Newbie trying to get information to make a decision

I've been considering the surgery for some time and will be approaching my doctor about it in the next week.  This means I am still trying to put together my own thoughts on the idea.

I've talked to a few people who have had different surgeries and have been successful with it, but they don't live locally.    I've read what I could find and am getting familiar with the idea.

I read that they only surgery funded by NS medical is the gastric bypass.  But I couldn't tell if that was old information or not.  

ATM my BMI is 38.6.  I have sleep apnea and high blood pressure.  I also have fibromyalgia and soft tissue rheumatism that prevent much activity for me.  These things might make me a candidate for the surgery.  I don't really know.  

I am hoping to reduce the amount of medications I have to take daily, to help protect my liver from the damage it has been and will continue to take for the rest of my life.  Again I don't know if that is reason enough for the surgery.

Anyway - I'll be checking in daily and might have some more questions over the next week. Thanks for your time.  If you have answers or suggestions I'd be pleased to hear them.

Hi bluegrrl,

In NS right now all they are doing is the VSG - here is the link for the info from capital health:
http://www.cdha.nshealth.ca/default.aspx?page=SubPage&catego ry.Categories.1=112¢erContent.Id.0=32829

a lot of your questions will be answered by that info - you should also find a referral form in that info somewhere to take to your doctor with you.

I would go ahead and get a referral from my doc even if you haven't completely researched everything because the waiting list is pretty long so you will have a while to do all of that while you are waiting. 

We have support group meetings in Truro & HRM if you are ever over this way.  There is also a FB page for the support group.

Sorry, I am writing this in a hurry so I don't have time to go into detail at the moment, but I can tell you this - I had the VSG 8 months ago and I am loving it  :)

Welcome to the forum!!  :)

Thank you for that link!  

Online there are so much info and too much is not what I wanted or I don't have time to get to them all.  lol

I'm glad that you are loving the results of your surgery.  The VSG is what was recommended to me from a friend who had hers done 2 years ago next Sept.

I'll go read all that now!  Thank you.  

No problem!  We're here when you have questions too  :)

 Thank you for the links. I am in Nova Scotia too and I was not aware of what my options were but the links are proving to be very useful to me.  Thanks.

Glad to have helped!  :)

 Excellent!  I'm glad to see that I am not alone in my search for information.

I'm wondering how hard it is to stick to the diet of liquids before and after the surgery.  That is one of the things that is making me hesitant to go through the surgery.  I'm afraid I don't have what it takes for that.

It scares me to go through all that and be unable to follow the diet stages.  :P

It's not as bad as it sounds really...  It's not fun, but it's only for a little while - I found when I had an "end date" to look forward to it went by a lot faster.  You have to remember that there is nothing special about those of us who have already had the surgery (well, I mean we're special of course!  lol  You know what I mean!)  so if we can do it and get through than you can too  :))  You can do it!!  :)

I suppose you are right.  Just like everything else, if someone else can do it, the chances are that we can too.  

I printed up the material from the link, including the doctor referral and have I it ready for my dr appointment on Weds.  

On another level I feel rather silly.  After reading in this forum that some people have hundreds of pounds to lose and that their health is so much worse than mine, I kind of feel like a pretender.  

I have made a commitment to change the way I eat recently and some of it was based on the post surgery diet.  :P  So maybe things will change for me on my own.

While I am holding on to that hope, I will go ahead with the dr and see what she says.  

Thank you for the reality check.  

 I know what you mean,  I feel like I am not as bad off as some, but I am bad enough that my doctor is worried.  I think though it is something to do for myself, make the committment and stick to it, that way I am accomplishing at least one goal.