Please help !!

I was wondering what you wait time was for your surgery.. I'm just starting and trying to get as much info as I can. I live in Vancouver and cant find anyone that will do it, Unless I pay.. So I'm just hoping someone out there may know anyone or something that could help me start my journey. thanks kelly

Hi Kelly: Well good luck on your weight loss journey. I am pretty sure you will end up paying for what ever you have done but if you go to Toronto or out of country you can apply to your provincial health plan for coverage...no gaurantee they will pay but it is worth a try. I know of people who have gone to Toronto, Las VEgas, Mexico etc for either lap-banding or gastric bypass. I am having gastric bypass in Scottsdale Arizona in October at the Scottsdale Bariatric Center. The Mayo Clinic there also does the surgeries. The cost for lap -band runs around $16,000 and bypass around $25.000 The programs down there seem to have much better followup plans. Keep in touch and good luck Eydie

Hi Kelly, There is a Dr. Laird Birmingham in West Vancouver that does the surgery. His phone# is 604-913-8183. There is also a Dr. James Olsen who is in Coquitlam/Port Moody area 1-866-297-4964. There is also a Dr. Nohr in Medicine Hat Alberta that does bypass surgery. His # is 1-403-580-4610. Also Dr. Davies in Edmonton, Alberta I don't have his # but he is connected to RAH hospital. You see as long as these Dr.'s are connected to a hospital then it is not private. Now you will have to contact their offices and get the information from them and your dr. will have to fax your medical history to them etc. and then you go on their waiting lists. You have a long road ahead of you. Don't become discouraged. Just get on as many Dr.'s waiting lists as you can. Try these Dr.s and see if you have any luck. If not contact me at [email protected] and I will send you a list of surgeons across Canada. I will respond faster if you contact me directly. Many of these surgeons will refuse you for one reason or another but it doesn't matter you have to keep trying and get on these Surgeon's waiting list. I waited 5 years for my surgery and then it ended up failing. Remember 1 in 100 people's surgery fail. It doesn't sound so bad but believe me it is really bad if it happens to you. So be very sure that you want to do this and become as well informed about the surgery you are going to have. Check your surgeon out and do not I repeat assume anything about your Surgeon or the type of surgery you are going to have. Find out everything you can about the surgeon and type of surgery. I know I am repeating myself but you have to do this or you might end up in my situation. I do not want that to happen to you. Good Luck on your journey and let me know how it goes, Donna

Donna, would you mind providing a little information on what you mean when the surgery failed? I'm reading a lot about the surgeries, but this is the first time I heard about someone's surgery failing.

Hi Ruth, To be honest with you I had never heard anything really negative about any of the weight loss surgeries. All I had ever heard was people saying that you had better be sure this is what you wanted. I guess in a way it's my own fault for not researching everything. Anyway, should you have the surgewry watch your weight loss very closely for three months. If you don't feel that your weight loss is what you think it should be, report it to your Dr. and ask him what he thinks. You see if you haven't lost much weight in the first three months it is an indication that yur surgery has failed. For an example I will tell you what exactly happened to me. I was originally 350 lbs. I lost some weight prior to my surgery and was down to 315lbs when I had my bypass surgery. After my surgey for some reason I could consume large amounts of fluids. I still don't know if that is realevent or not. Friends of mine that had the surgery said I shouldn't have been able to consume up to 2 litres of fluids a day. Go figure. I could not manage to eat very much food. My weight went down slowly and would fluctuate up and down 10 to 20 lbs constantly. I asked my surgeon what was going on. He said I don't know. Eventually I got down to 265 lbs. That is the lowest that I got and then my weight started climbing. I now depending on the day weigh between 295 to 305. Isn't that depressing after you have gone through all that just to lose weight. I also have some complications which are quite common after surgery depending on whether you have laporoscipy surgery or invasive surgery in which you are cut down the center of your stomach which is the type of surgery that I had. It is quite common to get what they call incisional hernia's. I have had two operated on and have a huge grapefruit shaped hernia protruding from my lower abdomin. My surgeon was surprised. He said that isn't even the on that we were watching. So I guess, I don't know for sure but I must have more then just this grapefruit one. Anyway the point is that these hernia's complicate matters. I spoke to a lady in Regina and apparently a woman she knows had one hernia operated on 6 times before it held. This was all after bypass surgery. I am telling you this not to scare you but to make you aware of what can possibly happen. I had no idea about any of this stuff. Actually I was thinking of contacting Big Medicine or one of the stations that produce these shows and ask them to do a few shows on the down side of these surgeries and what can happen. Ruth to be absolutely honest with you I came on this site looking for help. I received a little bit of help but most people don't want to acknowledge me or talk about the possible down side to the surgery. It's like I have the plague. Their surgeries went well and they express their sympathy but they would rather not deal with me. It's really strange. The bottom line is I have had to search for a surgeon a new one to help me. I have been turned down so many times by surgeons in this country. I am ashamed of our medical system. I had to threaten Sask health with a law suit which is a whole other matter in order to get them to help me. Believe me they have not been much help. I am presently waiting on two Dr.'s responses. One is in Edmonton the other in Medicine Hat. If they refuse me Sask Health has to send me out of the country to have revisional surgery. It's not that they can't do it here but the surgeons are afraid to touch me in fear of lawsuits. You see if one surgeon screws up you have to find another surgeon on your own. Believe me that is a long and ardgeous journey. I am on the last leg of this journey. We are giving these surgeons one more week to reply and then the task of looking for an out of country surgeon begins and they have to accept you. So It's like starting all over again. I saw my GP last week and he is a real straight shooter. He said, " Darlin prepare yourself that these surgeons won't help you. I don't mean to be negative but I will be shocked if one of them touches you." You know I have fought so long and hard trying to get the medical help I need and to hear this ... Well I guess it's one thing when a person loses hope but when your own Dr. has no hope for you how are you supposed to feel. We all need to have hope. Some days I just feel like curling up and dying. My Dad who is 80 years old is one of my greatest supporters. I am so lucky to have the great family that I have. But the point is I need help and no one wants to help me. It makes me feel so sad and alone. I know this has happened to other people and I keep reaching out hoping to find someone that has gone through what I am going through. That is why I came on this site as well as to inform others to some of the potenial risks that they may be taking. Ruth I have gone through all the emotional crap. Happy, sad, angry, that's a biggy! But the one thing I realized is that all I want is to have my life back. I am to sick to go to work so I am on disability. There are times that I feel ashamed that I am on disabiltiy. It is just about 19 months since my surgery and I have reached out clear across this nation for help and have not gotten anywhere. I guess what I am is really, really sad. Some days the pain is so bad I wonder if I am going to live to see another day. I am not whining I am just trying to tell you how I feel. On a brighter note I do believe in the surgery. I think it can and has changed so many people's lives. Unfortunaetly for me that has not been the case. But I do belive that eventually someone somewhere is going to help me. I have to believe that or I wouldn't make it through another day. Maybe I just had some bad karma that I needed to settle lol who knows. The thing is you are so right that you never hear about the down side to the surgery. But 1 out of 100 surgeries fail according to the statistics. That's a really high percentage if you think about it. I guess what upsets me is that the dr.'s tell you some stuff even some of the down side but I guess we hear what we want to hear and we always think, it will never happen to us. So when it's all said and done my advice to you is research your surgeon. Don't be afraid to ask questions about the upside and the down side. The Dr.'s usually make light of the downside. Any which way ask as many questions as many times as you want. Ask for references. Find out how many surgeries they have done. Are they new to this or have they got a whole pile of experience. Just keep asking questions. Be as well informed as possible and if it feels right go for it! I'm sorry to have talked your ear off and believe me I am really not that negative about all this. I just want help! I do have lots of down days but it goes with the territory lol. Good luck with everything. Contact me anytime. If I can help you in any way I will. All the Best, Donna

Donna, my aunts sister had a bypass done by a dr. who is now gone to the states. Her surgey was a disaster!! Be positive, in December of 07 Dr.s Davies and Birch in Edmonton did a revsion on her and she looks and feels great, plus she is lossing weight this time around!! I agee with checking out all the surgery options. I choose a band and although I have been banded for 6 1/2 weeks , I love it. But i did reschedule 2 times because I was nervous and needed to be 100 % sure that I could use the tool effectivley, because WLS is only a tool. Have you checked out on the main form board rants and raves. there you may find some people in your situation. Good luck and I hope all works out for you!

Wow Donna - I appreciate you sharing your story with us and I'm so very sorry for everything you've been through. I've asked my doctor (GP not WW doctor) about failure of WLS, but she said she had never heard of that happening. My concern is that I will have the surgery and still not lose. I've tried so many things with no success. I typically will lose a few pounds with a new program, but then my body adapts and goes into "starvation mode" and that's the end of the weight loss. I always say I have the most adaptable metabolism ever - which would be great if I was living in the caveman days! I just don't understand how WLS can correct that. I mean, I've been on extremely low calorie diets (Dr. B for example) and actually gained weight on 750 calories a day! I've been told by one medical professional (not WW) that I should just accept that I will never lose more than 30 lbs! NO WAY - NOT AN OPTION! I have taked to some of the WW staff about this, but they just say "let's see what happens", so I'm going to track my calories as I've been asked to do. If the pattern happens again, I'm going to be asking a lot of questions about whether or not WLS can correct this. I JUST DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE I HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE!

Hi Ruth, I think you will be very surprised at the results that you will achieve with your weight loss once you have had your surgery. I swear I only had to catch a whiff of a pot of potatoes boiling and I'd put on 10 lbs lol. When I first had my surgery I lost weight it was slow but I did lose weight. My friends on the other hand lost like 60-70 lbs within the first 3 months. At least my girlfriend did and her husband lost more. Darn those guys always lose it faster then us girls hehe. Anyway it is two years later and they look great! He weighed over 380 lbs and she was around 280 lbs. They have done so well. These two people like you and me have or rather had the most stuborn metabolism's. So girl there is hope! I am sure you will do very well. Honestly Ruth your metabolism does change. You can not eat the way you used to even if you wanted to. Your tummy will hurt so bad if your try to stuff even a quarter of the food that you used to eat. It was like that for me in the beginning. You see as I said before I sincerely believe in the surgery. I am just really ticked off that no one will step up to the plate and help me. That's what I am upset about. Sask. Health has talked a Regina surgeon into seeing me so that he can put in writing that he refuses to do revisional surgery on me. Then I qualify for out of country surgery. It doesn't seem to matter that I have stacks of letters from surgeons all over Canada that have refused to assist me little own see me. This is the problems that I have been faced with. I have spent months calling surgeons and having my Doctor forward my medical information to these Doctors only to be told no without there even seeing me. This is what has shocked Saskatchewan health. They said, "How can they say they can't help you when they haven't even seen you." I said, "You tell me!" Anyway I am not setting alot of store in this surgeon. I mean I have basically been told already that he is going to refuse me. It just all seems like such a waste of my time. I guess I am just so disappointed and want my surgery to be redone and to succeed. That is all that I ever wanted. Eighteen months have passed since my surgery and I am putting on weight. I am experiencing a great deal of pain and am just so darned disappointed. But I want so much to have everything taken care of and to get on with my life. I have had to turn down two job offers in my field because there is no way I can work a full day the pain is so bad. Something is wrong but no one seems to know what exactly is going on. So now I sit and wait until this Doctor in Regina will see me. hopefully things will change and I will be seen soon and the next step of my journey will get underway. Take Care, Donna

Im having some trouble navigating through the forums to figure out if the band or rny is the way to go.  But while I figure it out, where do I start? I live in Calgary, should I get a referral from my doctor?  Is that how it starts?
P.s. This forum from what I have read is amazing, everyone is so supportive and look forward to talking with all of you!