I'd be interested to know how your appointment with Dr. Zentner went. It's my experience that she's not very good with depression or other mental health issues.

I would recommend the Medical Weight Management Centre in Coquitlam (Dr. Michael Lyons), except that it's unlikely it would work for you coming from Kamloops. Might be worth contacting them for advice, however.

Good luck.

Yup. That's the Ali Zentner mentioned above. She left the Victoria program in April, I think, and is running this "Fraser Valley" program now, but I haven't been able to find out anything about it. Mind you, as my wait time is becoming shorter (I have been to Victoria but may hold out for Richmond) and Dr. Zentner and I parted on less than amicable terms, I'll stick with what I'm doing. And I really like the doctor (Dr. Pewarchuk) *****placed her and now runs the Victoria program. It's funny -- Zentner is a low-carb, high-protein, don't-worry-about-the-saturated-fat advocate, and Pewarchuk advocates for a vegan diet. I'll only say that Zentner's advice did not work for me.

Update:

I have had three required video (Medeo) appointments with a psychiatrist (Marciano) and there will be no more. I am waiting for the psychiatrist to complete the report for my GP so my GP can make a referral to a local (Prince George) psychiatrist at the Mental Health out patient service. It will probably be required that I have contact with a local psychiatrist before the clinic will give me a surgery date according to the Richmond program psychiatrist (Marciano).

I am continuing interviews with a dietitian - two appointments so far. My first appointment was in Richmond and the second one by phone. The dietitian requested I restrict my carbohydrate intake to 30 - 45 g at meals and 15 - 30 g for snacks. This is very hard for me. I am making progress but eat a lot of fat, salad, dairy, and sugar substitute to compensate for carbs. for instance right now it is early morning and I am thinking of having Fibre 1 (bran) cereal with half and half cream.

I was diagnosed with diabetes recently so I went to retinal screening, was fine, and now the first of two diabetes training centre educational classes was yesterday. Each session is 3+ hours with a diabetes counselor and dietitian in a class with five other clients. This class was helpful to learn more about nutrition and diabetes. Particularly of interest to me was diabetes theory, glucose scale, glucose meters, MSP subsidy policy, food labeling, and food groups.

Glad you are doing well! I had a great experience as well. I'm now out in the Fraser Valley. At nearly two years post op sleeve I must say the GERD is HORRENDOUS. I should have selected bypass.

I'm not aware of any surgeons here who offer a self pay option.