New and Scared

hi Kat,

Thank you so much for your words of encouragement.I am looking forward to doing a nice satay! It is great that everybody here helps each other out... Its getting bettter slowly, I am trying not to puree everything within an inch of its life.. I figured that I need to chew and chew and chew... mind u a slice of home made pizza would be a treat..but im being good... i know its a long road but its going to be worth the travels to the destination.....


Jane

Just so you can have direct info. I live in Mexico and had my surgery in Puebla's newest and most high-tech hospital two weeks ago.

No insurance support for this kind of thing so the whole deal, including one extra night in Intensive Care due to some pain complications right after my surgery, went for 85,000 pesos or aprox. 6400 USD (that's including all doctor fees).

There are four private hospitals of this kind in Mexico: Two in Mexico City, one in Tijuana and one in Puebla, they're called: Hospital Angeles.

By the way, don't even think about Juarez. It's not as bad as the media shows but it isn't pretty.

Neale wrote:

Well, if my calculations are right you should be past the point of no return! Anyways, about feeling hungery - I do feel hungery at times, but not like I used to. It's less intense, but it's still there. The differance is that I can hold off eating by filling up on water! I also did some checking around and, although my doctor was the cheapest in the area, he is also considered the best and has the most experience. I believe he teaches the lap band surgery, which helps keep his costs down. Insurance wouldn't touch anything on mine surgery - not even with the shrink. I did find that you can get the complete procedure in Mexico, including 4 nights in the hospital for you and a guest, for $7,000.00! Of course, that's in Juarez and they have that pesky little drug war going on right now. My wife threatened to leave me if I even considered going to Mexico for it! The sad thing is that until 6 or 7 years ago this would have been covered under my insurance, but I of course dragged my feet (or at least thought I could handle things on my own). Hope your surgery went well!

Hi Jane and Libby

I'm 10 wks post op & yeah, I went through a "am I ever going to eat normally again?" phase but like others will tell you, if you have a bad reaction, just take a step back to more liquid things (I always go custard and fruit pieces if nothing else is working) then try more solid stuff in a day or two.

Last night I cooked a very yummy beef, vege & rice stir fry for my family, I had ooh about 1/4 - 1/2 cup but it was very cool to feel full after that amount and be eating "normal" food and know that I am eating healthy, losing weight etc.

So hang in there guys!! It does slowly get better and you can appreciate the benefits of the sleeve. One of the main reasons I went sleeve & not band was I was worried I'd never eat red meat again so this is good, I just need to eat nice & slowly and chew everything (and I marinated it first and didn't cook it too long).

cheers and good luck

Kat

My surgery is next week - Thursday - met with the doc yesterday and got the last big talk before the big day - a handful of scripts for the pre-op party and post-op ... trying to get everything in order so that when I come home I can take it easy and recover. I did ask the doctor about the week off and he said if I needed more that he would authorize it but he has found that most of his patients are able to return to a desk job after a week. His nurse told me later he doesn't fool around - he says the more you are up and around the faster you will heal .... I don't have anything to compare it to so I guess we'll see - if I have an issue with it I'll let him know. Anyway - 1 week to the pre-op party (I understand I need to stay close to the bathroom) and then the big day - very excited to get in and get this done.

Well, if my calculations are right you should be past the point of no return! Anyways, about feeling hungery - I do feel hungery at times, but not like I used to. It's less intense, but it's still there. The differance is that I can hold off eating by filling up on water! I also did some checking around and, although my doctor was the cheapest in the area, he is also considered the best and has the most experience. I believe he teaches the lap band surgery, which helps keep his costs down. Insurance wouldn't touch anything on mine surgery - not even with the shrink. I did find that you can get the complete procedure in Mexico, including 4 nights in the hospital for you and a guest, for $7,000.00! Of course, that's in Juarez and they have that pesky little drug war going on right now. My wife threatened to leave me if I even considered going to Mexico for it! The sad thing is that until 6 or 7 years ago this would have been covered under my insurance, but I of course dragged my feet (or at least thought I could handle things on my own). Hope your surgery went well!

I was just glad that my insurance covered all the pre-op testing - well - I haven't received any bills yet - will not be surprised if I have to pay some uncovered portion - I've learned with the insurance that if you have no expectations then there is never any surprise or dissapointment, just great delight when they do cover something. I was told the insurance doesn't cover the sleeve as they still consider it expermental in the U.S. - even though there seems to be great results in other parts of the world. As Neale and I were previously comparing notes it does seem odd that we are booted from the hospital 24 hours after the operation but apparently that's standard here. I am so enjoying all the information on this site and feel I am getting most of my questions answered by those of you who have gone before me - thanks to all!!!!! Rennie

I can't remember exactly but my out of pockets was about $6000-$6500... but I recently got the full bill that was sent to my insurance, and in total it was almost $20,000. So glad I paid for PHI!

Wow, USA guys!!!! I was out of pocket about $5 to maybe 5 and a half thousand, which I spose in US dollars is maybe $10,000. And I had 3 nights in hospital, mainly as I had a little bit of a fever and they just wanted to be sure I was ok, well it was me who wanted to be sure!!!
It does seem over here that each different doctor has a different regime that they like their patients to follow and it is probably the same in the US.
Best advise we can give to anyone though is..... if concerned at all, get in touch with your doctor or health care provider and get their advice!!
I am saying this when I have just tried some new food (pork and veal meatballs) and had the not quite worst pain I have had, but I know it will settle if I move away from the food!

It sure is Caz but my insurance wouldn't cover it - and now I'm told they will not cover any type of bariatric surgery after October 1, 2009, so I'm glad I made the choice I did. You know we don't have the best medical plans here in the U.S. so you work with what you got. Don't know that I would have been very good at jumping thru the insurance hoops anyway - I'm a bit headstrong when it comes to something I want so this arrangement is probably the best in the end .... Rennie

And that is 25k USA dollars!!!

That is very expensive! My out of pocket after insurance was under 6k.

Ouch!!!

Wow!!!! 14.7k - they don't even do the band out here for that - I think that runs about 16k to start. My doctor is charging 25k - that includes overnight hospital stay, surgery team and his fee - I should have them throw in a facial and maybe a massage. I didn't have to go on any particular diet before the surgery although he told me I should try to lose some weight - it was about 4 weeks from 1st visit to surgery date. No special vitamins - I got a list from the nutritionist when I met with him but he said I could pick those up at WalMart. Had to pay him out of pocket as well, and for the psych exam but those were about 150. for each. I had a lot of other tests - blood, upper G.I. (Yuck!!!), some sort of breath test to see if I had bacteria or something in my stomach,and echo-cardio .... those were all covered by my insurance. The surgeon I'm going to is very well know in this area - the only one in Vegas that does the sleeve. There is a large bariatric group in town and they do the band and other bariatric but no sleeve - I did check that group out also as several people I work with had their band and the other "re-route" surgery there - I know one woman who had the bariatric re-route and she paid 27k - well, the insurance paid for it. I definately wanted the sleeve and I know my doctor is well regarded - he doesn't do just bariatric as the other group - he's a general surgeon and the doctor that doctors go to for surgery so I feel good about that. Glad you told me about the time off from work - I'm an underwriter for a bank so I am desk bound as well - guess as I wave that big check in front of him I'll discuss the possibility what he will do for me if I need more time off. Now about feeling hungry - "they" the doctors and nurses who work for them all say you will probably never get hungry and will forget to eat meals - that didn't sound right to me - I know at some point you must get hungry - are you like a starved coyote when you sit down to eat or is it more passive? I have an 8 a.m. appointment with the doc tomorrow so we will see what comes from that - thanks again for the insight - only those who have gone thru it know ...... Rennie

I would think you'll need more than a week off work. I was originally told to take 2 weeks, but since I'm in Law Enforcement they ended up telling me to take 3. I probably could have used another week as the first week back was pretty rough. I'm a supervisor and spend most of my time behind a desk, but just staying awake was hard the week I went back. Don't push it to hard in the beginning until you know how your body is handling it. As far as the week after the surgery, I survived on the Profect, Power Aide Zero, chicken broth, and some sugar free jello. The strange part is I didn't feel the slighest twinge of hunger until 6 or 7 days after the surgery. Don't worry to much about the surgery itself (which I did!), you literally go to sleep and it feels like I woke up 3 minutes later. Not that it matters because you'll obviously be sleeping, but they said the procedure would take an hour to an hour and a half, but my wife said it was more like 45 minutes. I was self pay also and I know it seemed like they gave me one price, but everytime I went back (before the surgery) I had to buy Vitamins and stuff. The good part is they get all the money they want before they touch you so once you pay the big bill you're done with that part! I am curious how much it is out there, mine was $14,700 for the precedure, $300 in vitamins and suplements and $500 for the diet (4 weeks because I apperantley liked to eat more than most).

Hey Neale - thanks for the info - I can see where those of us in the U.S. are only in the hospital for 24 hours, which is fine with me - there is just something about being in your own home and own bed. The other thing is I was told I would only need a week off of work - I see that some people are given 2 - 3 weeks and sometimes a month. I have read where most people were able to return to work in a week with no issue - I sit at a desk so it's not like I do any manual labor. Like you my biggest fear is the surgery itself but as I said in my initial posting, I think it's because I've never had any type of surgery and it's more fear of the unknown than anything. I have all the high protein drinks as suggested by the nutritionist I met with - he suggested Resource Optisource High Protein Drink - you can only get it online and I just ordered a small order of six 8oz drinks - a little pricey but for a small order it's okay. I was told to do just Snapple, Broth, Jello and Isoure Zero Carb drink the first 7 days after surgery, then move on to the aforementioned protein drink, blenderized soup and yogurt for the 2nd week. By the 3rd and 4th week it looks like I'm up to "real food" - just small quantities etc. Thanks for the names of the other protein drinks - I will be sure to check out GNC and Wal-Mart. I see my doctor on 9/29 to hand over the big check and sign all the consent forms - I have a list of questions but as I read through this site a lot of those are already answered. Thanks so much for the information and sharing your experience .... Rennie

Greetings to all! I was sleeved on August 18th - almost 6 weeks ago now. I really would like to give Readytoshed some advice. This forum is great, but you will notice that your doctor (like mine) is telling us things totally different than you will read here. I think the issue is that we're in America, and they've only been doing the sleeve here for about a year now. I read in another post, and I think it is true, that most doctors in America don't really know the aftermath of the surgery so the advise they are giving you is what they are telling their Lap Band patients (don't say that to the doctor - they might not appreciate it). An example would be that I was told, and you probably were also, that you can't drink 1/2 and hour before or after a meal. That is only partially correct. Drinking with a meal will reduce what you can eat, but it won't "wash" the food through as I was told (it will in the lap band, but in us where would it get washed to?). I spent 24 hours in the hospital, but it seems in Australia and England they spend a few days. I just wanted to let you know that things may be different than what you read here - but the surgery is well worth it! The first couple of weeks can be rough, but it gets better almost every day. I noticed someone here is 21 days out and free to eat whatever they think they can handle. I went to my doctor Thursday and they told me I should be eating yogurt and cottage cheese - I'm actually much farther along than that, but I'm not telling them, they'll yell at me! I'm at the point know that I sit down and eat with my daughter and wife (whatever they having - no more "special" food for me), but of course I'm done before they even get their plates served. The surgery itself isn't bad - trust me I was shaking so bad they knocked me out early in the operating room, but I woke up and that was it - a new man was born. Make sure you have your protein suplements ready for after the surgery - I would suggest the Profect (GNC has it) for a week after the surgery. It has the highest protein level in the least amount of liquid. Plan on spending over an hour getting down those 2.7 ounces! after the first week I switched to Muscle Fortress (Whey Protein) from Walmart - I used two scoops in 4 ounces of water. It's gritty that way but it's less liquid and 52g of protein. Other than that it's pretty much trial and error (I haven't had a bad experience - yet). Good luck!

Thank you so much for helping me step back from my fears.. I admit that maybe i am trying to fast...i guess i pushed myself to much cause i was so pleased at being able to eat a weetbix that for lunch and dinner i overstepped it to much... as for any advice anyone can give me thats going there or been there really helps....and there is some much great wisdom here it really helps to show im not alone in this journey...and its gr8 to talk to peopple that understand what im going thru without judging me...

jane

Hi Jane,

I know this might come across just a little bit conceeded as I am yet to have the sleeve, BUT we need to remember that our body will physcially sort itself out when it comes to eating the food, but not when it comes to thinking of the food.

We need to slowly retrain our minds as well on things like chewing chewing and chewing, and also taking it that one little bit at a time rather than what we may be used to, same with our drinking habits. althought we canot physically overdo it initially we can not automatically retrain our thinking.

GOSH when I go through this, please feel free to throw this at me as hard and as often as you think I need it.......not trying to be rude and definitely not trying to blame you for anything, just thinking could this be anything to think about?

Hi Jane,
Sorry to butt in but having read a great many listings what has been pretty consistent is that if you are not handling a food or something more solid take a step back.
Make the mushies more liquid or go back to custard yoghurt consistency.
With the mushies you tend to fill up very fast so is easy to eat just a little too much, that's when I find that I don't feel great.
I started with just one tea spoon at a time and built from there and took it really slow, would have the bowl next to me and push it right away after I had eaten a tea spoon so that I wasn't tempted to have another. Then when I know that the first bit is right down there and settled I will have a little more. This way I know that I am not having another spoon full before I realise that I am in fact full.

It's different for all of us but when in doubt take a step back.

Cheers Gail.

hi linda
sounds good... glad u enjoyed it..(taking the bra is a good idea have to note that one down).i have been trying mushies a bit this weekend.. not quite going doing to well.. i have been reading all posts but still havent found the answer to 1 question.. i have finally got tablets to control the acid reflux.. thats a god send but i find im very burby and having a hard time keeping the mushies down...but keeping up phelm... will that pass???

jane

The lamb was delicious!!! Tonight though we had scrambled egg with shallots and bacon, couldn't finish it and had a least a little too much...... still learning! Had that pain and had to take my bra off.... won't be able to do that if I go out for dinner......making myself laugh thinking about it!!

Hi Linda
I forgot to ask how the lamb went/

Jane

Hi Linda,

I was trying to figure out if there was a signifience to 9/9/9 and am happy that you have given me the answer. Everything went well with my op. I came home on the 13/9 and took a week off. I came back to work this week and first day was a bit tired but back in the swing of things now... It kept me busy and i find that im not feeling hunger pains... (though a salad sandwich would be nice now) The only thing that gets me down is the golf ball feeling in my chest and the acidity problem (bit worse than morning sickness) I have tried a few mushy foods and trying to get my body to understand its ok to have something... I find that I am enjoying milk more.LOL... I am so glad for this group.. it has grown my confidence that i can get thru this.....No matter what age it is good if that your relationship with your's is so strong....Im hoping that my daughter grows up with a positive outlook on life and she learns what i went through just so I can share it with her...

jane

WooHoo Jane, apparently the 09-09-09 is supposed to be a very lucky day and for you it will be too!!!
My daughters are my godsends too....they are so proud of me and say I am an inspiration to them. Neither live with me but we talk or text nearly every day. My eldest turned 22 on wednesday and my baby will no longer be a teenager on the 23 oct!! Don't get me wrong, we have had our ups and our downs but as they get older they see me in a different light.
Do you work Jane and if so are you on leave at the moment? my doc gave me a month off and I ended up taking the whole lot and go back to work on the 2-10-09.

Hi Lindabinda,

I had my operation on the 9/9/09. My daughter is my godsend... she is very inquizitive about what im doing and is happy to take short walks with me

Jane

Jane when were you sleevd, Im sure the date is wrong on your profile....
Hang in there you are doing well and it's ok for your little girl to understand why you don't eat as much anymore, kids are very tolerant of our habits. :)

Hey Rennie

Glad I could help.

Jane