• Name: Warren Swartz
• Age: 61
• Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
• Surgery date: March 11th, 2015
• Testimonial date: April 9th, 2015
• Surgeon: Dr. Almanza

I spent the better part of a year deciding to move forward with Sleeve surgery. After a short time of sharing my thoughts with friends and family, it became clear that most everyone thought it was a little crazy; I wasn't that fat; I could lose weight on my own with a little diet and exercise; and only a complete idiot would travel to Tijuana Mexico for anything. I couldn't necessarily disagree with all of the input and responses, but I knew one thing for certain, I had been on all the diets and had a personal trainer, but the weight was just always there. It would hide for a while, then show up again and again, usually packing on more pounds each time it returned. My eating habits never changed. "I LOVE TO EAT" was my excuse.

I made the final decision around January of 2015 and booked my reservation in February for a March 11 surgery and kept it between my wife and myself. I chose to travel alone, made all of my reservations and flew to San Diego on the 10th of March. I was met by Tony at the airport shortly after arriving and had a quick ride to the hospital where I waited with a few other nervous visitors just like me. We were greeted by Dr. Almanza who made it a point to let us know that although his English was not so good, his hands were excellent and then proceeded to have his picture taken with each one of us. I think he loves cameras. After going through some preliminary evaluations, I went to the hotel and settled in for the night.

I was back at the hospital by around 7 AM where I was prepped for surgery and on my way to never-never land by 915 AM. Then it was later and I was in a bed in a room I had not seen before. The nurses checked on me and I was walking around shortly afterwards. With the exception of some strange tube and ball dangling from my abdominal region, I felt pretty good and really had no pain. The rest of the day and night was typical for a hospital stay with the nurses waking me up every so often to change dressings, hook up a new IV and check the old BP level.

I was back to the hotel on Thursday afternoon and spent time walking around, watching TV I couldn't understand and seeing other people with wristbands and dangling balls wandering about. The nurses, all of who were very nice and attentive to my needs, kept my dressings changed and my IV's filled. By Friday morning, I no longer had an IV, the dressings were gone except for the port hole where the dangling ball was coming out (which was actually a drain). I felt fine. No nausea, no real discomfort, and no reason to stay at the hotel so I wandered around the streets of Tijuana and took in the sights including the ever so popular Abraham Lincoln statute at the center of the round about, or suicide circle as I referred to it. I flew home Saturday night arriving back to my own bed on Sunday morning. My wife was shocked when I walked though the door carrying my stuff and looking for chicken broth. Had I thought it through, I could have played it up a bit more, but i didn't.

Here are my stats as of today, the 9th of April 2015:
* Weight when I made my decision - 268 LBS
* Weight after 6 days of fluid diet and right before surgery on 3/11/15 - 260 LBS
* Weight 4/9/15 - 239LBS

Downsides:
* Not sleeping as well
* A little depression that can be managed by simply realizing its normal
* Tough to go out to eat with wife and friends because I eat so little
* Hard not to drink when I eat
* Clothes are looking too big (not really a problem)

SO,
* Do I have any regrets? No
* Would I do it again? Yes
* Would I recommend a friend or family member? Yes
* Was Tijuana acceptable? Yes
* Was the hospital clean and orderly? Yes
* Was the hospital staff professional and courteous? Yes
* Did Weight Loss Agents do everything they said they would do? Yes
* How would I rate the experience overall on a 1 to 10 scale? 8.5

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* This is an actual testimonial, however, your results may vary. For more information, please read our Testimonial Disclaimer and Risks of Surgery.