2 for 1 questions co morbs and the "process"

Afternoon all, hopefully your enjoying the long weekend.

Im in the early days of this process my gp or in my case medical officer has aproved me and will refer me to the regional centre. Sadly im looking a month or more wait for her to fwd the referal as i am military i do not fall under ohip so i have a few hoops and a ruuber stamp from ottawa to finialize my referal. That leads me to my 2 burning questions firstly whats my next step after referal? Do i have to get approved by the regional centre prior to orination and is there a way to conferm my referal was recieved? Any tips to speed up the process? Im posted to the eadt coast this time next year.

Secondly how many co morbs do they require if your under 40 bmi? Im currently 39.4

To add to that question is there a required timeframe that you must have the comorb before referal? I ask because my sleep apena was just confirmed ladt week and it will be another three weeks before i gey my cpac machine. Only other co morb i have been medicaly treated fore is gerd and have been taking meds for it for the padt 13 moths

Please forgive the lenghy post and the typos im posting this on a ipone and fat fingers aremy enemy

Ty for your time

 Hey army guy!

Good for you that you are in the planning stages of this 'journey' as it is called here.  I am a newbie myself but this is what I have experieced:  referred by doc in April 2012, received questionnaire in May and it had an appointment stated for the  group orientation class at Humber River Regional Hospital in Toronto for May 28th.  I was given a date to meet the surgeon about two weeks later  (Dr. David Lindsay)The next appt was three weeks later for a group information class with a Social Worker first and then a Dietician.  The next step was to get appt. for an individual meet with a Social Worker, Dietician, and the Reg. N. which they try to schedule one after the other.  when I attended the group info class I asked at that time if there were any cancellaltions for the three appt. and I was able to get in in three days so that was sweet.  I was told by the RN that she had no problem with me and to expect a call from the surgeon with two weeks to be then given the surgery date and to start with the Opti fast.  That appt is next week on July 12th.  So that is it in a nutshell.  You sound like a great candidate and this website is invaluble for the support and sharing that is so wonderful.  The best advice given is to stay positive and be honest.  I believe there are centres in Ottawa and Kingston so hopefully you will be on their list soon!

Nancy

Just wanted to say  armyguy!!!  Patti K.

 Thanks for the great info I'm really hoping to have surgery by July 2013 in promoted and posted to the east coast then and would hate to start over in another process


See you at the next group netting patti! 

After your referral get submitted it will be sent to your Centre. It usually depends where you live to which Centre you go too. Not sure how it works with the military. You can probably expect about a 6 month wait from referral to orientation and surgery in about 12-18 months. Sometimes it is a little faster sometimes longer again depends on on the centre.

With your sleep apnea you should be good. Never heard of requiring a timeframe. You probably have had sleep apnea for awhile, and GERD counts too.

Make sure the medical officer fills out the forms from the Bariatric Registry. The Registry will mail them the form if they don't fill it in online. Then it will be sent to the center by the Registry. My doctor delayed my referral by faxing it directly to the centre/hospital which resulted in it being filed in the recycle bin. No one from the hospital called my doctor to advise it was done wrong. Only after I called the registry did I find out I was not in thier system. I laid the process in black and white (actually wrote step by step instructions on paper for then) and they still messed it up.

Minimum BMI is 35 with comorbidities - it doesn't matter how long you've had the comorbids and your apnea and GERD both count. Good luck!

 From the time my GP referred me to when I had surgery was 2 yrs, but from when I had my first mtg at the clinic to my surgery was 11 mths. They know people have a life, I had things going on I couldn't change so they made the surgery date work for me. I was supposed to have it 3 weeks ago, but changed it to last wednesday and they had no problem with that. Don't worry they'll work around when you are able to be in town and make it. As long as they see your commitment to the process. As for co-morbidities. When I was accepted I had none. Found out after I had sleep apnea but at referral and thorough the first couple apps they were willing to do the surgery with no co-morbidities in me. You'll be fine. Enjoy the process. It's an amazing time to learn from some of the best health care practitioners our country has :)