Hello from the Ottawa Valley

G'day all

I've been lurking for over a month now off & on so I figured I'd finally introduce myself to everyone.

I'm a 35 yr old mother of two (6 & 4) & work at a local appliance repair shop part time. I also make handcrafted soap & lotions & enjoy that quite a bit & hope to build a side business over the next several years.

Regarding why I'm here... I've been struggling with my weight since high school & have been on several diets & you know how it goes... The diets work, but not for long. About 2 years ago I was 100 lbs less, & a year before that I was at my current weight. I've made several attempts during the past year to lose the weight again but I just can't get my head in the game this time.

I went to my family Dr on April 1st & asked for a referral to Ottawa & was expecting a 2-3 month wait. To my surprise I got my letter today & my information session is May 16th. I'm excited to see where this leads me. My Dr also asked if I wanted a referral to a nutritionist & I've met with her already. She was surprised with all I knew about nutrition! lol But she did recommend the Craving Change program that is run at my local hospital & they actually called me today as well & it looks like it'll be starting on May 4th if they have room for me as they are almost full. So lots of stuff happened today!

Also, I'm an ex-smoker who uses an e-cig with nicotine. I haven't bought a pack of smokes in over a year & haven't a cigarette in about 6 months. My family Dr. warned me that I may have to give that up as well so I'm going to be weaning myself off the nicotine over the next several months so that I'm eventually nicotine free. Would love to hear from others who have experience with e-cigs.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!

Welcome to the Ontario forum fellow Ottawan! The wait in Ottawa is painfully long - 9 months + is normal from referral to surgery.  I am at the stage where I am waiting for a surgery date, and I was referred in August 2013.  There are a lot of steps involved but don't let that discourage you from moving forward with the process.  That program Craving Change sounds great, I will have to ask about it, I did not know they offered it at the Civic. Everyone meets the nutritionist at the civic as part of the process, as she has to clear you before you meet the surgeon.  Below is my timeline if you would like to get an idea of the steps involved before getting a surgery date.  You may not need all of them or you may need additional tests, they will let you know that at your first assessment.  This forum is a great source of information, so come back often. 

 

I just wanted to say hi or g'day as I am also an Ottawa Valley girl! Well I grew up there and since moved but you can't take the valley out of the girl!

Welcome to the forum :)

lol, so true! You can take the girl out of the Valley but you can't take the Valley out of the girl ;) I'm not really too much of a Valley girl as I've noticed the true ones are the ones with large families in the area who's grandparents were born here. My parents moved here in the mid-70s on their own so we don't have that connection. The towns here are close knit & even though I moved down the hwy closer to Ottawa from Pembroke... it's hard to make friends... & I've been in my current house for like 7 or 8 years! oh well!

I grew up in Chalk River, lived in Pembroke for a few years before moving to southern Ontario.  I havent been back in years but when I visit Ottawa I'm tempted to make the trip, I love it there.

 

I am also from Pembroke/ Petawawa!! I went to  General Panet in Petawawa then went to Fellowes  Lived there alot of my life but live in Newmarket now. 

 

I am actually heading to Pembroke this weekend :D

Howdy! I graduated from Fellowes in '97! I'll give you a hint... my first name is Erin & both by parents taught at Fellowes at that time... they taught there for quite some time up until retirement in 2001. I know there were a couple husband/wife teams but they taught computers mostly in the later years but my dad started with physics & chemistry & mum started with biology... know who I am? (I'm not a Tromp, Ryan, Long or Dorren)

Hope it stops raining for your weekend up here!

I left Fellowes in '94.. I had moved away. 

I remember ;-)

Welcome to the board.  As was mentioned, this is a hurray up and wait process.  Somethings you can get on cancelation lists for, some you can't.  We're all here to support each other.

Can't help you with e-cigs, never smoked myself.  But do want to let you know that there are a lot of valley girls and boys that have gone through the process, wether they are on this site or not.  You aren't alone in the area.  And you'll get support from all over the province (and out of province) here too.

Wishing you well on your journey, it's not fast, and not always easy, but it's worth it!

Cathy

I'm also from Ottawa and had my RNY in 2008, so I went to Utica. I wish I could have had it done in Ottawa. I've had some complications with my surgery and Dr. Yelle was great! CT Scan and other tests were indicating that I had a grastrogastric fistula (stomachs reattached) and internal hernia. As it turned out, I had neither, but I did have a hiatus hernia that pulling part of my pouch up into the stomach cavity. I also had a bit of intestine handing next to the pouch that needed to be trimmed off. I do some other problems - IBS and Hypoglacemia. I am in cronic pain with the IBS and craving sugars, since I have a fairly advanced stage of HypoG. I need to adjust my diet and both conditions should get better. I was so happy that Dr. Yelle did an exploratory and fixed those problem. Highly recommend Weight Management Centre at Ottawa Civic. Good luck with your surgery.