Thanks for the welcome. This site is great. thanks for your support.

Congratulations! Hope all is well and you're resting comfortably.

Sending prayers your way that your surgery goes well and you have a quick recovery! Happy Thanksgiving

Sending prayers your way that your surgery goes well and you have a quick recovery!

Wishing you all the best tomorrow. I too, am being sleeved by Dr. Ortiz next month. Any tips or advice you could offer to us "blindly" going into this would be appreciated.
Take good care!

Good luck!

Good luck next week! I hope you have a very uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery. See you on the "sleeved" side. : )

I have had no pain, my tiny scars are healing great. Can't wait to complete this part of my journey, the go back to OCC and have the rest completed. I would definitely not go to someone else because of money, I wanted someone who can be trusted. I had a friend who went to dr Ortiz years ago and she highly recommended him. Would not change my decision with him.

I did, and I could honestly say, it was wrth every cent and more.

Hi, I first started looking at dr Ariel Ortiz at obesity control center after I went and saw a friend who had the band with him A few years before. After getting down to Tijuana, we spent the nite at th Marriott. Nice rooms comfy lots of pillows. The morning was an early day cause I had pretesting to be done. They do around 2-3surgeries a day. The people that were there were from the us and one from overseas.they were all fun to be around and they were at different stages in the process. The clinic is very clean, you put booths on when in they back and before surgery you meet with the doctor, and nutritionist. When surgery finally came, it was about an hou to hour fifteen. Then in recovery in your own private room and it has direct tv.....take that all in, cause the Marriott you only get about 5 channels in English. The clinic has wi fi and long distance if you need to call family back home. Over the next few days you come back and forth for dressing changes, vitals, ect ect......all in all. I was very happy and am looking forward to my newest chapter in my life. If you want to know more, let me know. Maybe we ca chat on the phone......whatever you decide, I know you would be happy with the treatment that you are given......amy

What would I do differently???? Pack fewer clothes! Be sure to bring your baggiest clothes -- your stomach will be larger after surgery due to the gas that was pumped it. I would also walk more!!! It gets rid of the gas.
What would I do the same??? Bring a friend, bring an extra blanket, and bring my positive attitude.
If you have more questions I'd be glad to answer them.

Recovery at home -- Well I should have rested more, but life intruded (sick kid, plugged toilet, slob kid). This week I've done lots of resting, especially after I had a nasty bout of diarrhea. Just remember that you have had major surgery and your body needs time to heal. By Thursday, I had lost the soreness in my abdomen -- but I haven't needed to use any pain meds since the hospital. Started full liquids this past week and that seems to be going well. I am using yogurt and my protein drinks to get in my protein -- watch the sugar content -- it can lead to disaster.

Recovery at the Marriott -- I did lots of walking in the hallways on our floor, but we also went down to the pool and I did laps there as well, the fitness center is right there but I didn't want to use it I wanted to be outside. We had lunch at the hotel restaurant I had some tea and the broth, it was good but I could only get down about a half a cup. Later that afternoon Eduardo brought each of us a goody bag with antibiotics and some pain medication if needed. I found that I didn't need the pain medication I actually spent most of the first day there sleeping! Thursday was suppose to be more of the same with removal of our drains as well, but I had my drain removed and began the journey home. We had a 6:30 am flight home.

The Day After the Big Day -- I tried to walk for 5 - 10 minutes every hour to hour and a half, but I did take a nap Tuesday afternoon. Sometime mid-morning I had my swallow/leak test to make sure that my stomach didn't have any leaks. The solution that they have you chug is really nasty!!! I had my IV changed several time and got drugs every 4 hours or so. Around 4pm I got gatorade to drink -- my first good liquids in 36 hours, about 3 tablespoons and I was full. Tuesday night I had my first nausea, but found that taking a walk made it go away. Around 5am they changed my dressings. At about 7:30 am they moved us back to the Marriott for recovery -- the showers were nicer and the beds much more comfortable.

"The Big Day" -- Once at the hospital, we filled out another health history complete with medication list, if you kept a copy of yours bring it along to copy. We were assigned to rooms, if you bring a friend they stay with you. Once in your room you change into a hospital gown, have blood drawn, and an IV is started. After that you just wait your turn . . . bring a good book, etc. I had my iPad, but the internet was slow and yes you are able to recharge your devices in the room. I met with the surgeon around 4pm and was told that my surgery would be around 5:30, it was 8:30 pm. The anesthesiologist met with me around 7:30 and discussed what she was doing to use, she was really through. I left the room around 8:30 and don't remember much until Tuesday morning when they came to change my IV and add drugs (antibiotics, nausea, pain). At that point I got up and started walking.