"I remember how important reading these reviews were to me, so I'll try and be as thorough as possible. I decided on Dr. Kelly b/c a family friend had used him (along with several people from her church) and the reviews from those patients were all good and their results spoke for themselves! My niece and I decided to get sleeved together. She had already started the preliminary conversations with Dr. Kelly's coordinator (Lora) and when I decided to join her, I sort of took over that part. (I work in healthcare and my niece felt comfortable with me handling the details.) After emailing Lora and telling her I was interested, she emailed me some forms to be completed and sent back. The forms focused on my medical history, etc. and after the doctor reviewed them, I received an email that Dr. Kelly would do my surgery. We decided on a date that was just a few weeks from my initial email. I was told when to make flight arrangements, payment info, etc. so I got everything ready.
I didn't hear much from them until about a week before the procedure. (That's not a bad thing. I didn't need to hear from them.) They sent a contract that explained payment requirements explained earlier and just a basic agreement. The only surprise was for my niece. In her contract there was an extra $500 charge because her BMI was between 45-50. The charge made sense (it's a longer surgery and requires longer use of the OR, etc.) but she hadn't been told beforehand so it was a shock. In the end, they didn't make her pay it. Our coordinator was on medical leave and the doctor's wife had taken over the administrative details in her absence. She doesn't speak English, so there were a few glitches in the paperwork. None of it was a big deal and when I pointed out the mistakes, they were quick to correct them.
Even though surgery was on Saturday (and we were told to arrive before 12:00 on surgery day) we chose to fly in Friday night so we wouldn't be rushed the day of surgery. (Plus it was cheaper!) We got an inexpensive hotel close to the airport and the driver picked us up there instead of the airport. (Keep in mind, when they give you a time that you're going to be picked up, it's an approximate time. I think part of that is cultural and part of it is the inability to know exactly how long it will take to fight traffic, get across the border, etc.) Our driver picked us up to take us to the hospital. (He even stopped at a Starbucks for my husband, our travel companion, b/c he needed the caffeine and wasn't sure what the day would hold for him!) Crossing the border was easy. We didn't need to show passports or anything. We just had to get all of our stuff out of the van and enter a small building (on the American side) where our bags were x-rayed and then exit the other side (Mexico side) and go to a small outside waiting area. It took about 15 minutes for our van to pick us up. We reloaded our bags and were off to Nova Hospital about 5 minutes away from the border.
About Nova: Let me digress a minute and talk about the hospital. First of all, it is nothing to look at. It's sort of wedged between other offices and has more of a "back-alley" look than I was expecting. I just had faith that everything would be ok and tried not to judge it by its appearance. There were also a few practices that were questionable, and maybe because I work in healthcare I was more critical. I thought the pre-op area was very clean and everyone that came in used hand sanitizer; however, their lack of gloves when handling blood concerned me (as much for them as me.) Also, a discarded needle from the blood draw had fallen on the floor and stayed there for quite a while. I finally asked someone to pick it up and throw it away. With that said, I think we received excellent care. The nurses could not have been more attentive or accommodating of our requests. The language barrier was an issue at times, but we muddled our way through it. (Charades anyone?)
Back to my story: Upon arriving at the hospital, we were ushered up to a waiting room where we waited about 10 minutes for them to take us into the intake room. Someone there filled out some forms, made our hospital bracelets, etc. The person who helped us was new and didn't speak any English, so it went pretty slow; however, another girl in the office spoke English pretty well and came to help when needed. Both ladies were very nice. It just helped to have a lot of patience. :)
After getting admitted, my niece and I were weighed and taken to a pre-op area. Our time there included a chest xray, ECG, blood work, IV started, talking with a cardiologist, and then we met briefly with Dr. Kelly. My niece was the first to go in and it didn't seem like any time they were done with her. Dr. Kelly came and talked to me about her procedure and how well it went before they pushed me back to the OR. I remember transferring onto the OR table and them strapping my arms down before I was out.
I woke up in our room (my niece and I shared a room) and felt ok. I was uncomfortable, but didn't hurt. My niece (who had never had anesthesia before) had a lot of nausea for the first 12 hours. My discomfort was from the gas they used to blow up my stomach. Just a general feeling of blah, with tightness in my back and shoulder. I used the gas x strips that everyone recommended and asked for ice packs for my stomach. (I don't see that mentioned on the forum much, but they helped me immensely.) After the first 12 hours, we felt pretty good. The rest of our time in the hospital (until Monday morning) was spent resting, sleeping on and off, walking the hall, reading, etc. We joked a couple of times that we were bored and wished we had brought some cards or something. We had an IV the whole time, so didn't need to eat or drink anything. Monday morning they discharged us from the hospital. Before they discharged us, they gave us our post-op instructions including medicine (antibiotic, pain pills, omeprazole, gauze and bandages, etc.) our medical records, a return to work note, labs, and chest xray. After that Cecy (Dr. Kelly's wife) drove us to Angeles hospital for our swallow tests (Dr. Kelly met us over there.) Angeles was a nice hospital. Knowing what we know now, we would have asked if we could have gone there instead of Nova (assuming it wasn't cost prohibitive.) We also got a copy of our leak tests to give our physicians at home. (Both my niece and I will receive follow-up from our primary care physician at home, so I asked for copies of everything. We also asked for and received an itemized bill in English in US Dollars for our flexible spending account, as we're requesting reimbursement. As with the earlier paperwork, there were mistakes, but when we pointed them out they were quick to correct them and get the back to us.) There was also a weird incidence on the first day where someone approached my husband with a bill for $35/each for our chest x-rays. My husband said that he didn't think we owed it, that it was part of Dr. Kelly's fee. He said he would talk with Dr. Kelly and get back to them. When we mentioned it to Dr Kelly, he said for us not to worry about it, that it was part of the fee we'd paid him. I don't think anyone was out to deceive us, but that they didn't understand the process.
From there, Dr. Kelly and Cecy took us to check into our hotel. We were supposed to stay at the Lucerna, but we stayed at the Ticuan instead. (Lucerna was full?) Regardless, Ticuan was nice and in the heart of the shopping district so we were excited. We walked several blocks looking in shops that had great souvenirs, tequila, silver, etc. I got a beautiful knock-off Hermes purse for $60. :) (I may have been there for surgery, but I have my priorities.) Even after doing all that walking, we felt good.
We went to dinner about 8:00 in the hotel restaurant and Dr. Kelly, his wife, and their son joined us. Their son (about 8 or 9) is awesome and even performed one of his martial art katas for us. We gave Dr. Kelly a small bottle of Don Julio tequila as a thank you gift for taking such good care of us. My niece and I had chicken broth (about 1/2 a bowl) which was the first "food" we had had since Friday. They were great dinner companions and I enjoyed hearing Dr, Kelly's stories and opinions about WLS and his bariatric surgeon colleagues both in the US and Mexico.
The next morning our driver picked us up and we crossed the border using the medical express lane. (The whole thing took about 25-30 minutes.) My husband and I showed our passports and my niece used her driver's license and birth certificate to get back across. (I was worried about her not having a passport, but she assured me it would be ok.) Our border agent was really nice and funny and we didn't have any issues. We drove about 5 minutes to the airport and the driver dropped us off at our terminal.
I'm sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. I feel like I owe it to the ones before me to share as much as I can. Oh! I almost forgot! The morning I was discharged, they were picking up another patient. She happened to be someone I connected with on this forum so they brought her to my room to meet me! It was great meeting someone from the forum (and her daughter) in person! "
"I remember how important reading these reviews were to me, so I'll try and be as thorough as possible. I decided on Dr. Kelly b/c a family friend had used him (along with several people from her church) and the reviews from those patients were all good and their results spoke for themselves! My niece and I decided to get sleeved together. She had already started the preliminary conversations with Dr. Kelly's coordinator (Lora) and when I decided to join her, I sort of took over that part. (I work in healthcare and my niece felt comfortable with me handling the details.) After emailing Lora and telling her I was interested, she emailed me some forms to be completed and sent back. The forms focused on my medical history, etc. and after the doctor reviewed them, I received an email that Dr. Kelly would do my surgery. We decided on a date that was just a few weeks from my initial email. I was told when to make flight arrangements, payment info, etc. so I got everything ready.
I didn't hear much from them until about a week before the procedure. (That's not a bad thing. I didn't need to hear from them.) They sent a contract that explained payment requirements explained earlier and just a basic agreement. The only surprise was for my niece. In her contract there was an extra $500 charge because her BMI was between 45-50. The charge made sense (it's a longer surgery and requires longer use of the OR, etc.) but she hadn't been told beforehand so it was a shock. In the end, they didn't make her pay it. Our coordinator was on medical leave and the doctor's wife had taken over the administrative details in her absence. She doesn't speak English, so there were a few glitches in the paperwork. None of it was a big deal and when I pointed out the mistakes, they were quick to correct them.
Even though surgery was on Saturday (and we were told to arrive before 12:00 on surgery day) we chose to fly in Friday night so we wouldn't be rushed the day of surgery. (Plus it was cheaper!) We got an inexpensive hotel close to the airport and the driver picked us up there instead of the airport. (Keep in mind, when they give you a time that you're going to be picked up, it's an approximate time. I think part of that is cultural and part of it is the inability to know exactly how long it will take to fight traffic, get across the border, etc.) Our driver picked us up to take us to the hospital. (He even stopped at a Starbucks for my husband, our travel companion, b/c he needed the caffeine and wasn't sure what the day would hold for him!) Crossing the border was easy. We didn't need to show passports or anything. We just had to get all of our stuff out of the van and enter a small building (on the American side) where our bags were x-rayed and then exit the other side (Mexico side) and go to a small outside waiting area. It took about 15 minutes for our van to pick us up. We reloaded our bags and were off to Nova Hospital about 5 minutes away from the border.
About Nova: Let me digress a minute and talk about the hospital. First of all, it is nothing to look at. It's sort of wedged between other offices and has more of a "back-alley" look than I was expecting. I just had faith that everything would be ok and tried not to judge it by its appearance. There were also a few practices that were questionable, and maybe because I work in healthcare I was more critical. I thought the pre-op area was very clean and everyone that came in used hand sanitizer; however, their lack of gloves when handling blood concerned me (as much for them as me.) Also, a discarded needle from the blood draw had fallen on the floor and stayed there for quite a while. I finally asked someone to pick it up and throw it away. With that said, I think we received excellent care. The nurses could not have been more attentive or accommodating of our requests. The language barrier was an issue at times, but we muddled our way through it. (Charades anyone?)
Back to my story: Upon arriving at the hospital, we were ushered up to a waiting room where we waited about 10 minutes for them to take us into the intake room. Someone there filled out some forms, made our hospital bracelets, etc. The person who helped us was new and didn't speak any English, so it went pretty slow; however, another girl in the office spoke English pretty well and came to help when needed. Both ladies were very nice. It just helped to have a lot of patience. :)
After getting admitted, my niece and I were weighed and taken to a pre-op area. Our time there included a chest xray, ECG, blood work, IV started, talking with a cardiologist, and then we met briefly with Dr. Kelly. My niece was the first to go in and it didn't seem like any time they were done with her. Dr. Kelly came and talked to me about her procedure and how well it went before they pushed me back to the OR. I remember transferring onto the OR table and them strapping my arms down before I was out.
I woke up in our room (my niece and I shared a room) and felt ok. I was uncomfortable, but didn't hurt. My niece (who had never had anesthesia before) had a lot of nausea for the first 12 hours. My discomfort was from the gas they used to blow up my stomach. Just a general feeling of blah, with tightness in my back and shoulder. I used the gas x strips that everyone recommended and asked for ice packs for my stomach. (I don't see that mentioned on the forum much, but they helped me immensely.) After the first 12 hours, we felt pretty good. The rest of our time in the hospital (until Monday morning) was spent resting, sleeping on and off, walking the hall, reading, etc. We joked a couple of times that we were bored and wished we had brought some cards or something. We had an IV the whole time, so didn't need to eat or drink anything. Monday morning they discharged us from the hospital. Before they discharged us, they gave us our post-op instructions including medicine (antibiotic, pain pills, omeprazole, gauze and bandages, etc.) our medical records, a return to work note, labs, and chest xray. After that Cecy (Dr. Kelly's wife) drove us to Angeles hospital for our swallow tests (Dr. Kelly met us over there.) Angeles was a nice hospital. Knowing what we know now, we would have asked if we could have gone there instead of Nova (assuming it wasn't cost prohibitive.) We also got a copy of our leak tests to give our physicians at home. (Both my niece and I will receive follow-up from our primary care physician at home, so I asked for copies of everything. We also asked for and received an itemized bill in English in US Dollars for our flexible spending account, as we're requesting reimbursement. As with the earlier paperwork, there were mistakes, but when we pointed them out they were quick to correct them and get the back to us.) There was also a weird incidence on the first day where someone approached my husband with a bill for $35/each for our chest x-rays. My husband said that he didn't think we owed it, that it was part of Dr. Kelly's fee. He said he would talk with Dr. Kelly and get back to them. When we mentioned it to Dr Kelly, he said for us not to worry about it, that it was part of the fee we'd paid him. I don't think anyone was out to deceive us, but that they didn't understand the process.
From there, Dr. Kelly and Cecy took us to check into our hotel. We were supposed to stay at the Lucerna, but we stayed at the Ticuan instead. (Lucerna was full?) Regardless, Ticuan was nice and in the heart of the shopping district so we were excited. We walked several blocks looking in shops that had great souvenirs, tequila, silver, etc. I got a beautiful knock-off Hermes purse for $60. :) (I may have been there for surgery, but I have my priorities.) Even after doing all that walking, we felt good.
We went to dinner about 8:00 in the hotel restaurant and Dr. Kelly, his wife, and their son joined us. Their son (about 8 or 9) is awesome and even performed one of his martial art katas for us. We gave Dr. Kelly a small bottle of Don Julio tequila as a thank you gift for taking such good care of us. My niece and I had chicken broth (about 1/2 a bowl) which was the first "food" we had had since Friday. They were great dinner companions and I enjoyed hearing Dr, Kelly's stories and opinions about WLS and his bariatric surgeon colleagues both in the US and Mexico.
The next morning our driver picked us up and we crossed the border using the medical express lane. (The whole thing took about 25-30 minutes.) My husband and I showed our passports and my niece used her driver's license and birth certificate to get back across. (I was worried about her not having a passport, but she assured me it would be ok.) Our border agent was really nice and funny and we didn't have any issues. We drove about 5 minutes to the airport and the driver dropped us off at our terminal.
I'm sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. I feel like I owe it to the ones before me to share as much as I can. Oh! I almost forgot! The morning I was discharged, they were picking up another patient. She happened to be someone I connected with on this forum so they brought her to my room to meet me! It was great meeting someone from the forum (and her daughter) in person! I hope this helps anyone out there considering Dr. Kelly. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'll be as open as you'd like. Dr. Kelly even took pictures of the stomach he removed and sent them to me! I'd be happy to share!! :)
"
"I remember how important reading these reviews were to me, so I'll try and be as thorough as possible. I decided on Dr. Kelly b/c a family friend had used him (along with several people from her church) and the reviews from those patients were all good and their results spoke for themselves! My niece and I decided to get sleeved together. She had already started the preliminary conversations with Dr. Kelly's coordinator (Lora) and when I decided to join her, I sort of took over that part. (I work in healthcare and my niece felt comfortable with me handling the details.) After emailing Lora and telling her I was interested, she emailed me some forms to be completed and sent back. The forms focused on my medical history, etc. and after the doctor reviewed them, I received an email that Dr. Kelly would do my surgery. We decided on a date that was just a few weeks from my initial email. I was told when to make flight arrangements, payment info, etc. so I got everything ready.
I didn't hear much from them until about a week before the procedure. (That's not a bad thing. I didn't need to hear from them.) They sent a contract that explained payment requirements explained earlier and just a basic agreement. The only surprise was for my niece. In her contract there was an extra $500 charge because her BMI was between 45-50. The charge made sense (it's a longer surgery and requires longer use of the OR, etc.) but she hadn't been told beforehand so it was a shock. In the end, they didn't make her pay it. Our coordinator was on medical leave and the doctor's wife had taken over the administrative details in her absence. She doesn't speak English, so there were a few glitches in the paperwork. None of it was a big deal and when I pointed out the mistakes, they were quick to correct them. Even though surgery was on Saturday (and we were told to arrive before 12:00 on surgery day) we chose to fly in Friday night so we wouldn't be rushed the day of surgery. (Plus it was cheaper!) We got an inexpensive hotel close to the airport and the driver picked us up there instead of the airport. (Keep in mind, when they give you a time that you're going to be picked up, it's an approximate time. I think part of that is cultural and part of it is the inability to know exactly how long it will take to fight traffic, get across the border, etc.) Our driver picked us up to take us to the hospital. (He even stopped at a Starbucks for my husband, our travel companion, b/c he needed the caffeine and wasn't sure what the day would hold for him!) Crossing the border was easy. We didn't need to show passports or anything. We just had to get all of our stuff out of the van and enter a small building (on the American side) where our bags were x-rayed and then exit the other side (Mexico side) and go to a small outside waiting area. It took about 15 minutes for our van to pick us up. We reloaded our bags and were off to Nova Hospital about 5 minutes away from the border.
About Nova: Let me digress a minute and talk about the hospital. First of all, it is nothing to look at. It's sort of wedged between other offices and has more of a "back-alley" look than I was expecting. I just had faith that everything would be ok and tried not to judge it by its appearance. There were also a few practices that were questionable, and maybe because I work in healthcare I was more critical. I thought the pre-op area was very clean and everyone that came in used hand sanitizer; however, their lack of gloves when handling blood concerned me (as much for them as me.) Also, a discarded needle from the blood draw had fallen on the floor and stayed there for quite a while. I finally asked someone to pick it up and throw it away. With that said, I think we received excellent care. The nurses could not have been more attentive or accommodating of our requests. The language barrier was an issue at times, but we muddled our way through it. (Charades anyone?)
Back to my story: Upon arriving at the hospital, we were ushered up to a waiting room where we waited about 10 minutes for them to take us into the intake room. Someone there filled out some forms, made our hospital bracelets, etc. The person who helped us was new and didn't speak any English, so it went pretty slow; however, another girl in the office spoke English pretty well and came to help when needed. Both ladies were very nice. It just helped to have a lot of patience. :)
After getting admitted, my niece and I were weighed and taken to a pre-op area. Our time there included a chest xray, ECG, blood work, IV started, talking with a cardiologist, and then we met briefly with Dr. Kelly. My niece was the first to go in and it didn't seem like any time they were done with her. Dr. Kelly came and talked to me about her procedure and how well it went before they pushed me back to the OR. I remember transferring onto the OR table and them strapping my arms down before I was out.
I woke up in our room (my niece and I shared a room) and felt ok. I was uncomfortable, but didn't hurt. My niece (who had never had anesthesia before) had a lot of nausea for the first 12 hours. My discomfort was from the gas they used to blow up my stomach. Just a general feeling of blah, with tightness in my back and shoulder. I used the gas x strips that everyone recommended and asked for ice packs for my stomach. (I don't see that mentioned on the forum much, but they helped me immensely.) After the first 12 hours, we felt pretty good. The rest of our time in the hospital (until Monday morning) was spent resting, sleeping on and off, walking the hall, reading, etc. We joked a couple of times that we were bored and wished we had brought some cards or something. We had an IV the whole time, so didn't need to eat or drink anything. Monday morning they discharged us from the hospital. Before they discharged us, they gave us our post-op instructions including medicine (antibiotic, pain pills, omeprazole, gauze and bandages, etc.) our medical records, a return to work note, labs, and chest xray. After that Cecy (Dr. Kelly's wife) drove us to Angeles hospital for our swallow tests (Dr. Kelly met us over there.) Angeles was a nice hospital. Knowing what we know now, we would have asked if we could have gone there instead of Nova (assuming it wasn't cost prohibitive.) We also got a copy of our leak tests to give our physicians at home. (Both my niece and I will receive follow-up from our primary care physician at home, so I asked for copies of everything. We also asked for and received an itemized bill in English in US Dollars for our flexible spending account, as we're requesting reimbursement. As with the earlier paperwork, there were mistakes, but when we pointed them out they were quick to correct them and get the back to us.) There was also a weird incidence on the first day where someone approached my husband with a bill for $35/each for our chest x-rays. My husband said that he didn't think we owed it, that it was part of Dr. Kelly's fee. He said he would talk with Dr. Kelly and get back to them. When we mentioned it to Dr Kelly, he said for us not to worry about it, that it was part of the fee we'd paid him. I don't think anyone was out to deceive us, but that they didn't understand the process.
From there, Dr. Kelly and Cecy took us to check into our hotel. We were supposed to stay at the Lucerna, but we stayed at the Ticuan instead. (Lucerna was full?) Regardless, Ticuan was nice and in the heart of the shopping district so we were excited. We walked several blocks looking in shops that had great souvenirs, tequila, silver, etc. I got a beautiful knock-off Hermes purse for $60. :) (I may have been there for surgery, but I have my priorities.) Even after doing all that walking, we felt good.
We went to dinner about 8:00 in the hotel restaurant and Dr. Kelly, his wife, and their son joined us. Their son (about 8 or 9) is awesome and even performed one of his martial art katas for us. We gave Dr. Kelly a small bottle of Don Julio tequila as a thank you gift for taking such good care of us. My niece and I had chicken broth (about 1/2 a bowl) which was the first "food" we had had since Friday. They were great dinner companions and I enjoyed hearing Dr, Kelly's stories and opinions about WLS and his bariatric surgeon colleagues both in the US and Mexico.
The next morning our driver picked us up and we crossed the border using the medical express lane. (The whole thing took about 25-30 minutes.) My husband and I showed our passports and my niece used her driver's license and birth certificate to get back across. (I was worried about her not having a passport, but she assured me it would be ok.) Our border agent was really nice and funny and we didn't have any issues. We drove about 5 minutes to the airport and the driver dropped us off at our terminal.
I'm sorry this post is so long, but I wanted to be as thorough as possible. I feel like I owe it to the ones before me to share as much as I can. Oh! I almost forgot! The morning I was discharged, they were picking up another patient. She happened to be someone I connected with on this forum so they brought her to my room to meet me! It was great meeting someone from the forum (and her daughter) in person! I hope this helps anyone out there considering Dr. Kelly. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me. I'll be as open as you'd like. Dr. Kelly even took pictures of the stomach he removed and sent them to me! I'd be happy to share!! :)"
