Posted on 02/07/2017 11:30:08 PM PST by nickcarraway
A North Texas woman has a warning for anyone thinking about traveling abroad for cheap weight loss surgery.
Lisa Hubbard, of Fort Worth, says she had hoped gastric sleeve surgery would put her in better charge of her health for the sake of her new grandson.
She said she saw ads on television for cheap weight loss surgery and began researching options months ago.
The average cost of weight loss surgery in the United States is about $14,000, and insurance doesn't always cover it.
Hubbard found doctors in Mexico who would do the surgery for $3,800, which also includes the stay and medications.
"It almost seemed like a mini-vacation. You go down there and have your surgery and then you come back and everything would be good," Hubbard said.
Three days after her surgery, Hubbard was on a plane back to North Texas and five days after her surgery, she was in the hospital with her first complication: a blood clot.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says flying soon after surgery can increase the risk for blood clots.
Days later, doctors found another complication.
"They told me my stitches had burst and they were gonna have to rush me to the ER," Hubbard said. "I felt like, 'Oh, my God, what did I do to myself?'"
Stomach contents were leaking into Hubbard's body, putting her at risk for sepsis, even death.
"I didn't realize I was really taking my life in my hands the way I was when I went down there," Hubbard said.
Her warning for others considering medical tourism?
"If everything goes OK, you're good, but if everything doesn't go OK, it can have serious complications and you can die," Hubbard said.
Doctors repaired the damage and Hubbard hopes no further surgery is required.
The CDC has a website dedicated to medical tourism, highlighting the risks and what consumers can do if considering traveling abroad for medical procedures.
Hey, let's leave the country with the greatest health care in the world and go to a third world hell hole of a country to have surgery.
I mean, what could go wrong?
Hubby’s gay sister is a 420 pounder. She eats. And eats. And eats. We were on vacation once and had just finished lunch when I caught her eating a package of marshmallow cookies. Put the cookies down! Her partner has put her on diets and tried to get her to lose weight. She’ll eat right at home and then stop at a Mexican place for a platter on the way to work.
It’s psychological. She’s a bad person and we haven’t talked to her in over 10 years.
A general rule of thumb which has served me and mine well over the years:
If you can’t drink the water there, don’t go under the knife there.
I used to follow a woman on YouTube who went to Mexico for this surgery. She seemed OK at first, but has been in and out of the hospital, had temporary paralysis of the legs, and other recurring medical issues that were problematic but didn’t require hospitalization. As far as I can tell, has maybe lost 100 of the 500 lbs she started with.
It has now been around 3 yrs and I visit her videos on occasion - I don’t think this turned out the way she had hoped for at all.
Oh my. I just checked to see what the woman was up to and learned that she died in December. She had little kids. This is really sad - I know she tried all kinds of diets before going to Mexico, but just was not successful. Sigh.
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