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Thank you for the information!
While I'm glad to get so much information, I'm pretty pissed that my doctor(s) either don't know about this or simply did not tell me about it... maybe they thought it wasn't for me.
It would be about an hour drive from home -- not too bad.
I've used PGX in the past, but had not tried their meal replacement shakes. I bought a HUGE tub of protein powder and it is disgusting. I should have stuck with Six Star brand but got cheap. I end up adding strawberries into it so the after taste isn't so bad. :-(
Hey there. I have my first appointment with dr zentner at her Vancouver office. I have a BMI with no comorbidites. I do have asthma and depression but not sure it's enough. My BMI is 40. I really want surgery so badly. Should I be losing weight before I go even though my BMI is 40. What happens at these appts. I am heading from Kamloops to see her. I am flying down. Is my first appt going to be five minutes. How many will I need. What do I need to do for her to approve me for surgery.
LOL! That ruddy filter for bad language slays me!
"...the doctor who referred you..."
I suppose the lesson to be learned from my experience is not to wait patiently for that phone call without getting some sort of confirmation from somebody that your referral did go through. It's not just about trusting your doctor (I will never go back to that doctor who promised me the referral -- for that and for other reasons), but sometimes referrals get lost in the shuffle. There are three sources you can check: the office of the doctor *****ferred you, your GP's office, and the hospital itself. They all would have some record of the referral having been received, and with the latter, you can also get a very rough idea of the time remaining that you have to wait.
That wait-times website is incomprehensible! I think perhaps that things are different with bariatric surgery because with most other surgeries, the referral to surgery is your "clearance" whereas with bariatric surgery you still have a bunch of hoops to jump through to determine that you're "ready" for surgery. So that adds an extra step that the wait-times site doesn't take into account. That's my theory, in any case.
It's my understanding as well that there's absolutely no way to speed up the time from referral to orientation; however, if at the time of orientation you are considered to be well-prepared, especially if you have comorbidities, that can speed up the process from orientation to surgery considerably. I've heard of somebody getting surgery 2 months after orientation in Richmond. (Mind you, with Victoria, it's at least 6 months for anybody.)
In any case, it's well worth preparing yourself before getting that phone call!
If you live in New West with a spouse who can support you through the process (especially the surgery and recovery part), it would be CRAZY not to do it in Richmond, all other factors aside. Definitely worth the wait.
And in the meantime, I highly recommend the Medical Weight Management Centre in Coquitlam (Dr. Michael Lyons). I wish I had known about it years ago. It is excellent preparation for bariatric surgery as well as potentially an effective program to help you lose weight without the surgery. It's comprehensive, well presented, and done in a very respectful and supportive way. And it's covered by MSP. The only problem with it is that you have to get there: The group sessions (which are more or less every week for a year or so) are at 5:00 or 6:45 -- in other words, you need to travel to Coquitlam during rush hour. But it's worth asking your doctor for a referral.
Good luck! And maybe check out PGX supplements, too: https://www.pgx.com/ The meal replacement shakes, in particular, are a big part of the program for many of the MWM patients and far superior to Optifast if you've ever had the misfortune of imbibing that stuff.
Yikes - it is "safe" to contact the doctors office to ensure that the referral went in??? I would expect that a referral would get sent, then something from either your doctors office OR the referring office would send you something letting you know that you were at least in the wait list...
M
You know, I'm not sure. Perhaps he knows the doctor over there or has worked with him before. I wouldn't mind Victoria, but the issue is travel (more so for my wife) as I know my wife will not make the trek via float plane OR ferry... several things to get in order if I wanted to do that, and that just adds to the stress.
I'm glad my endo will refer me to the Richmond program.
Question about the manual - can you buy it before being officially referred into the program? My doctor is sending the required forms in, but again I am very eager and want to learn as much as I can. I'm on a FB group, but the majority of people are from the US and this has been the only Canadian site (or at east has Canadian forums) with good information.
That is great to hear!
I finally had an appt. with my endocrinologist (I am Type 2 Diabetic) about 1-2 weeks ago and brought up bariatric surgery and it's a GO! They will refer me into the program - I've asked specifically for Richmond as I live in New West.
So glad, but now so scared.
Reading posts here and a great group on FB (hope it's OK to share this - I found it very useful - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1744254175891432/) so reading about peoples success and challenges pre and post-op so I'm better prepared.
My family (wife & son) know, but not telling a lot of other people. My son said "I'm glad it's like a year or two away so I can lose weight, otherwise you'll be smaller than me!" - LOL (he's 6'4" and weighs about 220lbs ).
So trying to get information on waiting times, and found this:
So am I missing something? Doctors told me 1-2 year wait and depending on co-morbidities they can sometimes get people in quicker... based on what you've said it looks like 2-3 years is the normal wait time.
Kathy S. · 0 replies · 883 views
