Question!!! Who is Dr. Aguirre?
I am still waiting for my insurance approval/denial...if I get denied, this is the last time, and I will have to self pay. I am seeing alot about Dr. Aguirre. Does he have a web site? What does all this cost to go to Mexico, his charges, hospitals, etc.? Can somebody help me out? Does this doctor have a web site?
Thanks for all your help!
Tricia
Tricia -
Good luck on the appeal. I went through it myself. 
The good news is that Dr. Aguirre is a fabulous and highly skilled surgeon. You will likely not find this kind of surgeon in the US. He's down to earth and approachable which is like a breath of fresh air. Things work so differently down there from here in the US, but I have to say I savored the experience. It was like someone took all that nasty red tape designed to protect us that makes us angry, and they mowed right through it! Imagine being able to call a hospital and not just talk to the person you are calling about but actually get an update on their status if they are unable to talk!
Anyway, Dr. Aguirre's forum is here: http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/forums/messageboard.php?ID=A-1045621205. Stop over and read up on him. You will find a loyal group of patients who had wonderful experiences. Here is the link to his website: http://www.derivaciongastrica.com/english/.
You can read a little about him here, but the real experience is in dealing with him one on one and knowing how he works. One of the things I think that most impresses me is that it is obvious this man values life over money. He does 4 surgeries a week and uses the rest of his time focused on his patients and his own life. This was refreshing to see and comforting to know that when he came in to do your surgery in the morning that you were the first and only one for the day, and that he is well rested and ready to go.
The price to go down there is $8500 lock stock and barrel for the surgery/hospital. Travel and accomodations depend on what you want. I stayed at the Hotel Coral which was a resort and paid $112-130 a night. Dr. Aguirre has an apartment with a nurse service for $125 a night with the nurse, and $70 a night without. It's a full service apartment and they are very very hands on with you while there. I stayed a week, as many people do, so that I could get my drain out while there rather than having to try to convince my PCP to do it. He also removed some staples before I left. I paid out a total of about $10,500 for the surgery, hotel and travel accomodations for myself and a friend, and dinners at the hotel for her. I could have gotten by on a lot less, but I figured I may as well be comfortable while there.
If I had known about the apartment before I arranged for the hotel, I would have stayed there. I have heard a lot of good things about the apartment and I probably would have been much happier there.
Anyway, if you decide to check out Dr. Aguirre, I would advise calling him in the evening around 6 to 7pm. That is when he is in his office and the best time to catch him. His receptionist doesn't speak English but he does very well. She will put you right through to him. The email is a problem lately, so it's iffy if you will get an answer. You can email his daughter Rosella and see if she is able to respond. her email is [email protected].
Hopefully that helped answer some questions! Good luck on your appeal...hopefully you won't need to pay out of pocket. The thing is, once I figured up my co-pay for staying here in the US it would have been over $7000 anyway, so I wasn't out a whole lot more than had I stayed.
Dina
The good news is that Dr. Aguirre is a fabulous and highly skilled surgeon. You will likely not find this kind of surgeon in the US. He's down to earth and approachable which is like a breath of fresh air. Things work so differently down there from here in the US, but I have to say I savored the experience. It was like someone took all that nasty red tape designed to protect us that makes us angry, and they mowed right through it! Imagine being able to call a hospital and not just talk to the person you are calling about but actually get an update on their status if they are unable to talk!
Anyway, Dr. Aguirre's forum is here: http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/forums/messageboard.php?ID=A-1045621205. Stop over and read up on him. You will find a loyal group of patients who had wonderful experiences. Here is the link to his website: http://www.derivaciongastrica.com/english/.
You can read a little about him here, but the real experience is in dealing with him one on one and knowing how he works. One of the things I think that most impresses me is that it is obvious this man values life over money. He does 4 surgeries a week and uses the rest of his time focused on his patients and his own life. This was refreshing to see and comforting to know that when he came in to do your surgery in the morning that you were the first and only one for the day, and that he is well rested and ready to go.
The price to go down there is $8500 lock stock and barrel for the surgery/hospital. Travel and accomodations depend on what you want. I stayed at the Hotel Coral which was a resort and paid $112-130 a night. Dr. Aguirre has an apartment with a nurse service for $125 a night with the nurse, and $70 a night without. It's a full service apartment and they are very very hands on with you while there. I stayed a week, as many people do, so that I could get my drain out while there rather than having to try to convince my PCP to do it. He also removed some staples before I left. I paid out a total of about $10,500 for the surgery, hotel and travel accomodations for myself and a friend, and dinners at the hotel for her. I could have gotten by on a lot less, but I figured I may as well be comfortable while there.
If I had known about the apartment before I arranged for the hotel, I would have stayed there. I have heard a lot of good things about the apartment and I probably would have been much happier there.
Anyway, if you decide to check out Dr. Aguirre, I would advise calling him in the evening around 6 to 7pm. That is when he is in his office and the best time to catch him. His receptionist doesn't speak English but he does very well. She will put you right through to him. The email is a problem lately, so it's iffy if you will get an answer. You can email his daughter Rosella and see if she is able to respond. her email is [email protected].
Hopefully that helped answer some questions! Good luck on your appeal...hopefully you won't need to pay out of pocket. The thing is, once I figured up my co-pay for staying here in the US it would have been over $7000 anyway, so I wasn't out a whole lot more than had I stayed.
Dina 
I am from Wheeling IL and I just had surgery with Dr. Aguirre on April 9, 2004. He is the best. You will never find doctor like him in US.
Julia 
Ditto on what Dina said. I am four weeks post-op with Dr. Aguirre and other than getting a date that was only two months away which was fantastic, I was so fortunate to have been sent in his direction. If you are in his hands,not only will you be with a skilled and caring surgeon, you will be turned on to his entire support system that I could not have lived without -- the driver Bamby who takes patients from San Diego directly to Ensenada and back (not a single glitch), his wonderful daughter Rosella who has become the logistical whiz-kid making appts., emailing you back and forth, setting up apartment if you need, and even while I was in Ensenada, giving me a walkie-talkie that I could just buzz her at any time day or night to ask for her help. Rosella's sense of humor kept me sane throughout my stay and patients in 2004 are lucky because she just began working with her father. My only comment to anyone considering surgery is last year I know Dr. Aguirre's surgery was around $6,000 and in '04 he bumped it up and gave good reasons why. My word of advice is as more and more people go across the border, it might spur another increase in '05 so if and when you know for sure, I'd get it done before year-end.
Don't email, I mentioned that to them so call directley to Cardiomed hospital at 011-52-646-178-0351 ask for Rosella.and try this other number
011-52-646-178-3821
Tell her Liberty gave you the number, She will know who I am.
I live in federal way, whatever you do DO Take someone with you and definately take the route with Bambi too and From your surgery. Doing it the most cheapest route(which we took) was terrible, I can garantee you will not be happy taking the bus, trolley, taxi to your room is not a fun trip. You can arrange your flight and pick up and drop off for Bambi, here is his number (this is his local number 174-5660)
If I could take it back I would have stayed at the appartments, I dreaded the stay at the hotel because we are at the main strip of party town. Doesn't matter if it is El Cid or Days inn. No peace and queit. My head still can hear the banging and techno. One thing Rosella forgot to metion to everyone is the it is only $70.00 a night to stay at the apartment without a nurse, but with a nurse it is $125.00 You get everything you need there, oven,stove,fridge, nice firm bed queen size plus another bed in the same room that can accomidate one other adult person or two kids on the bed.Bring your Soap, you are not provided with soap. you will be using the Soap consatantly.
I am making a site for others to see. I have pictures and information I will add on so you can see ofhand and what my expereince was. I just came back yesterday. Keep in touch. some of my photo's might be graphic so don't let that discourage you.
Glad I can help. Once you get hold of Rosella tell her again their email is having a problem. She really needs that addressed.
Anybody willing to talk to me on the phone about this doctor and how things went? If so, email me at [email protected]
I am sitting here crying and dont know what to do.
It's funny but I had a completely different perspective on how I thought my experience was dealt best with, but hey, everyone is different. My emailing experience with Dr. Aguirre was the best way to communicate for me. I found that it documented everything -- sometimes it was even just a miscommunication on my actual surgery date and there was a couple of other minor things because Rosella was just coming on board so it was that transition phase. On the apartment versus the hotels, I stayed at his apartment and I can't say enough nice things about Rosella who met me when I arrived as well as how clean and tidy the apartment was, but I would never do it again and I in fact moved from the apartment post surgery to the Hotel Coral which is on the marina so it was very soothing to me and not in the district where the shopping is. My reasons for not wanting to stay at the apartment ranged as my companion didn't mind it (but hey, I was the one having the surgery). I grew up in the inner-city of the Bronx in NYC and it was all good but I just didn't need that during my stay in Ensenada. I could hear every blaring siren, the cars parked outside with their radios blasting, the crowd that just seemed to sit out on the stoop of my doorstep. Then when I walked outside - it's a little like San Francisco streets, very hilly and if you're not in the mood for some heavy walking up and down the streets, you have a hard time finding a cab. I ended up radioing Rosella on the walkie talkie she lent us more often than I would have liked to. When I moved to the hotel, I felt like night and day. I would sit while I was recupping from the surgery and just stare outside my terrace at the water, I would walk downstairs and take walks around the pool for exercise, I could get a cab right out front. For me, it made a huge difference in how I felt in those post-days.
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