"Dr Alvarez was WONDERFUL!rn. rnI am an ex-surgical ICU nurse in the USA (nursing supervisor now)rn and I tell you,rnsurgeons are normally not a desirable grouprnon average, they are more of a ego filled people you do not want to be around. On top of that they, like our American PCPs, American surgeons are limited by the corporation that owns them or their group, or what the insurance is willing to pay them, on the amount of timernthey spend with you or the amount of care your insurance will pay them on you.rn.rnThis is not so with Mexican docs and for sure not so with Dr Alvarez!rnrnTheir time is their own. They can spendrnas much time as they want with you, it gives you the feelingrnof how it use to be, docs holding your hand and talking withrnyou for as long as you need, to you not a disease or a surgery, butrnyou as a person. WONDERFUL!!!rnrnAnd Dr. Alvarez was at the top of the line in attentive, compassionate, and professional care!rnI bragged about his excellent bedside manner and caring service he gave me and my friend for months after I got home!! He is hard to beat!rn.rnOther than the flight (I paid $145 plus tax Southwest Airlines), rnevery thing was covered including the hotel before and after.rnFirst thing we arrived into San Antonio andrnchecked into our hotel room provided, did I say room?rnrnIt was a Suite, a small nice apartment all to myself!rnrnWonderful, immediately things were beyondrnmy expectations, very good business practice.rn.rnThat eve we meet our coordinator Penny, whornwas by our sides thru it all, she even sat outside ourrnrooms at the hospital making sure all of our needs were meet, all the way to takingrnus to the airport Monday! She also shipped our luggage UPS for us so that we didn’t have to carry it home on the plane!!!! What a wonder that turned out to be! rn.rnThe next morning, was surgery day, Penny drove us in a van across the border about less than a mile to the hospital and Dr Alvarez’s office. rnYes, his hospital is just within one mile of the US border, thatrngave me great comfort!!!! I can't tell you how much it calmed me!!rnrnAnd have I mentioned yet that there is TWO Bariatric surgeons doingrnyour surgery, not one and an assistant, but TWO, Dr Alvarez and Dr Rodriguez,rnboth very very good surgeons. rnrnDr Alvarez himself was trained in Francernto do the sleeve and assisted in 50 sleeves before returning home!!!!rnDr Alvarez has alot of passion as a surgeon, a trued craftsmen, you know how some surgeons can be rough with your insides and others are gentle! Gentle means less pain and trauma, that's Dr Alvarez, a gentle craftsmen, his father is a surgeon too andrnhe and Dr Alvarez even do surgeries together!! He is very passionaternabout being a bariatric surgeon, quite a pleasant warm person to talk rnto, that is the kind of soul I want working on me!rnI did not require narcotics postop, none of the 3 of us did!!! I had onlyrna cramping feeling for about 2 days than that was all of the pain meds I took,rnI was ready to return to work in 5 days. I read of others that need narcoticsrnand weeks of recovery, not so with Dr Alvarez his surgery is a craft and he is very good at it. rnrnAnyway, We each talked with him personally,rnwhat a charmer!!!! He was so attentive and cared about our needs, and I had some special ones with my bad back and disinfectant allergies!! He loved the logistics of the whole thing, I really enjoyed his personality thru the whole couple of days.rn.rnAs we all finished our private Q&A with him, Penny and Dr Alvarez handed us each our own private cell phone with free longrndistance!!! WOW!! We could call home when ever we wanted and as often as we wanted!! cool. (next month they are installing wirelessrninternet in the hospital!!!)rn.rnNext, order was set on who is first, welllll, young go first and me the oldest went last, but since I had done so much prep work (liquid diet, balloons, by the way he that the balloons were a GREAT idea! ) they said I was great and took only 44 minutes!!rnMy stomach skin was loose from 30 days of liquid nutrient preop dieting and that made my intestines flat and empty, lungs in good shape from the exercising, YeeHaw!!.rnHe did not require the preop diet, but being a nurse, I knew it was best.rnrnAnd get this! rnMy biggest worry was leakage, Dr Alvarez and Dr Jose Rodriguez have a 0% leakage, I will repeat, rnthese guysrnare such 'surgical craftsmen'rnat what they do that they have 0% leakage,rnYES! 0% leakage!!!!rnI haven't talked to not one USA doc that can say that!!!rnrnThis is why he says he does so well, rnthey put 3 rows of staples and double hand stitch the seam, staples are very expensive, infact half the cost of the entire surgery! But, they care enough to make sure your surgery is done the best it can be. No one I checked with in the states did that!rnrnIt pays to have doctors that have done many many of these sleevesrnrnI can’t over state that!rnrnCame out of surgery and slept……haharn.rnI stopped my pain meds after the 2nd postop day, never even needed narcotics.rnrnI did Gas X thin strips every 8 hours from the point we could have ice chips on.rnrnWe got out of the hospital after two days,rnI have 4 holes straight across about 2 inches above my belly buttonrnand one in the middle under my breast bone (for the camera).rnI had no belly drain I might add, he said he stopped doing that as rnit was proven to be unneeded..rnOn my 4th day after surgery, I felt pretty good, not very tired, no pain, I felt like I could use a couple cups of coffee and that’s it.rn. rnI highly recommend Dr Alvarez and Dr Rodriguez, besides excellent prices, I feel like I was under excellent very detailed and caring care!rnrnDr A visited us at least 4 times a day, so very friendly. rnrnYou can go straight to Dr Alvarez's website at http://www.mache.com.mx/doc/index.htmrnrnrnThis was a Great experience!rnrnAnd now I have my Banana!!!!rnrn rnMarcellarnrn"
"Satisfactory for the purpose,
my surgeon was who made the experience great and was the most important factor. The nurses followed his orders very well"
