Today's Vancouver Sun

Hi everyone, Well I opened up today's Vancouver Sun and guess what !!!!!! on page A 9 in the editorial section is an article that Erin wrote about her experience with WLS with a before and after picture of her. She slams the VCHA and talks about the weight times and how much weight she lost and includes a part about plastic surgery, etc. I hope that people read it and it causes a buzz around the office, water coolers, home, work, school, etc. The more the better!! Yes,, we are getting some media coverage, I hope it continues. I am staying home today. I live at the bottom of the hill in East Vancouver by Boundary Road and Hastings so I would have to climb about 49 blocks to get to work today. I said forget it. Take care, Sim

Hi Sim, I am staying home too. It is just too damn slippery out there and I expect it to get even worse once the temperature goes down. I hope to have tomorrow off from work too. I will go to the Sun's website and see if the article is online. Have a great day off work. Janice

Hi Janice, Since I receive all these newspapers at home, I registered online really quickly so I can paste the article here for those who do not have access to it. Here it is: The bypass blues: Bariatric surgery does work, but it's hard to get and you're on your own for reconstructive surgery afterwards Published: Monday, November 27, 2006 I was glad to see that you included coverage of gastric bypass surgery as an option in your week-long series on obesity (Fat Nation: Canada's Battle With Obesity, Nov. 20-25). However, I was disappointed with the coverage in that it offered no local perspective, and readers have not been fully informed about the issue as it relates to their community. They might be interested to know that gastric bypass surgery is being performed right now only in Victoria, primarily by one surgeon. Not only is that surgeon's waiting list unacceptably long (almost 600 patients), but MSP must pay for the ferry for each visit for each patient from the mainland. This hardly seems a responsible way to be spending health care dollars, especially considering that at least one surgeon in Vancouver would like to be performing the surgery. Unfortunately, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority is dragging its feet on implementing a bariatric program in Vancouver despite the admitted problem and cost of morbid obesity in our society. According to the CMA, people who are more than 100 pounds overweight have approximately a two-per-cent chance of losing and keeping the weight off without surgical intervention. Obesity is costing our system far more than gastric bypass surgery. Yet the VCHA is hesitant to offer treatment for this disease. Further to the cost issue are the human beings suffering while they wait an unacceptable amount of time. How contradictory it is that we constantly hear how obesity is the No. 1 health problem facing our country, yet it is the hardest disease to access treatment for. It might interest readers to hear local stories about British Columbians whose lives have been transformed (restored even) by gastric bypass surgery. My experience has been that people are incredibly curious and many didn't even know it was being done here. Those seeking medical treatment for obesity should be made aware that is is an option and that a network of patient support groups exists here (including in North Vancouver and Langley.) I was also glad to see mention of the issue of removal of redundant skin following massive weight loss. I lost 213 pounds following gastric bypass (for which I waited four years), and have so far spent $15,500 on reconstructive surgery. I expect to spend another $7,500. MSP covered an insulting $292.68. While I am angry about having had to spend this much of my own money, at least I have the means to finance it. Somebody without financial means is forced to carry around the excess skin for the rest of his or her life. On top of the physical problems the redundant skin causes (rashes, infections, pain from the heaviness), there is serious psychological trauma from all that excess skin. As your article mentions, the patient still feels fat, and often has his/her life limited by the skin (difficulty finding clothing to fit properly, inability to be active.) When a woman has a breast removed for cancer treatment, reconstruction of the breast is covered for psychological reasons. Yet the same logic is not extended to those who lose massive amounts of weight. In what seems to be unfair in a country that prides itself on universal access to health care, those who have money can have the excess skin removed. Those who do not must continue to suffer. Erin Madsen lives in North Vancouver. © The Vancouver Sun 2006 What do you all think? Sim from Vancouver

Thanks for posting the article Sim. I appreciate the opportunity to read it as I could not access it online. Erin made some excellant points. Janice