! I did not have my surgery in El Paso, but I have heard very good things about their facility. The advantage from Albuquerque is your provider is only 4 hours away! That's nice if you need an adjustment or a checkup. However, there is to be an aftercare clinic developing here in Albuquerque for people like you and me who got their surgeries out of State. Fills, weight management and other healthcare appointments can be done locally. I'll keep everyone posted as to it's opening. Cheers from Cat.

thank you for repling. do you know about how many fills the average person needs. I am deciding wether to get the lap band done in el paso or in mexico. In Elpaso its more expensive (i'll be self pay) but the fills are included in the price. and the drive is not too far. but if i get it sone in mexico I'll have to pay for the fills somewhere locally. I'm just wondering if it is cheaper to pay for the fills and pay less for the procedure or pay more for the procedure and nothing for the fill. Do you have any insights. Anything will help. thank you for your time.

Hey there, Arlene! Well, I have decided that it is better to get your band in the States and the closer to home you are, the better. I think that makes El Paso the closest and I have heard very good things about their clinic. My reasoning is that if any complications develope or you want your aftercare closer, not many surgeons or doctors want to have anything to do with you because of having surgery out of the country. Personally I feel that is totally unprofessional and immoral to deny a human health care because they chose to get surgery in another country. But that remains to be seen. Things will go smoother for you, in my opinion to stay local. There's a surgical weight loss program at the Marriot Pyrimid on Jan. 27 at 11 am if you are interested in learning more. I plan to go to meet the physician and staff. As far as "average fills," the answer is it is an individual thing. It also depends on the size of your band since that varies some. The wonderful thing about the band is, after you lose weight, but for various reasons start to gain again, you can have a fill to give you the restriction you need to start losing weight again. Nothing stays the same forever but you can beat the problem with your new tool!