First post - advice needed!

Hello all! I have been lurking for the past few weeks and decided after reading all of your helpful posts to join up and get some advice of my own! I'm taking the first step and going to my family doctor next week in hopes of getting a referral. What is your best advice for me in these early stages? Anything you recommend me doing in advance/asking for when I see the doctor? Believe me, I have been doing my research and understand it's a long journey - hoping to get a little guidance!

When you see your GP, it will depend on how knowledgeable of bariatric surgery he/she is and how supportive of it they are. Some don't support it as much as others. One thing that may help is to have a list of what you have tried, when and how it worked. If you show that you've tried other methods, and they just didn't give a long term solution, then you will have a better referral. If you have never tried anything, and are going straight to this, they may push you to try something else first. Also, make sure that when you see your GP that they know that they have to submit the referral on line now, the Bariatric Registry doesn't accept faxes any more. If it's been a while, or they've never submitted a referral there, they may not know.

Once you think your referral is submitted, you can call the Bariatric Registry to confirm that they have received it and to see which hospital you'll be assigned to (it goes by postal code).

Wishing you well on your journey.

Cathy

Thank you Cathy! That is very helpful! I will gather a list of failed attempts over the years to bring the the appointment. Thanks for the tip about the online referral - I will be sure to point that out!!

Depending on where you are the process can take a long time. Right now it seems with Toronto area its about 12 - 15 months from referral to surgery.

A lot of people get really upset with the wait times so I would try and keep yourself distracted. Read the forms here, learn as much as you can.I watched the youtube videos of the procedure being done. It calmed my nerves.

Something I wish I had done earlier is put together a Post Op cookbook from all the yummy recipes on Pintrest. I know you can buy them, but there are so many cool ones free online.

A great place to look for WLS friendly recipes and advice online is The World According to Eggface. She is a WLS veteran who has recipes and advice for all stages after surgery. She also posts on OH.

In addition to listing past efforts, I don't think it would hurt to spell out any comorbidities you may have i.e. high blood pressure, sleep apnea and so on. They should be on your medical record - but you connecting the dots may move things along a little easier.

To add to the very helpful advice given so far: cut out soft drinks and caffeine. These will be eliminated from your post-op diet so now is a great time to wean yourself off of these. And if you are a smoker, now is the time to quit.

Good luck!

Tammy :)

I had spoken to my family Dr several times about WLS only to be turned away and given another diet pill, program etc. This time I went in with a list of all my health problems, all the various weight loss attempts and other reasons why I wanted the surgery. After reading my 2 page letter he agreed to send the referral. I had printed out some pointers that I got from this forum about sending a referral which helped speed up the process (he had no idea how to send the referral) and received a call within 24 hours with an orientation date.

if you search insurance application, there is an example letter that you could use as a reference when documenting your own info.

Becky

Wow!! Thank you all for the information! It truly is appreciated. I was quite nervous about this upcoming visit but now feel I will be much more prepared! Hopefully things pan out!