- Name: Heather Sharp
- Age: 46
- Surgery: Gastric Sleeve and Gallbladder Add On
- Surgery date: July 21st, 2015
- Testimonial date: August 20th, 2015
- Surgeon: Dr. Almanza
Since I am all about complete disclosure I will tell you about the whole experience. I decided to go to Mexico for this procedure because I needed my gallbladder removed and the cost of that procedure here was over 7 thousand dollars! so to get the sleeve AND gallbladder removed there was almost two thousand cheaper AND I got to do the sleeve too. Well I was excited of course. I took my husband with me. When I arrived it was easy finding the meeting spot and getting the driver for me was less than an hour. When we crossed the border I have to admit I was a little nervous. There were armed (with automatic rifles) guards. One officer stopped us, looked in the van and asked me what I was coming for, how long I was staying. I honestly did NOT feel safe-I felt like I was a sitting duck. The hotel wasn't as nice as the pictures showed but none of them are. The hotel was however clean and pretty. I was under the impression that we got ALL foods we could have free there but they said only popsicles and chicken broth-tea I had to pay for or any other broth. The day before surgery we met the Dr. I am a pretty good judge of character and have a high sense of people and I liked him immediately. He made me feel at ease with the procedure. Every bit of the staff were courteous and made me feel safe. After surgery there was a LOT of gas pain. This is one reason it is imperative that you ONLY drink liquids for the days scheduled before surgery. If I'd had any solid matter in my colon it would have been worse. Walking after surgery A LOT is the ONLY thing that is going to move the gas out. I walked about every 2 hours. It is miserable but it doesn't last forever. A lot of the people on my floor had vomiting issues after surgery. I usually do after surgery too-not sure why but I never did. The days following surgery (I think day 3?) you will finally start to pass gas and that feels SOOO good. You will never want to hold gas in again and I don't! I don't care where I am-it's coming out! We went shopping in the little tourist area and I can tell you the prices were so expensive! they were worst than the US! so don't go there thinking you are gonna find dirt cheap items. Some people haggled but I don't haggle....I just do without. You may want to get some Zofran from the local pharmacy to use when you take your antibiotics at home. It does taste a little nasty but I got through it without too much problem. To me it just tasted like some type of bitter herbs. You are going to be so surprised at how little you eat and feel full. It still amazes me. I was super weak the first two weeks. I felt like I was going to wither away and die. I finally added some protein drink and a NAKED brand juice that was blue with all the berries in it and high in Vit B and that gave me a boost of energy. You will likely find it hard to drink enough fluids but you need to just sip all day to get it in. I will be 1 month post op tomorrow and I still have moments of nausea after eating some things and some days I still feel weak. I pay closer attention to my body and notice that not drinking enough, or taking my protein, or not pooping daily all impact how I feel. Boiled parsley makes a great natural laxative-just drink the liquid from it. You could do that every day or every 3 or whenever you notice no bowel movement that day. I do still feel like I am not healthy feeling most days. I fear eating for being sick but I just take it slow and if I get sick I stop. My weight loss is slow to me but it's steady. I've lost 13 lbs so far. Some have lost 30 but the more you have to lose, the faster you lose. Also, I have hypothyroidism so my metabolism is impaired to begin with. Remember if you lose slowly your skin has more time to shrink back into place so don't be upset. I would do it all over again. Why? because I know this is permanent now. I will no longer have to lose and gain and lose and gain. This is my new life and I will get used to it and once I drop more weight I will have more energy to get out and do things I haven't wanted to do before like running and playing with my kids. Good luck to you on your journey!
