Feedback on these surgeons please
Yes but don't you wonder why ? It's because they are the best of the best and work from the best facilities that tend to cost more. I'm spending all my time in an actual hospital and not a hotel. You get what you pay for. When it comes to a little lower cost surgeons maybe check out Ramos-Kelley or Dr. Illan Iv heard great things about them, though honestly I don't think Dr. Rodriguez changes that much for a sleeve, I'm having a revision to MGB for $7900 and he does in house financing as well.
There are 2 Garcias. I had VSG with Dr. Fernando Garcia in October 2014. I am down 77 lbs so far and feel absolutely awesome. His team is great but I did email Dr. Velasco last week with a question and have not received a response. Perhaps she changed her email address?? Not sure, but ask questions if you like.
Hello smf8396, I am new to this forum. I am in the process of trying to find a good surgeon for a reasonable cost in Mexico and I would so appreciate any advice. I was going to go with DR. Ortiz at OCC but he is almost $6600 and on top of that I would have to pay for airfare. So, my next attempt is to contact Dr. Fernando Garcia whom I have heard a lot about. I see that you went to him. Could you please advise me if he is a good doctor to go to and a little bit of info regarding your experience? Thanks so much!
Hello smf8396, I am new to this forum. I am in the process of trying to find a good surgeon for a reasonable cost in Mexico and I would so appreciate any advice. I was going to go with DR. Ortiz at OCC but he is almost $6600 and on top of that I would have to pay for airfare. So, my next attempt is to contact Dr. Fernando Garcia whom I have heard a lot about. I see that you went to him. Could you please advise me if he is a good doctor to go to and a little bit of info regarding your experience? Thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing your experience. My insurance company has been really frustrating, and I have just made the decision today to go with Dr. Garcia instead of continuing to jump thru hoops for who knows how long.
I must admit that I am scared to go to Mexico, mostly I am worried that I will have a serious complication and will end up stuck there
@JRose888 - I have had nothing but a good experience with Dr. Garcia. I paid $4400.00 plus airfare for him. He works with another doctor, and that doctor is cheaper. His website lists the pricing - tijuanabariatrics.com. I think he still has a $150.00 special going on, so you may be able to get it cheaper than I did. My coordinator was not the best (Alisha). I say this because I requested the Marriott and ended up at the other hotel (I can't remember the name of it) that they offer. But it was nice and all of the nurses were great. They all spoke english, so that was very helpful. I speak some spanish, but when it comes to my health, I prefer to hear the outcome in english so that I can understand absolutely everything. I had my surgery at Florence Oasis hospital. I think he is now doing surgery at a newer facility, so check with them, but Florence was great. I had a private room and plenty of room for my husband (extra sleeper bed for him). It was not the newest hospital in the world, but what was important to me was that it was a hospital and not a clinic. In case of anything happening, I wanted an ER and ICU and those things were important to me. I never saw those at the hospital, but I didn't venture past the first floor and my coordinator assured me that it had them. Dr. Garcia speaks good english too, but I didn't talk to him very much. Let me know if you have any specific questions that I can help with. I know that picking a doctor is extremely important and a difficult decision, so I am here to help if you need it.
Thank you so much for your information! I have Karen as a coordinator and she has been good so far, thankfully. I wanted to ask how you handled the plane trip home. I will be travelling on my own and wonder if the post-op pain will pose a problem with only a few days of recovery and then getting on an airplane to go back home. Sitting up straight I heard is difficult afterward. Any advice would be great, again thanks so much for your help!
JRose888
I am a bit concerned abou the capability of Florence Hospital or some of the other small hospitals which seem more like medium sized surgicenters by US Standards. Is their ICU, really a true ICU? I have seen posts that some of these small hospitals resemble small community hospitals in the 1980s or 90s in the US. If this is accurate, I will need to save a bit more for the "Group One sureons posted previously.
@JRose888 - The plane ride home was fine other than trying to find liquids that I could have in the airport as I couldn't pack chicken broth. Alisha did give me a good idea, which was chicken granules. Just mix them with ho****er and you are good to go. You may want to consider bringing them. I was in no pain, only weak and very tired. I barely had any pain at all at my incisions. If you are traveling alone, you are going to want to pack very lightly as you cannot lift anything above 10 lbs for a month after surgery. So you may want to consider this when you pack your carry on. The trip home was fine for me, just so tiring. I live in Virginia, so it was a long journey. I had my surgery on a Monday and didn't travel home until the following Saturday though. We hung out in San Diego for a couple of days. Let me know if you have any other questions. @Sleevecity - Everyone has to make the choice that they are comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with Florence, then by all means, go elsewhere.
