People often ask me how I ended up being a bariatric surgeon. What I always say is that I did not choose surgery, surgery chose me.
Since a young age I was absolutely fascinated by the way the human body works, and as I got to know it and study it that fascination turned into the greatest and most pure admiration for the masterpiece of creation.
The human body has the ability to execute hundreds of thousands of functions per minute; the heart never forgets to beat, the lungs to breathe, veins how to transport blood… even under unfavorable conditions, the body continues to respond. We treat it poorly, we feed it worse, we don’t take care of it, we don’t rest it, yet the house still stands, and somehow continues to operate; the body creates compensation mechanisms that allow you it continue despite everything.
Thanks to the support of my family, and under the tutelage of my teachers from the Faculty of Medicine of the Autonomous University of Baja California, I immersed myself in my studies and gradually I realized that the more I learned the more I wanted to keep learning! I also noticed that one of the most wonderful things about the human body is its ability to repair itself; under the appropriate therapeutic circumstances, the body heals, fixes itself and in many cases continues as if nothing had happened.
During my residency you didn’t have to have the greatest of observational skills to notice that there was a common denominator that worsened any medical condition, was killing people or making them very sick, and in my opinion, was not receiving the proper attention: Obesity. Many times I asked myself how I could serve and help from the operating room in a meaningful way. The answers could be many, but the one that kept popping up in my head time and time again was bariatric surgery. My vocation had found me.
There was no other choice; bariatric surgery combined everything I wanted to do: be at the forefront of minimally invasive surgical technology, be an instrument to help people change their lives and serve my patients in a significant manner. I completed the necessary studies, in Mexico and abroad and started working.
Today, Mexico faces the most severe obesity crisis in Latin America, with 70% of adults overweight or obese, according to the National Institute of Public Health (INSP) of Mexico. It’s a public health problem that can cost up to 12,500 million by 2017, as reported by Forbes Mexico. In the United States 68.5% of adults suffer from obesity or overweight and 34% suffer from obesity. These alarming figures from my country and of my neighboring country helped to convince me that what I had to do was help people transform their lives and regain their health through bariatric surgery.
But I knew that surgery alone would not be the cure-all. Just like the body’s functions works like a masterful orquestra, I had to develop a model that would work in a similar way; in stages and facilitated through different disciplines, that treated the patient in a comprehensive manner. I knew that it was the only way this would work, operating “assembly line” style and sending patients home without the proper information and necessary support was not an option for me.
LIMARP was inspired by a genuine interest in helping people. My first goal was achieving a solid, ethical, prepared team who shared my vision and my vocation for service. Many goals have followed since, from achieving being certified as a Surgeon and Center of Excellence, to helping design surgical instruments and developing innovative technology for the comprehensive care and follow up of patients.
There is still much to be done, plans and dreams are endless and there are certainly challenges and tough moments, but at the end of the day, when a patient sends me a moving message, a picture of her wedding in the dress of her dreams or just hugs me and whispers “thank you”, I am just feel overjoyed and so very fortunate to be living my calling, my vocation, day by day.
Our team is at your service and we can help. For a free evaluation call LIMARP International Center of Excellence for Obesity at (664) 686-2542 or fill out a contact form at www.limarp.com
