Really freaked out! Thoughts re Dr. Amanza

Yesterdays post really scared me.  I really want to go to Dr. Almanza but is it true about the very high infection rate among other unsavoury things that the poster posted?

Please quell my nervousness.  Gah!

I am not aware of anything recently.....but I have not been on here much.......so that being said.

A friend of mine was considering a VSG.....so I asked the infection question....here is what I got.  Do your RESEARCH....keep asking.


http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/vsg/4100274/MSRA-infection s-and-no-sleeve-at-all-from-Mexico/#33417836ur

Good luck.

Have you looked at the thread today?  The true colors of the poster seem to coming through.  I had surgery with him on the 15th...nothing but a great experience.  I'm feeling better than ever and I am already down 18 pounds as of today.  I am sure they are a few people who have had some issues (there are atleast two on that thread) and would not recommend going there but as far as all of these scary stories of people on feeding tubes, leaks, etc., I just can't find them.  I stated in that post that I would not recommend to just everyone because it is VERY different than a typical US surgery experience but it is a great option for many, many people.  While I was there there were two registered nurses, one was a band to sleeve revision and the other her twin sister who plans to come back for plastics next year and another couple who where both registered nurses who flew over all the way from England to have surgery with Dr. Almanza and are already planning on coming back in a year for plastics for the wife.  I am only saying this to point out that there are many people in the healthcare field who are confident in this clinic....can it possibly be as scary as some have made it out to be???  Most of them have never been there by the way.

I found a very similar thread when I was deciding and it kind of freaked me out as well but alas nothing was EVER substantiated by the original poster or the other Almanza/Bettancourt bashers.  Ultimately you have to be 100% comfortable with your choice so keep reading and I would suggest contacting as many ACTUAL patients as possible.   I for one would be happy to give you my phone number and I will tell you every detail of the experience if you would like.  Just pm if you would like to talk because it is really hard to go over everything in these forums.  I am also 100% fully supportive of you choosing a different doctor and facility if you are not comfortable with Dr. Almanza.  I do not push him on anyone....I only wish to relay my true experience with him.   Wishing you all the best.!

Kimberly

I had a great experience with him,,,I havent seen a recent thread on Dr Almanza.  Is it on another board?

It's horrible...you may not want to see it but if you do it is on the 3rd page.  It is posted by donemytime.  Aye carrumba!!! lol

 Whew,,alrighty then I just read it.  I can not speak for any one else. My experience was absolutely wonderful.  I do not consider myself a Betancourt Follower as the poster said LOL.  I consider myself a happy patient who was treated great and is soo pleased with the results. 

Amen sista!! lol

Hello Emerald,
You may not know me.  I used to post on OH frequently, but since I had my TT and BA in January, I really haven't been posting very much.  To be completely honest, I've been avoiding the boards, because I'm embarrassed by my naiveté.

I don't want to be publically trashing the clinic, this is not at all my intention.  I still believe Dr. Almanza is an excellent surgeon.

I had my surgery with Dr. Almanza last April and I had an absolutely wonderful experience.  So much so, that this fall I started my own company and began to refer people to his clinic.  Up until January, I had a very high opinion of the clinic.  My brother, a doctor, even flew down with me and his best friend had the surgery, which he was able to watch.  Everything was good, very clean, very professional - but the surgery took place at the Hospital Vida, not at the new Jerusalem Hospital.

Of the people I sent there, almost half wound up with incision infections - mostly minor.  At first, I believed the clinic that they were doing everything they could to find out why and to stop the infections.  But, it actually got worse.  Three people I know and met in person in January (one was one of my referrals, one was a woman who attends our support groups's sister, and one was a man I met when I was there in Jan) are all still on feeding tubes from the leaks they had after surgery.  One of them almost died and was on life-support for over a month.  Thankfully she is recovering, although she is still in the hospital and cannot walk on her own.  I spoke to her sister yesterday and she is doing well and is in good spirits, but her sister said that she still does not know that she was the 6th sleeve surgery that day. 

One of my referrals (a nurse) got an infection so bad, that she needed to go to the hospital every day and get her wound packed for two months.  I actually went with her every morning to be with her as it was very painful and I felt responsible.  I eventually learned how to clean and pack her wound, and started doing it for her at her home.  We jokingly referred to it as our little "dates".  I had lunch with her yesterday, and she is doing great now, btw.

Another referral (also a nurse) had a severe infection that took two months to fully heal.  He did post on OH, as did another woman who had her surgery also posted about her infection at the same time (she was accussed of being a paid poster, and she was not, btw).  Most of the infections wound up being minor.  A higher infection rate among obese patients is normal.  But that rate should still be under 3-5%. I got really scared when they continued, and I even called several of my clients before they went and told them about the infections and told them that I thought the clinic had fixed the problem (which I had believed), but if they wanted to cancel they could.

Another patient in December had a leak, which they fixed and she suffered no ill-effects (other than an incision infection) you can read her posts on her blog on OH (ezimmer).  She was the first leak, and at first I thought she was the 1% who will get one.  But as you know, it is higher than 1%.  If I personally know 4 people with leaks in just 2 months, then something is really, really wrong.  To be fair, one of the leaks wasn't Dr. Almanza's fault as that patient was a revision and the leak was from the scar tissue. 

I stopped sending people there after I was there in January because they were doing too many surgeries. One of my referrals came home and told me that she overheard Dr. B say, "Stack em & rack 'em - get 'em in!".  My last patient who ever went there, told me after that she had no blood work done before her surgery, no cardiogram and was just rushed into the OR late in the day.  She was fine, thank god (small infection in the main incision, but it cleared up right away) but she was the 7th surgery that day.  7?!!!  They had promised me no more than 3 sleeves and 2 lapbands in a day. 

How can you clean and prep an OR in that short of a time?  How is there time to clean the equipement between surgeries?  People were sleeping on the floor.  Staff were goining without sleep.  It's just dangerous.  This was not what things were like when I had my surgery.  I had excellent care.  And I wanted excellent care for my people.

I run a small company.  We refer people for weight loss surgery.  We have a support group, we have a clothing exchange, we work with 2 psychologists, and we stay in constant touch with all our people.  I started doing this because I care about people and I just wanted to help others.  In fact, I took a large pay cut to do this and gave up an upper-level management position.  Because I had such a good experience there last year - the last thing I ever expected was this.

Also, on a personal note -  I had my plastics there, and I was (and am) very, very happy with the work Dr. Lara did.  But he was told, and then told me that my stiches were all dissolving stitches.  Well, some of them didn't dissolve.  I emailed him directly (and sent him pictures) to ask him if I should keep waiting, or if I should see my doctor.  He emailed back right away, and told me to get in to see my doctor asap and have them taken out.  Turns out that the stitches were put in the way you would for dissolving, so you couldn't just snip them off, they were tied in internally.  I actually had to have a second surgery at home to get them out and now I have extra scars. Not that's the end of the world that it happened to me... I'm still happy with the outcome. But I couldn't imagine letting anyone I knew go through that.  There are safer places to go.

Sooo, basically, that's why I no longer recommend that clinic.  I think they are nice people, and I think - like me - lots of us have had a wonderful experience there.  But I think they are now doing so many surgeries it's become dangerous.

I have heard of others experiences - people who have posted on OH,but I haven't spoken to them personally, so I just want to stick with what I personally experienced.

I miss being on the boards and I miss all you guys!  I don't want to be a part of the 'surgeon wars' but I don't want to see anyone get hurt either :)

I know some people will be upset that I have posted this, some won't believe me, and some will be upset that I haven't posted my opinion earlier.  And I agree, I should have posted something ealier.  But come what may, I need to - at the very least - be honest about my experience.

Hope that answers your question. 

xo
Mel

Thanks for coming back and sharing your heart and the truth, the good, and the bad.

Its good to "see" your face.  :}

Mel, it's so good to see you posting on here! I've been wondering how you're doing. I understand that you feel embarrassed by the cir****tances (which were beyond your control), but I don't think you were being naive--you had a good experience there last April, so why shouldn't you have trusted that others would have similarly good experiences? What you've done since finding out about all of these more recent issues shows a great deal of maturity and integrity on your part.

I don't think you're being inflammatory by sharing your experience. I hope others will see that, too, and not respond defensively to you. 

I hope you'll be posting more often--I've missed your presence on here!