I am new to this site and figured I would start out by telling my story. I work in the medical career field and would probably be the LAST person you would expect to go out of country to have a surgery done. Too many episodes of "Botched" didn't help. Somehow my sister talked me into it (although in the back of my mind I had decided if we got there and anything seemed off, I would back out). It helped that she was in touch with 2 other patients that had had VSG with our surgeon and both had only good things to say.
We flew into San Diego and were picked up by Rick from Trinity Medical and driven across the border to Tijuana. It didn't feel real at all. He drove us to the hospital and we each had and EKG by a cardiologist who closely went over the results and questioned us about our medical history. We had blood drawn and sent to a lab. Once the lab work came back, we were ready to go! Our surgeon, Maruicio Gutierrez came in to meet us and seemed very quiet and didn't have the ego that can be associated with a lot of surgeons. He asked if we had any questions and if we still wanted to go ahead with the surgery. We were both still on board.
I went first and I must admit I had a moment of panic while lying on the table before being put under. Everyone around me was speaking in Spanish and I wondered if I had made a huge mistake. What if something went wrong??? What would I do??? I prayed over and over asking God to keep me safe and the next thing I remember was wake up, shaking so hard the whole bed was rocking. This is a pretty normal response when coming out of anesthesia. The came in with extra blankets and even set up a heater by my bed. SO NICE! I should probably mention here that in previous surgeries I've had in the US (the last being a Thyroid lobectomy) I came out of anesthesia VIOLENTLY nauseous. No matter what meds they gave me, I couldn't stop vomiting/dry heaving. I told my surgeon about this and he assured me he would take care of me. Ladies and gentlemen, this was the FIRST time I have ever come out from any kind of anesthesia with absolutely NO nausea. It was like a miracle!
The surgery seemed like a peace of cake. I am 4 days out now and things have just been getting better and better. I am down 7 pounds since surgery (I'm not going to lie, I been having some major food cravings. Can't WAIT to be off Clear liquids and have some pudding.
While we were there we were told about a New Years special they were going to be starting. In typical fashion it's starting was being held up by red tape from the Mexican Government. Once it gets up and going, they are doing the sleeve surgery for basically half the price! $2500 vs $4800. The Medical Tourism has suffered from a few bad surgeons and their goal is to run those guys out of business. Dr Mauricio Gutierrez is actually the surgeon those other doctors call to try to correct the mistakes they've made in surgery. In fact he was called in to do that the day after our surgery. I can not even tell you how happy we were to hear that the surgeon we had chosen was so skilled. He also wont do more than 4 or 5 surgeries a day compared to the 20+ surgeries of some of the greedier surgeons. He has so much integrity.
I remember having so much anxiety trying to decide who to go with when we were planning our surgery and not knowing how to tell a good apple from the bad.
So if you are on the fence about where to go, go to TrinityMedical.org or message me or you can call (619)438-0338.
I would recommend them to my mother if she was looking into having the surgery. I can't speak highly enough of the staff and the care we both received. Dr G came to our hotel room to check on our incisions and see how we were doing. Nurse Nathan was with us or in contact with us the whole 4 days we were there. Everyone was so genuine and caring.
so glad you had such an amazing experience!!! I am headed down 2/16/16 and am SO excited!!!!!!!
I'm still researching doctors in Mexico to find the right one for me. But I will be down there the last weekend in Feb.
Dr Kelly is amazing too. He is so sweet and their whole team is AMAZING as well!
I am glad you had a good experience with Dr Kelly. The only thing I would say is he is getting older and not as steady. While I was there last week he nicked a patient's spleen which ended up needing to be removed and the patient had to have a blood transfusion ????
and how did you hear about that?
My surgeon was the one that was called in to help the patient. It made him late for a check up after surgery and my nurse explained where his was. The nurse had worked in several different dr offices and was giving me the low down. Almanza and Kelly and a plastic surgeon were the only ones he named. I don't know about the rest. Dr Mauricio Gutierrez at Trinity Medical was my surgeon. He is so humble but really talented and caring. He won't do more than 4 surgeries a day. He checks on you a lot. I felt totally taken care of!
I think Dr Kelly IS probably a good surgeon, but with laparoscopic surgeries you have to have a steady hand and good arm strength and he is getting older and doesn't have it anymore.
This made me feel so good to hear! I am also going to dr Mauricio Gutierrez in a few weeks! Ty for your review!