Got my welcome letter!!

Hello All. I finally got my welcome letter from Toronto Western. Would love to hear from others who had surgery there or from one of the other UHN hospitals? How long did you wait until you actually had surgery? Who was your doctor etc?

Cheers!! :)

I am 2.5 years post op and had surgery in Ottawa so I cannot answer your questions.  I just wanted to say CONGRATS!!

Judy

Thanks so much Judy. You are the first to respond to any of my posts ;) 

I had my orientation group meeting in Jan 2/13 and surgery Sept 12/13.

I love this hospital, always there when I need them. I find easiest way to reach them is through email, once you start having appointments they will give you theirs cards with their email addresses.

I had Dr. Penner, very nice. At TWH, the doctor is our last appointment. You will be scheduled for all others appointments to make sure everything is ok for surgery and when you get the go ahead you meet the doctor. 

Good luck on your journey 

Dale 

Thanks so much for the response, Dale. As someone who just attended my orientation session a couple of weeks ago, this information was of great interest to me as well. May I ask how your surgery experience has been? Now that you're just about nine months out, how have you found the adjustment?
Good luck to the original poster as well! :)

My surgery experience was great. Did not need any pain meds, felt like I could have went home the next day but they keep me for 2.  I had 8 weeks off work. As fr the surgery, I could have went back after 2 weeks, but it the eating that takes time.

Did not get the hunger feeling til about 6 months out, so now I try to time by meals, if I don't i eat too fast and get the sickly full feeling. It a learning experience at all times, this surgery is a tool and you must learn to use it correctly. . I look into alternate recipes to food I use to enjoy. I use cauliflower as a substitute to rice/pasta. I love pizza, so I make pizza stuffed chicken, zucchini pizza. 

I believe this is a chance for a life do-over and we don't get many of those. 

Gook luck on your journey

Dale 

Hi Dale. Thank you so much for your response! It looks like the waiting times out of TWH are much less then other places. That gives me hope. I've been reading alot of blogs about what people have been doing but so much of it has been US based, and I know it's different in Canada and here in Ontario as well.

Looking forward to my orientation and getting this going. I've already been eating healthy for 3 weeks and feel a big difference. Just gonna try and keep continuing that way all along the journery.

Cheers Tina

Hi and welcome. I am just starting the journey as well i am out of HRRH.

Hi Annie and thank you! You are welcome to add me as a friend as we go through this! Can always have buddies who understand :)

Cheers Tina

Hi Shiloh,

my experience is like Dale  surgery was great my meet the surgeon was with Dr. Penner and I really liked him but the day of surgery I got Dr. Urbach and he was just as amazing.  I didn't need any pain medication and could have gone home the next day too but they kept me 2 days as procedure. I also had 6 weeks of work off but by the 2nd week I started logging into the computer and working from home out of boredom.  now almost 8 months post op it's hard to believe this has all happened to ME!! yes even me.

Sitting here in size Medium clothes (12/14) and healthier than I have been since I was 16!!  I have created great habits starting with eating the right foods and daily exercise.

My orientation was January 23, 2013 and surgery was October 15, 2013