I've lost over 30lbs in 30 days!

Hello friends!
I just wanted to send out a note because I am so happy! I had my gastric sleeve surgery with Dr Verboonen in Cancun on March 14, 2009 and I could not be happier! For those of you considering weight loss surgery in Mexico I cannot express how overly pleased I am with my patient facilitator, surgeon, hospital and overall experience!! Cancun is such a great place! It's very commercialized and very American-ized, which made me feel at home right away!
My patient facilitator was Sheri and she was probably the 12 PF I'd talked to about a surgery in Mexico. As soon as I heard her voice I was sold. Her upbeat personality and positive energy came through the phone and I immediately knew where I should go! I booked my plane tickets that night!! And I have never looked back!
The hospital was immaculate and practically brand new! The rooms were very nice and looked like rooms in an American hospital! They were all single rooms with marble floors and a couch and recliner for my friend who went with me! The nurses were very nice and accommodating! And the surgery team was amazing! They all came in to meet with me before the surgery and made me feel comfortable. The next thing I knew I was waking up in recovery! That night around midnight I was feeling a little discomfort (gas and bloating)and Dr. Verboonen himself called me to see how I was doing! I wonder how many US doctors would do the same?
Anyway before I knew it, I was back home again in Indiana! My only slight complication was an allergic reaction to the adhesive used on my bandages. Now, the only reason I mention this is because even when I was back in the states, my two head surgeons Dr. Verboonon and Dr. Perez emailed, text and called me to see how I was doing!! Talk about going above and beyond the call of duty. They didn't have a nurse call or my patient facilitator they both contacted me multiple times!
My rash may be gone but my positive feelings about my surgeons, my patient facilitator and my experience in Cancun will always live on! If anyone out there is considering a surgery in Mexico I would be happy to give you all the ins and outs of my time in Cancun. I urge everyone to do their research but for me, there was only one place and that was in Cancun with Dr. Verboonen.

First, let me say that there is nothing scary about Cancun, and I know how you feel, I was leary too. It is a really neat place, My daughter and I both went for the mini-gastric bypass, and we took a friend of my daughters who is an RN and works with my daughter, who is also an RN.

The hospital is small, spotless, and well equipped with US equipment. The nurses don't all speak good English, but they are constantly asking if you have pain and will be there within 10 seconds of you ringing your bell. And soooo gentle and happy, smiling young women. They will figure out what you want or get another nurse to help. The only word we had trouble getting across was "toilet paper" - my daughter noticed the roll in her bathroom was getting low - after a couple minutes, a patient exercising in the hall translated and we all got a good laugh.

Not much pain, just lots of air in your abdomen that makes you uncomfortable; the sooner and more you walk, the better. If you are having the lapband, I think it is even less painful. I learned that if I laid sort of on my side, with my head up some, and a pillow against my tummy, that felt the best. We had a drain tube they take out before you leave, and all my sites are nearly healed and it hasn't been a week until Friday.

The doctors speak English and though I thought the hospital looked a little primative in style, it is spotless and the equipment is top notch. Just reminded me of a hospital in a small town USA.

One thing I will warn you about is they don't understand that you might be a little modest about who sees your breast. They are always careful to keep the lower part covered but when they were doing my EKG before surgery, another nurse was trying to take my history, and they had to bring someone else in to translate, and here I am lying there bare-breasted. Sheri must have thought I might be uncomfortable because she came in and took his place, I laugh about it now, but I was a little shocked, and after I motioned for them to close the curtain as they went in and out, they got the message and would always look at me and smile and pull it closed tight.

We flew into Cancun last Wednesday evening so we had two nights at the Gran Melia resort before our surgeries. Thursday we got up early and went walking in the surf of that beautiful Carribean Sea and dug for seashells. We had been on the liver shrinking liquid diets but were looking forward to that last great meal Thursday night, We went to the Veranda restaurant there at the hotel and had steak and baked potatoe. I had the filet, my daughter had one called the cowboy steak. Both were wonderful. Then we went to "The Market", which is a little convenience type store in the resort and got ice cream for dessert. This market is a good place to pick up yogurts and juices for your pre-surgery liquid diet too. I drank my last cup of caffienated coffee just before 10:00 pm, which was our deadline for anything by mouth for our surgery.

Sheri picked us up and took us to the Amerimed Hospital and stayed until she had to go pick someone else up from the airport who was having surgery on Saturday. Before you leave the hospital they do a flouroscope, where you stand up and drink and you and the doctors can see that all is sealed and flowing well. The day after surgery they ask you to sip this yucky blue stuff to make sure none would come out your drain. You will "pee" blue for awhile though.

I feel like they are very thorough and we felt good enough on Monday to catch a cab and go dowm to "Market 28" and buy souveniors. You have to haggle, its fun, if they say $100. you can walk away a few times and buy it for $20-25. It's fun. We stayed there about 4 hours then took a cab back to the hotel (which is also very nice), we sat on the edge of the pool and dangled our legs and around 4:00pm we caught a cab to the mall that is only about 5 blocks away and is pretty much like the malls here in the US, We were there until about 10:00. We would eat when we wanted. Our friend would order just something small, and we would order a bowl of chicken noodle soup or such, and just eat the juice, she would eat our meat, noodles and bread, worked out great. The only place we couln't find any soups was the Cancun airport, but we did find yogurt drinks.

It was a great experience, we plan to go back to play next spring with the whole family.

Sorry to ramble on, but you will adore Cancun, It is a clean friendly and safe place. I am sure they have crime, just like we do, but we felt secure at all times.

Good Luck - stay positive,

Linda P.S. day 5 after surgery, I have lost 14 pounds! And other than a tiny bit of soreness, I feel great. I am going to copy this to Sheri too so she can use it if she needs to make other clients at ease.

ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING - The day before you leave or just before you leave home, send Sheri an email and tell her again what time your plane is landing in Cancun so in case she has gotten different airline info she will know for sure and will be there with her little sign waiting for you. She's a doll, you will love her.

Things to take with you:
Gauze patches, tape, antibiotic cream for changing your tiny bandages, and a calculator to figure prices from pesos to dollars, We used the one on cell phone but just carrying one would have been easier.....good luck, keep me posted.