Someone PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE answer these questions...

Would someone please, please take the time to do this. I know that there are probably a whole lot of people here besides me who would love to get this info. I have gone to Dr. A's site and just can't find the info that I am searching for. I would be forever in your debt if someone would please, please do this. Thank you so much in advance. I see all these figures for the surgery, the stay, the plane tickets etc and well....I just dont even know the bottom line! Could you all explain to me how long you stayed and what you paid out so that I can have a figure to work with for saving. I also read somewhere that some went home early and had staples taken out in the states. Is it more to have a relative stay with you in the apts? If someone could list out expenses ie travel to Esenada, then travel while there, accomadations, things that may have come up, the cost of the procedure and all that I would really appreciate it so that I could have a figure to work with. Please don't send me to Dr. A's site as I cannot find the answers to these questions there. What I'm really looking for are figures. I need a line item costs please!!! Thanks. Thank you. Nancy

Hi Nancy! I'll do the best I can but there are so many variables that it is hard to give you an exact figure. You will have your airline tickets. I'll guess around $400 on that. You will need to check with American, Continental, Southwest, or whatever other airline you prefer. You can go to their web site and check to see what the price would be. You will need to fly in to San Diego. From San Diego you will need to get to Ensenada. I recommend you use Bambi to drive you. The cost for him is $350 for the round trip. He will stop at a market if you want so you can purchase the groceries you will need. You can spend less but you would have to get to the border and then take a bus. I don't know what the cost of that is because we used Bambi. Your surgery fee for Dr. Aguirre and the hospital will be $9,400. You can leave Ensenada on the 5th day after surgery. If you do you will need to add in whatever your doctor will charge to remove the staples and G-tube unless you know someone that will do it for you. You can stay in a hotel or Dr. Aguirre has two apartments available for his patients unless they have been reserved by other patients. The cost for them is $70 per night if you don't want transportation provided while in Ensenada. If you want transportation included, it is $79 per night. If you want the apartment, transportation, and a nurse to come in and change your bandage, etc. it will be $125 per night. I chose to have the nurse come in for two days so I paid $125 for those days and $79 for the other days becasue I wanted transportation. The two hotels Dr. Aguirre and Rosella recommend are the Hotel Marina Coral and the Hotel Posada El Ray Sol. Hotel Posada El Ray Sol is the less expensive of the two. You can get a room there for about $50 per night. You can go to my web site at www.cherimoran.com and click on Journey to Ensenada and go to the bottom of that page for links to both of these hotels. You can make your reservations on line. If you stay in the apartment, it has a full kitchen so you and your companion can prepare your meals. There is no extra charge for additional people staying with you in the apartment. If you stay in one of the hotels you will have to eat in restaurants. There is a lot of information on my web site if you would like to go there and check it out. You can click on the www tab at the bottom of this message. Here is a line item type listing. It is not exact, just estimates since I don't know how much your airline tickets will be, how you plan to get to Ensenada, where you plan to stay, or how long you are staying. Airfare $400.00 (estimate) Bambi $350.00 Food $100.00 (high estimate to cook) Apartment $395.00 (5 days with transportation) to $795.00 (10 days) Surgery $9400.00 Total $10645.00 (estimate) I would allow at least $11,000.00 just to be sure. I hope this helps and I wish you the best as you make your decision. Cheri

Thank you so much Cheri. I will check out your website. By the by....how are you doing? Wish you well. Nancy

Hi Nancy I am having surgery with Dr A 2/4/05. It looks like since the first of the year his prices appear to have gone up. My cost is $10,400. Hope this helps,

Thank you Diane, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. Both you and Cheri have helped me out tremendously. I hope all goes well for you in Feb. Do you mind if I keep up with your progress? Take care, Nancy

Hi Nancy! Thank you for asking about my progress. I am doing great! I feel better than I have felt in years. I no longer have sleep apnea and my arthritis has greatly improved. I am eight months out and I've lost 94 pounds with 21 to go. I thought I had a great life before surgery but it just didn't compare to now! I love buying smaller clothes and I actually enjoy eating the small portions. Cheri

Hi Nancy, I just booked all of my stuff to head down on March 1st. Flight round trip was $214.00 Alaskan Airlines The Coral Hotel was 99.00 weekdays and 125.00 weekends Rosella booked the hotel for me. Go into www.coralhotel.com and you can see how gorgeouse it is. You can also get an Obesity magazine and there is Financing available. I am taking my parents and my 6 year old . I just met a man that lives in Ensenada and he is gonna tell me some helpful hints to post for everyone, I will do that later today, Ways to save money. He is here in Oregon buying a house. Hope this helps, Cheri is a great source of help isn't she. My girlfriend is an RN and will be taking my staples out and tubes I am having surgery on the 2nd and flying home on the 7th. Candice

Thank you Candice. This is very helpful information. I will check out the hotel website. Yes, Cheri is great. I enjoyed her website. But I think everyone who takes the time to offer help and advice here on these boards are pretty terrific people. If I go, I will take my 20 yr. old daughter. She is in college. Her minor is Spani****hink she will be a great help to me there. Like your friend, I am an RN....maybe I can take out my own staples and tube. Take care and I wish you only the best with your surgery and post op. Please keep me posted if you don't mind. Nancy

I ditto Cheri's summary of what you can expect. My surgery was March 18, 2004. Dr. A's cost seems to have gone up since then, but just to add a few comments from my own experience as everyone is different - hopefully you will feel 100% comfortable by the time you get there. I had two companions come with me. One pre-op and one post op. This helped break up their time. I also stayed at Dr A's apartment pre-op and moved to the Hotel Coral post op. This is the one thing I am absolutely not sorry about. It definitely cost me more to do this, but my personality is such that I knew I needed to feel mentally healthy after I got out of the hospital. When I got to the apt., for me -- it was convenient and affordable and very nice, but at the time I was there, there were kids hanging outside playing their boombox at night - I didn't feel comfortable just walking outside and taking a walk, more because of the hills. Post-op at the Hotel Coral, I opened the balcony door and just looking at the water soothed me. I took many walks around the property and it definitely contributed to my well-being and how fast I bounced back. Bambee came for me twice and took me on drives to the country where I did a bit of walking (post-op) and I paid him about $75 each time. On the financial side, I would say the biggest thing I did that helped was bring as much stuff with me that I would need from San Diego where Bambee did stop at the market. Between Rosella, Bambee and the hotel staff at the Coral, I could have even gone this alone, but am happy I had a companion with me. My biggest expense was paying for all my companions meals, etc. which I wanted to do because they came with me. 10 months out and I am now a size 9 jeans and could not be happier so I wish you all the best. You are in good hands. deb

Thank you so much. I am starting to feel more comfortable about this. If I need to go to Mexico I will know what to expect and won't be so scared. You all are so wonderful and willing to help someone that you don't even know. I cannot tell you how truly grateful I am. I thank you all so much. Nancy