Hello!! Sounds like you had a wonderful experience with Dr. A!!! He is awesome! I had the same great experience...but you're right, the liquid diet is rough. Don't try to eat or drink anything too soon. I made that mistake and ended up in a lot of pain! Walking helps though. I didn't exercise until a month or more after surgery. I was losing the whole time, so did not feel the urge to exercise. Enjoy the first few months, you will lose quickly...then it all s..l...o..w..s... down!! I lose about 5 pounds a month now, but am very happy with my results. I am scared that my "losing time" is at the end. I am in month 9 and still want to lose 30 pounds!! Good luck on your journey. Keep me posted.

My son just called because he knows I am anxious to start working out. He called to tell me a friend of his who is sleeved started too early and ruptured the stomach and did a lot of other damage inside himself. Can I hear from some of the sleeved veterans who can tell me when it was really safe to start exercising. I was thinking 3 weeks but now I am scared that might be too soon. I have the total gym, eliptical, treadmill, and love TaeBo just so you have an idea what I plan to be doing.

Thanks for the replies (tee hee,hee). Very much appreciated.

It seems like they've got this down to a well-oiled machine. I feel like there couldn't possibly be any snags because it's so organized. Hope you can continue to hold out on the liquids. You're in the home stretch baby!

For me personally my surgery went great! I was up walking same day...I cannot stress how much walking helps afterward I believe it staved off any pain I might have had other wise. I personally have had no brusing around my incisions and they are healing now so I am not going to have any. I had no soreness around the incisions at all! My stomach swelling has completely gone away 7 days afer surgery. The only issue I had was naseua so my husband emailed Susan I think and amazingly enough Dr Alvarez himself called within minutes and got me back on track by following day! In my case he had me take chewable dramamine...which I now keep on hand!


I do advise you read Dr Alvarez book that will given in your discharge bag so you don't make the same mistakes I did which lead to the naseua...mainly stacking water which means I either took too large of sips or too many too fast. Be sure to take tiny tiny sips only one or two at a time and wait 1-2 min for your new stomach to process it then you make take one or two more...do this everytime until little by little you can take a larger sips. Now at day 7 I can take larger sips but I still give them a min to go down in between. And I still do ice chips off and on during the day because I still cannot get the recommended amount of water down each day. Although I almost acheived that goal yesterday.

I know this has been a lengthy repl but just wanted to tell you everything I could recall that might help you in your journey! Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions. I am more than happy to answer them if I can. Keep me posted on your progress afterwards!

I advise not to eat soup or anything on trip home until you get home in case you have issues with diarreha. You won't be hungry anyway! I over packed really didn't need anything but gown an PJ's and change of clothes to come home in and your towletries (sp?) Botttle water for ride home. You do not need to worry about eating their ice chips they come from bagged ice...so no issues.

If I could tell you anything I would tell you that you have made a fantastic choice in surgeon and staff. There is really nothing to be apprehensive about. You are going to be so please with you decision. The hardest part to me is these three weeks of clear liquids afterwards I am entering week 2 and my pallette is just ready for something different but I will hang in there to give the staples and stitches all the time they need to heal properly...small price to pay for a lifetime of change!

They will have you check into the hotel in Eagle Pass and a shuttle (Rosey is the driver ) will pick you up the following morning and shuttle you across and back when released. She is very friendly (they all are) and she will handle the crossing you never even leave the van...they all know her at the crossing. You will check out of the hotel that morning so take all belongings with you. You will leave you car in their parking lot (I left mine out front) and once recovery is over they will shuttle you back to your car. The night before you will of course still bo on clear liquids and there is a little cafe called Chow Chow 1 block over from hotel that makes great Won Ton Soup cost $3.75 (I think).

Hi! Welcome to the forum. My response was too long so will try to send it in two parts. Yes Dr Alvarez was my doctor and I can tell you I had a wonderful experience. Their level of care well surpassed that if that you find in the states. I recently lost my Mom in the states and I can tell you anytime she needed anything from the nursing staff that acted as if you were inconveniencing them rather than they doing what they signed on for in their choosen field. In Mexico it was exactly the opposite! Dr Alvarez, his co-surgeon and all his staff are extremely attentive to your needs. I cannot tell you how many times they each came to chek on me each day while there. I would be walking in the hallway and run into Dr Alvarez no less than 5-6 times a day, his co-surgeon checked on me multiple times a day and the nursing staff would come within 2-5 min of pushing the button (i only had to use it to request ice chips) and if you weren't pushing the button they would come anyway. I have never seen anything like it. I was very impressed.

The hospital itself was older than what we see in the states but I personally do not believe that matters as much as the staff and level of care received.

Hi Mcconnellnx,

Just noticed you on the ticker of last weeks surgeries and noted that you had Dr Alvarez. I will be seeing him for mine on the 8th of Oct. Looking forward to starting this and hear great things about him.

Hope all went well. If you have any suggestions or tips for someone heading down there would love to hear anything you can offer.

Good luck with your recovery