- Name: Sara
- Age: 33
- Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
- Surgery date: January 7th, 2015
- Testimonial date: July 9th, 2015
- Surgeon: Dr. Almanza
I flew to San Diego and was picked up by an unmarked van and taken to the hotel due to my flight being late. The hotel was very nice but they do not speak alot of English. The next day I went to the hospital for my surgery. They did my blood work and other test to make sure everything was okay with me before hand. I was then hooked up to an IV and talked with the doctor and had my picture taken. I then walked to a bed and the next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room with 3 other people. This was where I stayed the night. When they say do not eat anything for whatever number of days they mean it. I did not eat anything ahead of time for 10 days. I did not get sick but others did. In the morning I was able to get up and they took me back to my hotel. I had a drain attached to my stomache. At the hotel they have doctors and nurses that come and give you pain medicine and change your bandages. The first day I walked around in order to get the gas out of my stomache. The nurse that was overseeing me was amazing she talked and made me laugh. The next day I went for a leak check that was awful it tastes really bad but everything was fine. I then got back to the hotel and the doctor came in and read my leak check results and then said that I still had alot of gas in my stomache so I got a taxi and went walking at a outside mall. That evening they came and took out my drain which hurt. At the hotel they provide you water, jello, and chicken broth. The next morning they drove me back to San Diego so I could fly back home. It has been 6 months since my surgery I eat about a cup of food 4 times a day and I have lost 103 pounds. Overall it was a great experience and if I had to make a suggestion for someone else to do this I would. Just remember just because you have the surgery doesn't mean you can sit around and loss weight I am more active now than I ever have been I ride 6 to 10 miles on my bike or way 2 to 4 miles every other day. I do not want to go back the way I was.
