I decided to use Dr. Ortiz because of his excellent experience. Also, the flight being cheaper is a consideration because if it is too expensive you might put off follow up care. Since the price of a flight is about the same as what a fill would cost here, we can plan little mini-trips to San Diego and see some sights.
My husband and I had our surgeries on July 11th and it was fantastic! I have NEVER had such great care and attention. Dr. Ortiz sat down on the couch in my room and talked to my husband and I for about 15 minutes before the surgery, I'm sure he would have spent a longer time, but we had no questions.
While my IV was being put in, one nurse was doing that while another held my hand and rubbed my arm to relax me! It was unbelievable. I felt very comforted.
When I woke up from surgery (the first time) the nurse told me to wave to my husband, who was on his way into surgery. When I said I wanted to get up and walk, she told me to close my eyes and go to sleep, I thought I still wanted to get up, but she said, "no, close your eyes and you will go to sleep." Sure enough, I did and she was right next to me the whole time!
When my husband was done with surgery, the Doctor came and talked to me. DH is a cancer survivor and Dr. Martinez told me that he had so much scar tissue, they would not have been able to band him in the US. Luckily, we had picked DR. Ortiz and with his experience, he was able to overcome the problem. In my mind I saw extra charges for a difficult surgery, like when you take your car in to the shop and they charge extra cause of some unforseen problem, this did NOT happen. NOthing like surviving cancer to die from being too fat, but now we are on the losing side!
When my husband woke up, the nurse woke me up and said he wanted to see me, so that is when I started walking. DH and I walked all around the clinic and even went outside to enjoy the sun! We talked with the other 2 who had had surgery that day and everyone was feeling fine.
We watched some TV, the channels at the clinic are much better than those at the hotel, if you care about those things. Slept, walked, ate popsicles and drank water. Felt fine. We were given something to sleep that night and slept the whole night!
The next day, we say Dr. Martinez again and he talked to us about how to treat the band and all that. We had a few questions, the nurses had decided to put my husband on the monitor all night, but not me so we asked about that, but it was no big deal.
Mrs. Ortiz gave us a ride back to the hotel and we felt great. We even went to the San Diego Zoo and Sea World 3 and 4 days after surgery and had a lot of fun. Although, we decided not to go on the rides, even though DH really wanted too!
I thought the whole experience was great. I was quite apprehensive about the whole thing, but so far it has worked out great. We are still both on clear liquid diet and not hungry. My husband, with the pre-op diet has lost 30 lbs (10 since surgery) and I have lost 13 (3 since surgery).
I hope this information helps you in your decision. I know that Chelley has written extensively about her banding experience (although she has not updated in a while, hint hint ) .
196/ 185.5/120