My Medical Tourism Experience & Advice: Gastric Sleeve Surgery

I am not sure if this will be much help as I am only 8 days post gastric sleeve surgery. But for those that are thinking about having it done abroad, here are my thoughts.

BEST THING I HAVE EVER DONE!!!… I woke up and there were immediate changes in my body. I woke up to something I had not had in years: Energy.

I have had no attacks yet from any of my health concerns. I have not taken any of my arthritis medications as I cannot crush them up according to the pharmacist. I could take one of the meds for the arthritis but to be honest am leery of what I put in there.

I am only on my cane half the time now. I am keeping in mind how fast an attack can hit.

However, I am having problems getting the protein drinks in. Loved them before surgery however when I try to drink one it comes right back up. But fear not, you don’t vomit like you did before surgery; it’s more like a spit up.

I chose to have the surgery to assist me in starting fresh with food and finding out which foods are possibly leading to the massive inflammation and attacks that I have. Even if it is only one or two, that is one or two less things mucking up my system.

Lost 25 pounds on the pre-bariatric diet. I was bedridden for two years so packed on the weight – at start I was 327 pounds. So my second motive was to drop some weight to HOPEFULLY gain some mobility back…I was to the point that I was becoming extremely sedentary again one step away from being bedridden.

I chose medical tourism as having the surgery done at home in Canada required two or more years of jumping through hoops. Two of my girlfriends also went and had the surgery with me. All three of us would not recommend the hospital where we had it done. And especially the company that we went with. A lot on their site and brochures was utter bull pucky!.. And the hidden charges: my hidden charges came to $700 american.

Hmm difficult or painful…No actually the only pain that I felt was from the gas when it moved into shoulder. Have felt no pain from incision cites etc. Day eight no pain. As I said though even others on the hospital ward had same problem only pain was from the gas. A little tenderness on incision cites but comparable when you get a scratch or scrape it is tender but that has decreased each day since surgery.

Right now for diet I am following a doctor on youtube and cannot mention name due to guideline submissions.. And I watched quite a bit of him before surgery and he has the most comprehensive videos that explain EVERYTHING from how much can I realistically expect to lose, how to eat etc… So at day 8 I am eating low sugar jello, low fat pudding. Still eating the chicken broth which believe me will be your friend. Have to move my liquids around.

At this point I cannot continue to incorportate the phases…ie…clear fluids , creamy fluids…as I am not sure if I am getting my forty ounces of fluids in so todays goal count my fluids and see where I am at.

So my key advice from a newbie sleever is go for it…can only make your life better and by far healthier. If nothing else you give your children more time with you.

My only warning: if you are going the medical tourism route, SPEAK TO SOMEONE who has worked with that company or hospital. We researched this and were shocked that it was not what we were told.

And there are factors that you cannot account for. For example, the hospital was nice. The company said that over 90 some percent spoke English for the nurses….my question is then WHY were they pretending that they didn’t. I only found two people that understood English and one was the cleaning lady who had to act as an interpreter…not a good place to be when you are having surgery.

One of the ladies that was with me had an ineffective IV in her arm that made her hand swell up like football and her arm…FOR TWO DAYS….they did not check our output on urine there was no catheter and they idea of checking is asking you if you had a pee…

Could tell more stories but that is not the point… only saying be very careful where you have it done. If paying be aware that this is a BUSINESS and there will be extra charges.