Out of Country (Antelmo Sasso Fin )

I am considering going out of Country as my Insurance is a pain in the arse to deal with.  I have researched it a good bit and in the beginning was going to go with Mercisini sure thats mispelled but I have heard he does most of his surgeries open and I am wanting mine to be done lap.  Anyone out there with advice on my journey?  Please chime in.  And for those wondering yes the surgery of my choice is the DS.  But it seems we are a minority on the men board as well.

Many DS folks hang on the DS Board.
Oddly enough, of all of the Forums (other than the DS forum)
The Men’s Board, has the Highest Ratio of
DS’ers to RNY’ers of any other OH Forum.

I believe it’s due to the fact that Guys don’t typically Digress into the-
“My Dog’s Better Than Your Dog” Bull-Crap
That goes on among other groups.
Those here who are informed, are informed,
Those who aren’t, are interested and open to information.
A lot of ‘insecurity’ causes some folks on other forums
To invest a lot of energy in to making sure others know that –
“They Are RIGHT!”
And sadly, the ‘insecure’ so often believe this is only possible by declaring that-
“Others Are WRONG!”
Some of the Guys who had DS (or are in process) are-

Scott, (Beam Me Up Scottie)at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=R1141686701
AttyDalas (Paul) (had his South of the Border, I believe)at- http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/attydallas/ Tony, (BigTonr) at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=R1142228049
David M, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=M1150105465
Hubba, who had his DS recently at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=R1127156477
Kevin McB, @Goal and doing Great, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=M1099830397
MedicGeek10, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=S1058808751
Michael Rossano, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=R1140497593
Otto Hanson at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=H1129816693
There’s also-
Walter Albert, Knows his ‘Chit’ about DS, was denied ,then didn't need it, then was recently approved (I believe)at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=a1110162413

A few guys have only dropped in occasionally-
Bobby S has dropped by some, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=S1074575624
Jody W has also dropped in occasionally, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=W1140389351
Kenneth W, rarely here, but has dropped in a few times back at Christmas, at-
http://obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=W1129825798

These are the ones who come to mind.
(Sorry if I left Someone Out! Not intentional, just distracted!) There's also Zapre?....(Damn, starts with a Z, should be easy to find) Also check at- http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/DS/ Several folks have had their surgeries done in Brazil. Just drop the question and you should get tons of info! Best Wishes- Dx

Thought of one other thing….

For more info concerning- Dr.Joao-Marchesini Kevin B from this and the DS Board used him And were delighted. Also, read one Patient’s detailed journal of Dr.M's care and costs at- AngieW’sProfile Hope this helps… Best Wishes- Dx

 Dr. A's the man, as far as I'm concerned (no offense to anyone else's patients)  ..  and I researched all the main foreign DS surgeons before my surgery ..  He offers a closed, safe procedure (and all in one, no "two-parters") for less than $12K .  He has a record of over 700 DS procedures with no fatalities (although one American did come close last year, but he did pull through with extraordinary efforts by Dr. A. over several months) and very few complication cases ..   Dr. A. is now the president of Brazil's bariatric surgery association  as well as a member of America's F.A.C.S. .. He even has a  weekly T.V. call-in  show on obesity and gastro surgery on one of the local news stations down there ..  I was esp. impressed by his presentation at the Atlanta reunion last August ..  He showed us certain "twists" that he uniquely pioneered and peforms during the DS procedure to make it  more successful and with less likelihood for complications to develop (apparently some other DS surgeons are now adopting some of  those practices) ..     To top it off, with Dr. A.  you get a beautiful beach-side 4 star hotel location for your stay @ less than $80 a night .. a personal bilingual nurse,who stays with you in the hospital room 24/7,  and an optional, bilingual concierge service to takre care of all your appointment and transportation needs (at around $200 a week) ..   Don't forget that all these costs are tax deductible as a "medical expense"!   I don't know when Dr. A's next U.S. presentation will be, but I'll let you know as soon as I do, if you PM me.

Dr M has an almost cult following on the DS forum...so you should probably repost this over there because you'd get a lot of feed back.   Scott