Just got back from a Mexican Chop Shop and I don't recommend it.

[AllieGator]

I don't want to malign my doctor by name, but it was NOT your doctor....the customer service was terrible and I have notified the people who need to know that and they have responded positively to my constructive criticism. Hopefully your experience was or will not be like mine! THanks!

[AllieGator]

I am delighted for you that your experience does not mirror anything close to your experience. That still does not mean that for me, the overall experience was horrific. I don't want to malign my doctor by name, but it was NOT your doctor....the customer service was terrible and I have notified the people who need to know that and they have responded positively to my constructive criticism. Thank you for showing an iota of empathy over what I shared publicly (NOT) and I will be as precise as I choose to be.

[AllieGator]

Based on what?

[AllieGator]

Wow....that is a horrific story. I am so sorry your wife has gone through that! To think I got references and tried to do my research. Thank you for sharing and again, I am sorry.

[AllieGator]

Tasha....I am so sorry you experienced something similar to me, but with a different doctor. It's hard to tell only 3 days out if everything is going to be fine or if I am going to have long term repercussions like others have had. I would like to befriend you....I hope you will be OK.

[Belle22]

Alliegator: I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. I hope you can find a bariatric surgeon locally, who can check you out and ease your mind. You will heal much faster physically and mentally if you can. I have never had surgery in any other country. Fortunately my insurance is paying for it. They did make me go to a Center of Excellence. It takes several years to get this accreditation. I had another surgeon picked out to do my surgery. She was recruited to our city to start a bariatric program due to her outstanding credentials. My insurance wouldn't let me go to her because she has not been awarded this credential in my hometown. I thought that was crazy because she did have that accreditation at the hospital she worked for many years doing bariatric surgery. My point is that you did the best you could to check out your surgeon and obviously aren't happy with him. Please just find a doctor to help you through this so you can start reaping the benefits of the surgery.

[AllieGator]

Very glad you had a good experience. I am envious that I didn't use your doctor and used mine instead. I would not have gone through with it, had I known then what I know now. Thanks for sharing...

[AllieGator]

Cathi....after travelling for 12 hours, putting down non-refundable money....the fact that they didn't give me warm and fuzzies did not mean the doctor was incompetent.....I still don't know how good or bad he is as a surgeon....time will tell.....I reluctantly went through with the process not knowing some of the things that were to come AFTER the surgery....but thanks for an iota of empathy.

[AllieGator]

Thank you for the empathy Cathi, I appreciate it. I am hoping blue skies are ahead.....don't know yet....and after reading some terrible aftermath stories, I'm a little worried....but I am feeling decent, so hopefully I will heal quickly and move forward from there. THANK YOU.

[odesskiy]

So what did you mean, Odesskiey?



And for our continuing education:

"In 2011 a large scale mitochondrial sequencing in Mexican Americans revealed 85 to 90% of mtDNA lineages of Native American origin, with the remainder having European (5-7%) or African ancestry (3-5%)."
At https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexicans

Also ...

Caucasian: of, constituting, or characteristic of a race of humankind native to Europe, North Africa, and southwest Asia and classified according to physical features —used especially in referring to persons of European descent having usually light skin pigmentation
At http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caucasian

Mkay...so with the studies you quoted, what race do Hispanics belong to? With you being "continuously educated" and all. As far as the science is aware, there are three major races, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid. Hispanics, despite your ignorant assertion are most definitely representatives of the Caucasoid race. Science and facts are funny that way...no amount of ignorance can change them.

As to what I meant by saying "I can believe people still go to Mexico to get butchered", I meant EXACTLY what I said. I think it is quite clear, even despite English being my non-native tongue. Nowhere does it imply that ALL people that go to Mexico to get operated on get butchered. What that sentence conveyed was my dismay and utter bewilderment with the fact that with hundreds if not thousands of first hand accounts of people that actually did get butchered, there is still a steady flow of Americans trekking across the border into a filthy and dangerous town like Tijuana and risk their life and limb to save a few bucks.

I've got no dog in this fight, really. I don't care what people do with their lives and their money as long as the taxpayers aren't on the hook for their medical care after they come back in a coma. Stating my opinion about the level of care in a third-world corrupt country based on plentiful first-hand accounts does not make me "racist" or "prejudiced".

I understand that everyone that got sleeved in Mexico feels the need to foam at the mouth defending their questionable and risky decision. Including patients of Dr. Almanza, who is the subject of multiple negative threads on this very board and has a plethora of horror stories revealed via a simple Google search.

http://www.10news.com/news/team-10-d...gery-in-mexico

http://www.**********************/to...o-please-read/

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/vs...Almanza-Reyes/

http://www.*****************/topic/3...mario-almanza/

http://globalnews.ca/news/1581936/no...ery-in-mexico/

http://www.complaintsboard.com/compl...d-c712505.html

Please show me a single American bariatric surgeon that has Almanza's percentage of complications and number of complaints that is still allowed to perform surgeries.

[cathbas]

alliegator..i think you will feel fine..really ...just take it easy..it has only been a few days...and these are hard days in the begining..take it easy..sleep and rest..and drink fluids and walk..you will get better..we really are all pulling for you

[odesskiy]

I see...so if I didn't have any surgeries in Mexico (god forbid), I cannot form opinions about the level of care based on numerous first-hand accounts freely available by hundreds or thousands, including the one from the author of this very thread. I guess people that have never seen the ocean have no idea that the water in it is salty. Please point me to where you got this definition of prejudice. I think Mirriam-Webster is in utter disagreement with it. Otherwise saying Sahara is full of sand would be prejudiced towards Sahara, since I've never been there in person.

Sorry, my mistake. Try prejudice. "still going to Mexico to be butchered" implies one would not receive good medical care in Mexico. Have you had surgery in Mexico? If not, any comments you make about it are not based on all of the facts or personal experience, which is the definition of prejudice. You lumped an entire country into a category based on one doctor in that country. I was simply pointing out that going to Mexico does not mean you will be butchered and to think so is utterly ignorant.

But then again, you did quickly categorize me as an Obama supporter based on one completely unrelated politically neutral comment on a WLS board, so I guess forming opinions and making judgements on very little info is something you do. And no, I did not vote for him, so for the second time in this thread, you are wrong.

[Kindle]

Sorry, I've got an Oxford Dictionary.

Actually the U.S. census bureau recognizes 5 distinct races....
White or Caucasian
Black or African American
Native American or Alaska Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

And no, Hispanics are not necessarily Caucasian....

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget currently defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".[37] The 2010 Census asked if the person was "Spanish/Hispanic/Latino". The United States Census uses the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race."[33] The Census Bureau also explains that "[o]rigin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race."

But these are all semantics. YOU are the one that made the negative comment about Mexico. I was just trying to point out how wrong you were. I misused the term racism, and for that I apologize. And since you obviously have no interest in hearing facts that don't align with your beliefs, I'm done wasting my time.

[Damasyn]

I went to a highly acclaimed surgeon, national awards, etc etc. I met him just once for about 10 mins a couple weeks before surgery. Day of surgery, about 2 mins of talking to him before surgery and for the next couple days 7 am, he would poke his head in my room for a 1 min conversation. Other than that, i have not seen him since. It has always been his staff. But that does not make me feel like I have been treated like I was worthless. I know in my area, he is just one of about 5 surgeons that specialize in this as well as being on call 7 days a week.

I like to give most the benefit of the doubt and hope that while they are extremely busy, their surgical skills are fantastic. My moods were up and down the first few months, I would go from liking what was changing to absolutely hating it and wondering what in the hell I have done. Its a new way of life and eating. You dont like cooking anymore I am sure, because you cant eat like you used to. Your going to have to change everything. Things will look up.

[odesskiy]

American Census is not a scientific classification. And its definition of race has nothing to do with the science of anthropology. But you are right, in this case it makes no difference. You called me a racist based on one sentence you didn't like.

As to "not hearing facts that don't align with my beliefs", you are wrong yet again. I realize that there is plenty of people happy with their experience, including you. What you refuse to acknowledge due to your narrow-mindedness is that you personal experience has absolutely no bearing on the statistically significant number of negative outcomes. Yet you still try to push your experience as proof of me being "racist", "prejudiced", etc.

It is really unfortunate that you will not take a step back to realize you were wrong or god forbid apologize for calling me a racist with absolutely no basis for forming such an opinion. You will remain indignant and claim you are "done wasting your time". I guess I should be done wasting my time on simple-minded people as well...

Sorry, I've got an Oxford Dictionary.

Actually the U.S. census bureau recognizes 5 distinct races....
White or Caucasian
Black or African American
Native American or Alaska Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

And no, Hispanics are not necessarily Caucasian....

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget currently defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race".[37] The 2010 Census asked if the person was "Spanish/Hispanic/Latino". The United States Census uses the ethnonym Hispanic or Latino to refer to "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race."[33] The Census Bureau also explains that "[o]rigin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person's ancestors before their arrival in the United States. People who identify their origin as Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish may be of any race."

But these are all semantics. YOU are the one that made the negative comment about Mexico. I was just trying to point out how wrong you were. I misused the term racism, and for that I apologize. And since you obviously have no interest in hearing facts that don't align with your beliefs, I'm done wasting my time.