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Guillermo Alvarez
Dr. Alavrez is an EXCELLENT surgeon. His office is \"state of the art.\" He has a great bed-side manner & is very professional. I can't imagine a surgeon who I would have preferred....anywhere. I know that my care in Mexico was far better than any care I would have gotten here in the states. He loves what he does & it shows. He's very confident & I liked that about him. You have to know that a doctor that videos his surgery & is happy to give you a copy is very confident of his skills. He is top-notch!!
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laortega's Blog
laortega's Blog


3 week out- down 45 pounds!!
on February 18, 2008 12:48 pm
Well, it's been 3 weeks & I'm down 45 pounds.  It is so nice that people notice.  (My face was the first place I lost, so it was kinda obvious).  But can you believe my foot is smaller??!!  My dad wore at size 15 and my mom a size 10, so I didn't have a chance.  I wore a size 13W but now I'm down to a 12 regular.  Who knew??!!  My husband gave me a big hug today & realized that he can put his arms all around me!  That was nice!!  I'll be honest, I haven't had any protein shakes!  (Hope Dr. A & Susan don't read this!) In the first two weeks, I just pureed my meat.  Now I'm eating soft foods & it's great.  I believe I'm getting as much protein as I would by drinking the shakes.  I mean....you can only eat/drink so much, so I'd rather do the "real thing"!   I had nausea once...my husband made me home-made creamy brocolli & rice soup.  It was delicious but I got so naseaus as I took my 3rd bite.  I'm not eating as slow as I should...I know that.  I'm chewing more, but chewing too fast!  I took a bunch of clothes to our church's clothes pantry.  I will never wear a size 26-28 again.  And soon I'll be able to say that about 22-24!! 
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My Story

I have been been somewhat overweight all my life.  6th grade-125lbs  9th grade-145 lbs  12th grade-170 lbs   21 years old- 190  The biggest weight gain was in between the birth of my 3 girls.  I gained 30 pounds between each pregancy!  My daughters are now all in college and are all beauty -queen-beautiful.  (They have their dad's skinny gene!) But I'm now my heaviest 313 lbs.   I've always been told that I "carry my weight" well  and that I'm pretty, right in the face!  I'm very active in my community & my church.  I'm a teacher, by professions, but also love to sing, so I stand in front of people all the time.  I'm also the music director at my church, so 200+ people have to look at my backside as I direct the choir every Sunday.    I'd love to be smaller as I stand in front of people.   I've been pondering WLS now for about 3 years, after seeing the success of one of my friends.  I went to see Dr. Syn  (super surgeon) in Lubbock, TX to have gastric bypass, but my insurance company (BC/BS) turned me down because I have no co-morbidities.  So I put WLS on the back-burner for a while. (Plus, I promised a dear friend of mine that I wouldn't have gastric bypass, and she has since died of cancer, so I felt I needed to honor her request.  In addition, my husband, of 23 years loves me the way I am & says that he'd rather me be overweight than to have hanging skin.)   But I found out a few months ago that I'm going to be a grandma.  And I want to be able to get on the floor with my grandbaby.   With 3 girls in college, I have no extra money , but we took out a second mortgage to make improvements on our home, & I'm going to use part of that to have surgery.  So I looked into lapband but live too far from fill clinics & plus fills do not fit into my busy schedule.  So then I decided on mini-gastric bypass, but didn't have $17,000.  So I did a web search & found Dr. Alvarez .  After reading all his reviews, it was a no-brainer!  After talking to Susan, I decided on the sleeve, rather than MGB.    My date for surgery is Jan 31 '08.  I'm very excited about it.  I still dread the hanging skin that I know is inevitable, but look forward to be able to stand in front of the church or on a stage & know that I look good!  I know God loves me the way I am, but I also want to be able to live for many years to come!