Answering machine only now at St. B Clinic

When I called there right after I got my "you meet the criteria" letter I spoke with Andrea. I called today for some more information and they now have a voicemail  and you can leave a message but they wont call you back??  They say on the message that their wait time is 18 months from the time you received your referral letter. So those of you who have been through their process what do you thinkj that means:

  a) 18 months from the criteria letter till a surgeon appt?
  b)  18 months from the criteria letter till you even get to the first discussion meeting (or whatever the very first step is once you have gotten the letter\?) Then all the follow-ups from that time and then whenever to get a surgery date?
  c )  is the referral letter they are talking about the same letter I have, or do you get another letter, a referral from the surgeon once you have seen him?

I wish they had a website with all this information on it for people like me who have lots of questions. I am thankful that they are even doing these surgeries here and the government is footing the bill, but I want information. If my worst fears come true and its going to drag on to 3 years or more before I even have surgery, I am willing to borrow money and try to go to Mexico (even though I really cant afford another payment and going there for this scares me quite frankly)

Can anyone offer some giudance here? Thanks

 The referral letter is the one your doc sent to the Bariatric clinic, so thats when your wait should have started.   My wait was about 13 months from referral to surgery date.  I think that their message had been12 months so they were pretty close and I was cancelled once so delayed by a week.  Hope this helps.
kj

I can't help with the St. B. info issue, but in my opinion you don't need to be scared about going to Mexico for surgery. (Had mine in Tijuana less than 3 weeks ago.)  Just be sure to go to a reputable facility.  I paid quite a bit more than some of the prices I've seen advertised.  I went to Obesity Control Center which is a Bariatric Center of Excellence.  The hotel (5-star) and transportation were included from San Diego airport to the hotel (both ways) and from the facility to the hotel.  If you never want to set foot outside the hotel or the facility, you don't have to.  We went out for a tour and some shopping in a taxi that the hotel concierge found for us.  They bent over backwards for us there. 

Once I decided I was going to do this, I wasn't willing to wait the 18+ months I was quoted at the time last fall when I called. 

 it's more than 18 months in total folks, I called on Tuesday and was told about 30 months in total

I see alot of us call St. B and get various answers.  Just in the last few weeks their answers fluctuated from 12 month to 30 months.

Personally I can't afford Maples or Mexico, so I'm forced to wait. I've been this size + or - for over 20 years.  It's to the point that my knees can't take it any more

Someone wrote a letter to Theresa Oswald about the funding for this.  It's so limited they don't have the staff or space to deal with the demand.  Therefore, they are at the mercy of our dear government.

I'm writing a letter to Theresa Oswald 1st thing in the morning, and I think we all need to!