Weight Loss Surgery Directory

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Goals

weigh under 200 lbs!

703 People
 in progress, 
519 People
 achieved this

get surgery date

3 People
 in progress, 
11 People
 achieved this

become the woman that I have always dreamed of being

23 People
 in progress, 
0 People
 achieved this
Surgeon Testimonial

Mario Alberto Almanza-Reyes
I only saw and spoke to Dr. Almanza for about 10 minutes before my surgery and never again after so it's kind of hard to give a review for him. The surgery went well and I am doing well almost a year later. I did have a pretty severe infection (serratia) immediately after surgery which I feel was due to pretty poor after care while at the "hospital" and recovery house in Mexico. (I now have thousands of dollars in doctor/hospital bills due to this complication.)

I was told I would speak with a nutritionist, but that didn't happen. The whole nutritional plan is a .pdf file that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.

I'm glad I had the surgery and I DO recommend the VSG as a weight loss surgery... but I would not recommend this surgeon, especially if he is still in business with Betancourt. Save your money and go elsewhere. The savings are NOT worth the possible complications.
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Head full of pudding


Holy wow
on November 30, 2009 4:03 am
I'm under 300# for the first time in about 8-10 years. AWESOME.
3 comments | Leave a comment.

Post Op
on November 21, 2009 5:37 pm
Surgery went great. No complications or problems while in the hospital. The after care wasn't really what I'd expected/hoped for, but frankly I'm tired of rehashing it.

I will mention that I came home with an infected incision and for the past two weeks I've had to have my husband pack and re-pack it twice a day. It sucks. I'm going to a (local) surgeon again on Monday and hopefully he'll tell me no more packing. I doubt that though. Realistically I think I'm looking at another 2-3 weeks of packing. Have I mentioned it sucks?

Other than that, things are going pretty well. I can eat without nausea or any other problems. I do find that if I eat too fast I get a pretty uncomfortable feeling in my chest and just have to wait til it passes to either eat more or figure out if I'm full. Figuring out fullness has been an unexpected challenge. It doesn't feel like it did pre-op, but I'm working on it. I definitely do NOT want to overfill my stomach. I'm sure I would puke at that point. I am still having trouble getting all my protein in, but I'm working on that too. I've started adding vegetarian fake meat to my pureed meals, which helps a little. I'm also drinking Isopure - or trying to - but I still can't hit a goal of even 50g per day. It's a struggle! Not having too much trouble with just staying hydrated. I find I LOVE diet cranberry juice and I hardly miss soda at all. I haven't been doing all the walking I should. I know... BAD! I need to get on that.

You know all that shopping I did pre-op? Special blender, baby utensils and sippy cups, glass ramekins with lids? Well I haven't used the utensils at all. I used the sippy cup without the lid a couple of times when I couldn't find a clean glass. I do use the ramekins with lids. Those are handy. The blender is a piece of crap and leaks when I use it, but I find I have no interest in drinking those milky protein shakes anyway. So I guess the moral of the story is this: If you go on a pre-op shopping spree, save your receipts! Oh and the mini food processor I bought from Target didn't even work (and I can't find the receipt!) I got a Black & Decker one from Wal-Mart that works like a charm though. So definitely get one of those, if nothing else.
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