dates?..

I am feeling a bit frusterated

I had my orientation back last October in ottawa. I have seen the nutritional is two times the behavioural two times and still no word of surgery. Now what gets me is that a friend of mine told me that she had her orientation in February saw the nutritional  and the behavioral is once  and already has an appointment to see the surgeon. How and why would she have a date in less then 7 months when I have waited this long and still waiting? Not to mention that two years ago the clinic lost my information and I had to start from the beginning.

Hmm, I wonder what made them give you a second appointment with the behavourist and the nutritionist? There is likely something that indicated to them that you might need a follow-up appointment but I wouldn't know what.

Do you have to have follow-up testing too? Say, a sleep study, or EKG, or additional blood work? There are a lot of factors that go into this process. Some have less health issues and can progress pretty quickly while other people need to be seen by other specialists in order to obtain clearance or results. A lot of people bypassed me in the process: I needed to see my rheumatologist and have an EKG and because I have asthma, a lung capacity test was needed. Each person progresses at his/her own rate. And truly, that is for safety and to ensure that the Ottawa WMC exercises due diligence to ensure we are all EXCELLENT candidates for this surgery.

Hang in there. If you had your orientation in Ottawa last October and you have FINISHED your two appointments with both the behaviourist and the nutritionist, what else is needed? For example, did the nurses give you any sort of "to do" list or did anyone tell you what comes next in your particular process? Or did they say to wait for a phone call and appointment for pre-op class?

You only see the nutritionist and behaviourist a second time if they will not sign off on the surgery after the first visit.  So for whatever reason they feel you need to do more to be ready for surgery.  It can be as simple as quitting smoking, not drinking soda or caffein, showing good food diaries and your attempts and understanding now of good nutrition.  You should have received info from the first meetings telling you what they want you to work on - for example between orientation and the first nutrition meeting they want to see that you are starting to practice the behaviours you need after surgery.  E.g. I used to drink 2 cups of coffee but since orientation I now only drink decaf just show improvement and changes from the last meeting, bring your food diary etc and they should sign you off to move forward.