• Name: Jessica
• Age: 42
• Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
• Surgery date: March 20th, 2018
• Testimonial date: March 28th, 2018
• Surgeon: Dr. Mario Almanza

I have to start by letting everyone know that I was very hesitant when I was reading through the testimonials. I had my surgery in Tijuana one week ago now and I have to say everyone went out of their way to make it as comfortable as possible. Please keep in mind you are making a big decision and any surgery is going to be uncomfortable. I met people from all over the world. The staff is so exceptionally helpful. I did have a guest so I stayed at the hotel where the beds are really hard but the nursing staff is out of this world, they can not do enough to make you as comfortable as possible. I had a difficult time with mint tasting things (Gas-X strips, tooth paste), I did a bit better with the chewable cherry Gas-X. One suggestion I can make is make sure if you are on pain medications for a long time that you have them and that you speak with your specialist to see if you can get them in liquid form. It is not easy to take crushed medications as the taste is horrible.

My thought is that there are 2 types of people reading these testimonials:
1- those that are still trying to decide if this surgery is right for them and
2- those that are trying to find out if going out of the country and spending less money is a safe option.

So a little information for both:
1- My weight in December 2017 hit 330 pounds and I was mortified as this is the highest I had every been; I weighed in day before surgery March 19th at 280 pounds and as of Monday 26th at my doctor my weight is down to 264 pounds - Doing the math that is a total of 66 pounds down to date.

2- This hospital was specifically built where it is to allow for the reduced prices in a safe and clean environment. If anyone has any questions please feel free to reach out to me at anytime: jesslyn235@aol.com

A little background on my situation: in 2006 I had a lap-band placed and I did really well with this dropping 97 pounds. In 2015 I started experiencing complications which stopped me from eating, I started eating whatever I could get to go down smoothly (Ice Cream) and gained more then 50 pounds. It was then that I started researching making the change from the lap-band to the gastric sleeve. I started visiting the nutritionist monthly as required by my insurance. After completing 5 out of 6 visits however my body took a turn and forced me to make a change. I went into the hospital where they cut my lap-band open and it exploded with scar tissue. This had not been seen on any scans. The doctors cleaned away the scar tissue and left the band in place; they told me when I woke that I should be fine and the surgeon likes to see the band in place when they convert to the sleeve. The next day however I woke up in so much pain I went back to the hospital and told them take it out. That was 2 and a half years ago. In December of 2017 I had gained all of the weight I had lost plus more that I definitely hadn't wanted. It was time to make a change. I went through the process of self pay in NYC where it was going to cost me $20K to have the surgery and my health insurance does not cover any bariatric surgery. When I was told in February that I was not receiving a bonus or a pay increase I understood that there was no way I was going to be able to have the surgery unless I found a cheaper alternative. That is when I found WLA; for days upon days I read patient testimonials. I felt as though all I could find where older testimonials so I emailed them and asked for more recent patient information. I never thought I would be considering going outside of the country to have surgery. I was luck in that the diet that Dr Almanza asked me to be on for 24 days I had started in January after seeing the nutritionist in NY. I had found Premium Protein Shakes that I highly recommend. I scheduled my surgery within 2 weeks and booked my flights. My mother joined me for my travels; they ask you to make your return flight for after 12pm, make it as close to 12 pm as possible. I decided that I was going to upgrade my return but the only way to do this was to depart on a 10pm flight and this caused us to sit at the airport for 10 hours.

Whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck in your journey.

Jessica