Hello all new to the board

Hi Everyone! :wave: I have been reading the board for a few weeks now and wanted to jump in with my introduction... I am 33, I am from Dallas, TX but now live in Edmonton. I am married, no kids- just furkids, and I have PCOS and Insulin Resistence. I have no other health issues. Since moving to Canada 5 yrs ago I have gone untreated for my PCOS and my weight has ballooned up to 330lbs (I am 5'10"). I workout every day and am very active. I finally have a family doctor and have been seeing Dr. Opgenorth, Endocrinologist, for the past 2 months. We have decided that since I am still fairly young and have no other issues that bariatric surgery is the way to go. I have only been back on the glucophage since January and I am already sick of it. I do not want to take medicine for the rest of my life nor do I want to be tied to a bathroom forever! Today she sent my referral to the Weight Wise/Bariatric Surgery Clinic. I have PCOS, and stick to a very healthy and strict diet of 1200 calories a day. I think I am perfect for bariatric surgery (perfect in lots of other ways too :haha: LOL!) since I already eat healthy and exercise... I am just bummed about the long wait times. I have heard it can take 1.5 yrs just to get into the Weight Wise classes. Its so dissapointing when you finally have a course of action and can't take off running. I am ever hopeful that they will exapand the program and the wait times will shorten. I am concerned that as I get older with all this extra weight that I will start to go down hill, as they say, and develop diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc etc etc. I am curious how long it took each of you to get into the Weight Wise classes. I am also wondering if there are any others out there who have PCOS and have had the surgery or are on their way to the surgery? One more question (for this post anyway!) if one needs to have plastic surgery to remove excess skin after the bariatric surgery and weight loss does Alberta Health Care cover that (or Blue Cross)? Has anyone had it done after their WLS and if so did health care/insurance cover it, if not mind sharing the price. If I have a couple of years I might as well start saving for it now! I look forward to meeting everyone and getting to know y'all. Take Care! :party:

HI , I can only comment on the lenght of time it took me to get into the clinic as I have no other illness as of yet ( Thank God). Once my doctor referred my to the clinic on May 2005, I got in for my first appointment Sept 2006. I was really frusterated because it took me about 1 year to convience my doctor to refer me! I have been going to the Clinic ever since, about 1 time every 6 weeks it seems to depend on your dietican. I had a surgery date of April 22nd, as in tomorrow!! After attending the eating after surgery class I became terrified and all I could think of was failure. I was alittle disappointed on the weight loss as I was told it was slow. I cancelled my surgery to do more thinking , because God knows I didnt have long enough! I know have my date for May 20 and am now prepared!! I guess I just got really freaked out. I am having the band by Dr.Birch really nice guy. Good luck, stay patient and it will come.

I'm new to the board aswell. I am 2 weeks out from having RNY surgery and aswell as you have PCOS. Are you talking about the weightmanagement program for the lapband? I was in that but I got soooo frustrated with it...I actually met with Dr. Mitchell in August 2006 and he told me I would have the surgery with in the year. Then I got a call from the program saying I had to take these classes and start at the bottom of the list again and have to meet with the surgeon again. This was when the program first started so I was in within 6 weeks or so. I took so many classes met with dieticians, doctors, pyschologist and so on. I was so mad that I had to start from the bottom, but I kept on with it. To this day I still haven't heard about the band. But before the band came into effect in Alberta my doctor referred me to Dr. Nohr in Sept. 2004 and I just had my surgery on May 29 of this year. The way I looked at it was which ever came first. About plastic surgery I don't know if it is covered. I know dr nohr will do a panni free of charge if you've lost over 100lbs but he suggested to me not to because he doesn't shape you or lipo you it's strictly to get rid of the extra skin. So I am saving for a tummy tuck...If it gets covered by medical, bonus.