CHECKING IT OUT
Hi there, both my mom and I went to Mexico and used Dr. Aguirre. Here's the link to his patient forum:
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/forums/index.phtml?ID=A-1045621205
The current rate is $8500.00 total. Hotel or one of the apartments he has recently set up and airfare, plus either transportation from the airport which he also provides, or rental car are extra. Most people are able to do it for about $10000.00 total. Lots of information at the above patient forum and also from those who have gone before you. Feel free to email me if you want more info, or look at my profile. Good luck!!
Kiki ;)~
Nancy! A fellow Oregonian! 
I am in Medford - welcome neighbor!
I had surgery with Dr. Aguirre in Ensenada Mexico. I cannot say enough wonderful things about taking this opportunity. Dr. Aguirre is a highly skilled and well respected surgeon who always gets rave reviews on his incisions. My PCP I saw yesterday happened to say the same exact thing everyone says their doctors say "That is a very straight incision line!" It was so cool to hear him say that - just like all the others!
Dr. Aguirre only does an open rny. At first I was a bit put off by this because I wanted the lap. But after understanding the fact that risks are increased with lap (although not a lot according to statistics, I've see a LOT more lap folks with problems like leaks and bleeding on my March board than those with open incisions), I decided open although it has a longer healing time, is better for me. That, and you are under anesthesia for a lot less time, which is much better for you regarding clots and such.
Having had the open now, I realize it was the perfect choice for me. I, as most of those who see Dr. A. have very little to no pain with the open. The lap for me was quite painful due to the gas they pump into you in order to perform the surgery. I took my narcotics after my gallbladder surgery and kept them coming. I hurt for several days, but I healed very quickly. With this, I had no pain at all. I didn't so much as take Tylenol when I got out of the hospital. I still moved slower and was ginger in rolling over or getting up, but I think it was more out of instinct. You know you have been cut - you aren't up for sudden moves. But seriously - no pain. That doesn't mean everyone gets off with no pain (as Deanne can attest to), but the majority of us have had none. Dr. Aguirre said it was because he doesn't cut muscle or nerves. Whatever the reason, it was a thousand times easier than my c-section.
The plusses I can list are:
1) No paperwork hoops to jump through
2) no psych evals
3) no diets beforehand
4) no enemas
5) Obviously, much much cheaper
6) Personal treatment and kind staff
7) A beautiful place to recuperate
8) A chance to get some great deals on shopping in Mexico
9) Dr. A has apartments set up (fully functional w/a kitchen, a computer and cable tv) and has a nurse come in each day to assist you if needed and the price is only $125 a day, or you can do a hotel for less than that. I think the apartment is $79 a day without the nurse though.
10) The hotels are ready to accomodate Dr. Aguirre's patients and are prepared to get you taxis and help you get around easily. They bring extra pillows into your rooms and are very accomodating.
The cons:
1) Paying out of pocket. I have to admit if I had insurance that covered this, I'd be staying home.
2) Being away from family. Some people come home early and have agreements with their doctors to take out the g-tube and staples, but if you can't get them to agree on the g-tube and don't want to do it yourself, you'll need to stay a week after surgery in order to have Dr. A. take it out. It can be boring if you're not into shopping and site-seeing or just not feeling up to it.
3) The nursing staff does not speak english. They know a few key words to help get them by and explain things to you, but it's not bad. I knew a little spanish myself, and I brought a little electronic translator and didn't need to use it much at all. All the doctors spoke english quite well.
4) The hospital (Cardiomed) is highly respected and an expensive hospital according to locals (for their wages, it would be). It is being remodeled at this time and I had construction right next door to me. But I was still able to sleep through it with the pain meds they had me on. TV's are quite loud in there as well and echo, but again, I didn't care. It was just like a hum to me.
5) Things are done differently than in the US in that they still use older methods. An example is that Dr. Aguirre cut his own butterfly bandages from tape when he took some of my staples out. For that matter, in the US I guess they glue incisions now and don't use staples. In the hospital room you won't see a bunch of monitors and such like in the US.
6) They don't have washcloths in Mexico, so you should bring your own if you go. The hospital gave me a washcloth sized piece of gauze to use to wash my incision in the shower, but no washcloths and none in the hotels either.
7) Riding in a car in Mexico is a different experience. They have a few variations on our traffic laws, and lines are suggestions, not really considered barriers. Drifting in and out of lanes w/o an indicator is common. One taxi driver was at a 4-way stop and as the vehicle on the right proceeded, so did he (to take a left) and just kind of tailed him along through the intersection. A lot closer than in the US and after experiencing that it made me happy I was not doing the driving! 
8) The dairy products are gamey tasting. Cheeses are strong and not palatable (for me at least) right after surgery. The cottage cheese wasn't as bad, but you could still taste it a little. I mixed SF Jello in with it and it was great. Stopping in San Diego to get a few things before heading south is a good idea.
9) The towels at the hotel were gamey smelling too. Just a normal thing, I think, for Mexico.
10) And the last, but probably most important negative thing about this is that when you go home, you don't have a surgeon to turn to locally. Generally if you waited a week before going home and are feeling fine, chances are you'll be fine. But you can still develop a stricture a month down the road and have to pay out of pocket locally to have it stretched. And if an emergency happened, you'd need to pay out of pocket locally for that. But the chances of it happening aren't that great, and some people have found that their insurances pay for follow up problems from this even though they didn't pay for the surgery.
I know some of this was maybe more than you needed to know right now, but I figured I may as well include more than less. I would do this again in a heartbeat, and in fact may go back down for my plastic surgery if insurance doesn't pay on that. I don't regret this in the least - it was the best thing I've ever done for myself!
Dina
I am in Medford - welcome neighbor!
I had surgery with Dr. Aguirre in Ensenada Mexico. I cannot say enough wonderful things about taking this opportunity. Dr. Aguirre is a highly skilled and well respected surgeon who always gets rave reviews on his incisions. My PCP I saw yesterday happened to say the same exact thing everyone says their doctors say "That is a very straight incision line!" It was so cool to hear him say that - just like all the others!
Dr. Aguirre only does an open rny. At first I was a bit put off by this because I wanted the lap. But after understanding the fact that risks are increased with lap (although not a lot according to statistics, I've see a LOT more lap folks with problems like leaks and bleeding on my March board than those with open incisions), I decided open although it has a longer healing time, is better for me. That, and you are under anesthesia for a lot less time, which is much better for you regarding clots and such.
Having had the open now, I realize it was the perfect choice for me. I, as most of those who see Dr. A. have very little to no pain with the open. The lap for me was quite painful due to the gas they pump into you in order to perform the surgery. I took my narcotics after my gallbladder surgery and kept them coming. I hurt for several days, but I healed very quickly. With this, I had no pain at all. I didn't so much as take Tylenol when I got out of the hospital. I still moved slower and was ginger in rolling over or getting up, but I think it was more out of instinct. You know you have been cut - you aren't up for sudden moves. But seriously - no pain. That doesn't mean everyone gets off with no pain (as Deanne can attest to), but the majority of us have had none. Dr. Aguirre said it was because he doesn't cut muscle or nerves. Whatever the reason, it was a thousand times easier than my c-section.
The plusses I can list are:
1) No paperwork hoops to jump through
2) no psych evals
3) no diets beforehand
4) no enemas
5) Obviously, much much cheaper
6) Personal treatment and kind staff
7) A beautiful place to recuperate
8) A chance to get some great deals on shopping in Mexico
9) Dr. A has apartments set up (fully functional w/a kitchen, a computer and cable tv) and has a nurse come in each day to assist you if needed and the price is only $125 a day, or you can do a hotel for less than that. I think the apartment is $79 a day without the nurse though.
10) The hotels are ready to accomodate Dr. Aguirre's patients and are prepared to get you taxis and help you get around easily. They bring extra pillows into your rooms and are very accomodating.
The cons:
1) Paying out of pocket. I have to admit if I had insurance that covered this, I'd be staying home.
2) Being away from family. Some people come home early and have agreements with their doctors to take out the g-tube and staples, but if you can't get them to agree on the g-tube and don't want to do it yourself, you'll need to stay a week after surgery in order to have Dr. A. take it out. It can be boring if you're not into shopping and site-seeing or just not feeling up to it.
3) The nursing staff does not speak english. They know a few key words to help get them by and explain things to you, but it's not bad. I knew a little spanish myself, and I brought a little electronic translator and didn't need to use it much at all. All the doctors spoke english quite well.
4) The hospital (Cardiomed) is highly respected and an expensive hospital according to locals (for their wages, it would be). It is being remodeled at this time and I had construction right next door to me. But I was still able to sleep through it with the pain meds they had me on. TV's are quite loud in there as well and echo, but again, I didn't care. It was just like a hum to me.
5) Things are done differently than in the US in that they still use older methods. An example is that Dr. Aguirre cut his own butterfly bandages from tape when he took some of my staples out. For that matter, in the US I guess they glue incisions now and don't use staples. In the hospital room you won't see a bunch of monitors and such like in the US.
6) They don't have washcloths in Mexico, so you should bring your own if you go. The hospital gave me a washcloth sized piece of gauze to use to wash my incision in the shower, but no washcloths and none in the hotels either.
7) Riding in a car in Mexico is a different experience. They have a few variations on our traffic laws, and lines are suggestions, not really considered barriers. Drifting in and out of lanes w/o an indicator is common. One taxi driver was at a 4-way stop and as the vehicle on the right proceeded, so did he (to take a left) and just kind of tailed him along through the intersection. A lot closer than in the US and after experiencing that it made me happy I was not doing the driving!
8) The dairy products are gamey tasting. Cheeses are strong and not palatable (for me at least) right after surgery. The cottage cheese wasn't as bad, but you could still taste it a little. I mixed SF Jello in with it and it was great. Stopping in San Diego to get a few things before heading south is a good idea.
9) The towels at the hotel were gamey smelling too. Just a normal thing, I think, for Mexico.
10) And the last, but probably most important negative thing about this is that when you go home, you don't have a surgeon to turn to locally. Generally if you waited a week before going home and are feeling fine, chances are you'll be fine. But you can still develop a stricture a month down the road and have to pay out of pocket locally to have it stretched. And if an emergency happened, you'd need to pay out of pocket locally for that. But the chances of it happening aren't that great, and some people have found that their insurances pay for follow up problems from this even though they didn't pay for the surgery.
I know some of this was maybe more than you needed to know right now, but I figured I may as well include more than less. I would do this again in a heartbeat, and in fact may go back down for my plastic surgery if insurance doesn't pay on that. I don't regret this in the least - it was the best thing I've ever done for myself!
Dina Hi Nancy, I have to pay out of pocket too! I have a date of Jun 11th with Dr. Aguirre. After going on his past patients profiles I was sold. They tell you anything and will let you call them to talk to them about there surgery. One profile that has done alot of research is Latrisha Nickle. She really research him and just went back to have plastic surgery done. I also wanted the lay rny done but after researching the different surgeries if you are really overweight the open is the way to go.
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