The OFFICIAL word for the status of Dr.Meneghetti's surgeries

Hey everybody, I had to clarify this situation. I was so confused with the multiple posts that were posted on whether or not Dr.M was going to do the surgeries, when they were, how they were doing them, who was doing them, etc. And then everybody being so hesitant not wanting to sound so pushy regarding the surgery by calling Anne and finding out. Well, I took a bullet for the team and let me say first off Anne is awesome. Dr.M and her sure do make up one heck of a team. With that said, here's the scoop. Yes there is an unofficial waiting list, and that is for the people that have completed everything. It is not in stone, it is written in pencil. It will depend on specific situations for who gets the surgery in which order but as of right now there are about 6 people officially waiting. There are about 20 more that are like myself in the process of completing the tests. As for when the surgeries will happen, that is not known. Will they happen, yes they will. Anne said, and I quote "Dr.Meneghetti is positive that gastric bypass will happen at VGH, but they just don't know when." It is not about building anything, it is 100% about financial budgets. Who will be the nurses on staff, who will be doing the surgeries, who will give up OR time in order to do these surgeries, who is going to pay for the equipment needed, etc. I also told Anne that a couple of us are on a website where we support each other and it would be nice to find out this information so that I can post it and then that will reduce the amount of people calling her for this information. So let's try to take it easy on Anne and not call her for every little thing. All the information that we were wondering about is here. I assured her that I would do my best to inform the brethern on the board so that her phone calls decrease. So there you have it, the official word.

Hi Bobby, I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU for finding out for all of us. Do you know if this budget is dependent on provincial $$ or federal. Just wondering as they must have thought about this before they decided to go ahead and make the decision to offer the surgeries, train the surgeons, and move into the Diamond Centre. Maybe the building cost more than they thought and now they are broke!! I wonder if Dr. M will be asking the people who make these decisions about funding. I guess I am a little worried that we will be waiting for years and if that's the case, I would rather than just go to the US and get it done there. I have a follow up appt on Oct 30th as all my pre-op tests are done and I will ask. If you guys think of any questions, let me know beforehand and I can ask him. You are right Bobby I don't think we should be calling and bugging them, but during a follow up appt I feel that would be the good time to ask questions. If he does not know and especially if it is going to take a lot of waiting time, I wonder if he would write a letter supporting us going out of province for the WLS if need be? Just a thought.. I know that they do that in Ontario and it is quite fast to get approval to do to the US and medical ( called OHIP) pays for it. Just a thought? Thanks again for your post and news, Sim

Hi Sim I`m new to this site. I am also waiting for surgery. I last saw Dr. M. in June. I`m finished all the test, just waiting for a date. How did your appointment go today with Dr. M. ? Any more news on when he will start the surgery ? Or did you find out who we can talk to about fast tracking the system to pay.

Hi Sharon, I just posted my day a litle while ago. It's not good news I'm afraid. What's this about fast tracking the system to pay, I would like to find out more about this as I am looking into going out of country if I have too. Let's ask the others on the site if they know anything about this. I may go down to Mexico if the price is not too steep. Sim

Hi Bobby, I already had the same info, but thanks for calling her on behalf of yourself and the others. I know Janice already talked to her and posted this earlier. Thanks for taking the bullet and posting. I had contacted Anne right after the last group of emails regarding this, because I thought maybe my info was wrong. Explained to her about the sites. She said "If I were booking surgeries today you would be 5th." Seemed pointless to post since everyone has their own take on things. I will not be posting another thing about lists. I am here to get info on living positvely from now to surgery and after the surgery in a positive supporting environment. It is also to give hope and encouragement to others that are in the same state. Looking into surgery, waiting for surgery and already been blessed by having surgery. Sarah

Hey Sarah, Yeah I just wanted a definitive word, from Janice's post and the previous posts, there were so many mixed signals. So just wanted a final word from Anne. However, I do want to inform you of one wrinkle into all of this. I had a followup with Dr.M regarding my scope. There was a polyp that they found and some irritation. Anyway, long story short, the biopsy came back clear. At that time (about 2 weeks ago), I did ask Dr.M what the procedure is from here, he said that they didn't have a waiting list and that when they would start they would look at each person case by case and then decide. So according to Dr.M there is no waiting list. But from my conversations with both Anne and Dr.M, I think that there is no "official" waiting list because there is the outside chance that somebody who needs it sooner will get bumped up higher. But it's like I mentioned before the list is in pencil. Any which way, we have some more clarification on the situation. With Sim going to ask him more on her appointment, I think we'll pretty much be in the loop as much as a patient can possibly know. Bobby

Hi Bobby and Sarah, I hope these posts are not causing any friction between us. It is great to read and see people posting as we are all in this together and I enjoy hearing from all of you and feel that we are one big family. Sarah, I really appreciate you giving us motivation and excitement about the ongoing battle with the WLS journey and encouraging us to move forward and get the tests done asap! You are an inspiration! Bobby, it was great meeting you at UBC when we were there for our scopes. I'm glad to hear that eveything turned out okay with the polyp. You must have been a little worried until you heard the news about it being clear. I hope we will hear some good news soon and things will get moving along in the very near future. I plan to post here all the time but I will definitely post right after my follow up on the 30th one way or the other to give you the latest scoop-good news or not so good news. I will also ask Dr. M what we can do as a group to get this moving along and encourage this forward especially to the ones who are responsible for the $$$ Maybe contacting our MLA? write letters? phone the media so they interview and post a story on TV for exposure? Have a great long weekend everyone and Happy Thanskgiving. Even though I am frustrated about my lack of energy and drive to do much physically these days due to my excess weight I do have lots to be grateful for in the grand scheme of things. Warm regards, Sim

Hey Sim, No friction on my end, just wanted to get clarification and share it with the board. I mainly post and read other boards anyways, just thought I'd come in here and share some insight that I had found out. I just choose not to post as much here because the support from one another is lacking. But that's how it is when a board is first starting out, this board is in it's infancy compared to other ones. As I mentioned to you at UBC Sim, too many people are in this for their own personal gain and don't really look at much else other than the benefit to themselves. I think if we all worked together, regardless of who goes first, second or 108th, we have to trust in Dr.M to make the right decisions.

Hi Bobby, Nice to hear from you so quickly. Well you may not feel the desire to post here but I wish you would as you live here just like many of us on the board and we are all in the same boat so this should be the first place to talk and share and vent and celebrate!! I think everyone is just worried about their health and want to get on the "losers bench" as they often say on the Ontario board. Did you hear about Christine from the Ontario board. She passed away a few weeks ago due to complications. She was only 31 years old. Man I was so upset and cried when I read the condolesences. Most of the time these posts are great as I read the ones from Dr. Amson and the one in Ontario all the time as they are so supportive of each other. But sometimes they just make me so sad, scared and nervous like when I read about Christine passing away. Maybe we should send out an invite to get together with everyone who lives close to each other to go out for coffee or whatever? And for those of you who live further away please email this post if you will be in town and I would be delighted to meet you somewhere for a chat. Cheers, Sim

Hi Everyone, I want to respond to an email that sited this group is unsupportive and some people are in it for their own gain. Of course we are truly in this for our own (loss) gain. I am. We all want to have this surgery for our health and well being not only for ourselves but others too. Also there has been a wealth of info shared on this site. Dr. M's name and info, information on how to get out of country approval. I have now found out there are loop holes that you can use to get through faster. Support when coping with stress from not getting appointments for further testing or worries about not getting approval, worries about results from testing. I don't think 1 person on this board hasn't been supportive about wanting everyone to have good info and have this life saving procedure done. I too attend other boards because there are so few people on this board who have had their surgeries and have kept us up to date on their losses (thank you Leann) and life after surgeries. I plan to be able to help other members after my procedure and get some chats going around on what foods seem to work, dumping issues, plus recipes for post-op living. I also have now joined a WLS group in Kelowna. One of the ladies fron Dr Amson's site emailed me and I grabbed the opportunity to get to know the skinny on others experiences in person. Not one person from the group had Dr. Amson do the procedure, so don't let who is doing your surgery stop you. Some in Spokane, some in Mexico,and one in Surrey. I was the only one that hadn't had my procedure done. You want to talk about getting good information. Wow! Not only that, you get to see first hand the changes in people as they head toward their goal and they trade clothing as they lose their weight. Most that I have met are not a goal yet, one is very close. They have had surgeries done very recently. I also got to meet Brydie who is a member of this this site. She is absolutely lovely. She had her procedure done in Mexico and I think had lost 40Ib in 3 weeks. Everyone there had the opprtunity to speak. They also meet for breakfast before the meeting. It is very relaxed and social. I would attend every week but they only meet once a month. I recommend that if you have a group in your area try it. The ones in the lower mainland are the luckiest of all having access to so many groups in close proximity. Support comes in a variety of shapes and sizes and the nice thing is we are blessed to have access to all of them. Sarah