surgeons for person with high bmi ?

Hi,

I am new to OH and I do not meet the criteria for bariatric surgery in Manitoba ( bmi of less than 47 ).  My BMI is too high.  Does anyone know of any surgeons who will work with people with a BMI of 60 ?  Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Jacqueline

 you can get your dr to refer you to the weight wise program in edmonton, they do up to a bmi of 70 or 75. its a great program, only thing is you have to travel there 6 or 7 times. mb health does reimburse you for the flights so thats cool. but you have to pay for taxis meals and hotel if you stay over. its a much shorter wait to go thru them then manitoba too, so thats another bonus. alot of ladies had great experiances going to mexico, but i have no clue how high of a bmi they take. and mexico costs about as much as i spent going thru edmonton. had i known that, i would have just done mexico and been able to pick my own surgery time.
best of luck!
niki

Thank you for your help, I will definitely look into this program.  Best of luck to you !

Jacqueline

Ironically the amount I will have spent coming and going for all my appts, 1 week stay in wpg and follow ups, I could have been done in Mexico as well........ and probably been down to my goal weight by now!  haha.   oh well c'est la vie!

SO not cool! THAT'S INSANE!!  There should be a plan for that kind of thing. MANY are coming from several hrs away, it's not fair to be out of pocket that much. I'm actually glad so many are going to Mexico! It's terrible to know you have to wait for 2 yrs...ugh. However, it's worth it now or later... :D

Hi Jacqueline 

Welcome! I'm someone who went to Mexico and paid for the surgery myself. The cost was about $7000 plus flights. There is at least one other surgeon several people here have gone to who is about $6000, I think.  

I began researching the surgery almost exactly a year ago. At that time I wasn't even aware there was a program in Manitoba until I stumbled on this forum. When I found out how long the wait time was, I just decided to go to Mexico and pay for it myself. 

I don't think the surgeons in Mexico have many/any restrictions on BMI. Someone wrote in a post somewhere that the Manitoba program has these criteria so they have the "best" patients to operate on, since it's still a pilot, so they can get the best results.

As a couple of other people mentioned, If you have to pay to go out of province (which in your case it looks like you would have to do) or live a long way outside of Winnipeg, it's probably worth looking into going to Mexico.  It looks like your out-of-pocket costs in the long run end up being about the same. If you have surgery in Mexico, it's just one trip. You have all your evaluations the day before or day of your surgery. I had blood work and an EKG done by my doctor here a couple of months before just to be sure there was nothing going on I didn't know about before going. 

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Welcome to the board Jacqueline

Hi Jacqueline,

I had VSG surgery with Dr. Nguyen in Richmond, BC this past Feb. I had a high BMI also and like you do not meet the requirements. I am doing great now please check out the website to Dr Nguyen on my signature tag or if you like send me a msg to my inbox.

Hi Jacqueline,

I had RNY in June in Regina as I, too, didn't qualify in Manitoba.  I think my BMI was about 55 when I was accepted into the Regina program.  It did take me over a year to get to the start of the 6 month program but it is a fantastic program, terrific people, surgeons are great.  The draw back is the travel back and forth to Regina every 2 months for 6 months and then the follow-up after the surgery.  However, it's been a great experience for me!

Kathy