First Consult Dr. M // Out of Country

Hi, Janice it is Nikki I met you at Dr. M yesterday, it was so great to finally meet a couple of people who understand what we are going through. Sim it was also great meeting you and your mom, she seems to be an incredible support person for you and so informed to what is going on with your struggles. I wish I could have stayed longer to go to coffee with you guys and brainstorm a little bit about this situation and get to know you guys better. My first appointment, I thought was not that great, Dr. M was great but not so positive about wait times and when he will get the ok for surgery. You sd that he was going to do people with lower bmi's, what is considered a low bmi? If we had low bmi's we would not be seeking out this surgery. I feel a little discouraged I had a first consult with Dr. Woodhead in May and this seems to be the same situation as that. I also had a consult with Dr. Amson in Sept but I res for Nov as I wanted to see about Dr. M as he is closer to home for me. Dr. Amson's waiting list is also incredibly long and it took me over a yr since Apr 05 just for a first consult to see him. I do have a little info on out of country surgery, it is different from Ontario, BC just started to approve a handful of surgery's this yr compared to Ontario who have been doing it for some yrs now. But there is now a cap on that in BC as too many people started to apply. The forms have to be filled out by a general surgeon, your reg gp will not work they will send the forms back to you; I have tried this and was denied. I also tried to get Dr. W to fill the forms out as he did it for a couple other patience, but there are strict requirements, you have to have a high bmi over 50 I believe or bmi over 40 with a life threatening co-morbidly or irreversible tissue damage. Dr. W would not fill the forms out for me. I also heard that they are no longer approving surgeries for this as they are supposedly making some sort of list to fast track patience that would qualify for out of country for surgery here. Well sorry for rambling, I guess all we can do is make noise lots of it to these freaking people and stand up for ourselves. We need as many people as we can get to start doing these letters; I'm talking family, friends, even the littlest ones in our families to send in letters. I am even doing letters from my daughter and my 2 dogs they have names, the people don't have to know that they are not actual people but my fur baby's the more letters the better. Thanks for listening Long time lurker Nikki

Hi Nikki, It was so nice to hear from you here and meet you in person the other day. I believe the BMI that Dr. M was talking about was below 40- can you believe it!! Like you said, we would not be seeking out this surgery if we did have lower BMI's. Go figure. Thanks for the advice about filling out the forms. General surgeon, okay. My BMI is over 50 so if I could get Dr. M to fill out the forms for me, then maybe I have a chance, even if it is so small. I don't really know any other general surgeons but I will try and see if I can get one to help me if Dr. M. says no. What do you mean by fast tracking patients- I heard this before but do not really know what is involved. What list is this? Is this MSP doing this? How can we get on it if we qualify? Sorry for all these questions. I posted information on the other post to you and then when I sent it, I realized it went to the WLS in Vancouver post by mistake so I am sending this part to you again. Good talking to you, please keep in touch! Sim

Hi Nikki, First I want to apologize for getting your name wrong in my previous postings. I was referring to you as Vicki. My apologies. Second, I want to thank you for posting this info on the forum. It is good to hear what other's have experienced. The news does sound bad. Enough to make me think I had better get my family doctor to refer me to Dr. Amson. Arrggghhhh!!!!!! I agree. It's time to send out some letters. I am also going to write to my provincial representative. I am also going to look for an advocate or lawyer. tty soon Janice

Hi, Sim Please do try and get the good old surgeon to fill out the forms for you, it can't hurt to try. I don't know that much about the fast tracking of patience, I heard it from another wls site, this other lady's story that I have been following was approved for out of country surgery about a month ago, but now msp sd that they were making some new list to fast track the most critical patience as they want to keep the money in BC. Sorry that does not help much. I just know with my own personal experience that the forms needed to be filled out by a general surgeon and not your gp, like I sd before Dr. Woodhead would not fill them out for me. Thanks for listing all the info to contact again I will be doing that this weekend. Also lower bmi I thought people with bmi's under 40 would only qualify for surgery if the had co-morbidly to go along with that. Janice no-worries about mixing up my name, and I would get into your doctors for another referral asap, like I sd I waited over a yr for a first consult and then I res it for Nov as I wanted to see Dr. M first, I do believe that the surgery's will get the go ahead sooner or later as they cannot only have 1 surgeon in all of BC perform this surgery forever that is just ridiculous. Talk to you later Nikki