the process

hey all;

First off - hope you all had an awesome new years!  I wish the very best for all of you in 2014!

I have a few questions..  I'll try to keep this brief...  First will be the easy one..  How do they determine what they consider to be your "goal" weight?  Is it solely based on BMI, and what it would take to get you in the "Normal" range, or are there other factors they take into account? 

The second question - does anyone know of a way to "speed up" the process?  I consider myself right now to still be fairly "lucky" if you will.  I'm 33 years old, tall (6'3') and weigh somewhere around the 340 mark.  This give me a BMI of 42.5  I've got family histories out the ying yang..  diabetes is prevalent in my mother's side of the family, as he heart conditions..  I've already got the high BP & cholesterol, and at my last GP appointment, the doctor told me I'm "on the cusp" of type 2 diabetes, but I'm not quite there..  I don't want to have to go down the diabetic road.. 

I know I need this procedure to happen - not as a "fix all", but as a tool to help me with the required lifestyle changes that I need to make.  I tried calling the hospital where my referral (should have been) sent (my GP's office is on vacation/christmas break, and can't confirm if the referral "acceptance" fax was received)  and all I got was a recorded message saying 14 month wait before you even get a letter with appointments..  I don't know if I can wait another 13 months for this...

My weght is starting to get to the point on me where it's affecting what I can and can't do..  Today's the first time I was able to get outside during the day in about a week, and I needed to clean up the driveway..  I did one strip down the middle with a snowblower and I was panting and breathing hard..  I'm finding it hard to take boxes at work from my work area down to the plant (and I put them on a cart to bring them down, just the distance walking).,.  I need this to happen..  What can I do to help grease the wheels if you will to speed up the process?  Who do I need to call?  What do I need to do? What can I do?

I know there's no magic bullet for this..  That's both the need to loose weight, and the referral timelines..  but there's gotta be something... 

 

thanks, and sorry for the vent...

Hi there and welcome to the board!! I'm glad you are here and you'll learn a lot here.

There's absolutely wonderful people here in all stages of their journey.  You'll find them to be an immense help, no doubt.  I've been here for over 8 years. It's a fabulous place to be!!  Be active here, learn and make some friends and mentors and you'll really find it a great way to support your journey and to keep focused when times get hard.

The Ontario system is good. Much shorter than the 10-12 year wait in New Brunswick.  Your journey will probably take a year or so, and every day of it is well worth the wait no matter where you go for surgery or what surgery you have. There's good and bad with all but a lifetime of benefit. It's an amazing new chance at life!! :)

Please don't try to focus on "speeding up the process". I know that we all live for surgery and see it as a new fresh, start but there's lots to learn and lots to focus on to be a long term success with this surgery. I've seen people rush through the process in a few months, not having done their homework, not establishing new habits and not looking at their eating issues.  They fail. 

Please don't ru****  Please focus on the journey TO surgery.  It's important to really focus on all the changes and establishing good habits NOW.

I'm not trying to be preachy, but dammit this is HARD long term.  There's a lot who struggle and a lot who fail at this. 

There's a huge learning curve to this surgery.  So much to explore in terms of your life now and changes to make for surgery. Please embrace the journey and use your journey to explore, learn and set yourself up for success. You'll have the rest of your life to live with this surgery and even if it's a year or two, the time pales in significance to how long you'll be dealing with surgery.  You'll literally have the rest of your life... so a year is not a big amount of time in the grand scheme of things when you really think about it. 

I hope you'll stay on this board, read and post a lot.   This is a wonderful place to be and chances are you'll learn more here than at the centre itself. 

Take care and welcome  :)

Dawn

 

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to speed up the process.  Depending on which centre you are going through the wait is just what they said it is.  It is extremely frustrating to finally make this decision to start the journey and then to have to hurry up and wait.  You will be told a thousand times to use the time to make changes to your lifestyle.  It is the only thing you can do and from what I can tell, it will make you the most successful when its finally your time.  Educate yourself, read these posts and reach out for the support you need, the people on this forum are amazing, honest and caring.  For you and I who are just starting out it is invaluable advice and guidance.  I wish you all the best!

Happy New Year!

I'm not sure really how they determine your goal weight... I was never given one. They asked me if I have a goal weight and I said if I can be under 200 lbs I'll be happy, and they seemed satisfied with that. But I would assume if a centre is giving you a goal weight they are looking at what your healthy BMI range would be, height, body shape etc.

As for greasing the wheels... Call, call, call. Don't leave a message, just call until you get a voice on the phone. There are centres that are notoriously slow (Guelph, Hamilton) and some that move faster (TWH, Humber) I was incredibly lucky to whip through the process at TWH but I don't think my experience is the norm as most of the time I got lucky and was given cancellations for appointments while I was in the waiting room for another appointment. I didn't really have to call that much. If you're at one of the slower centres you can look in to having your file transferred to one of the Toronto hospitals, assuming you are close enough to get there. I'm not 100% sure how you do that, but you could start by emailing the bariatric registry at [email protected]. It's an agonizing wait, but it's worth it if you know this is something that's going to help you. In the meantime you could start researching everything you can about the surgery and how you'll eat afterwards. You can start trying to eat more protein and veggies, cut out things like sugar and processed foods. Cut out pop. Even small steps are better than nothing if you have to wait. I feel for you, I had to leave my job in a spa because I just couldn't do the work any more and it was awful. You want to do something before you get to the point of diabetes or your weight impacting your life any other way.

Fingers crossed you get some answers about your file once everyone is back from holidays. Good luck!!

Hi & Welcome,

Your story is very similar if not the same to most here. WLS is elective surgery with your doctors recommendation. There are many ahead of you that feel the same way. I am finally getting to meet my surgeon tomorrow to get my surgery date. However this has been 2 years this month in the works. A year before referral was accepted due to some other health issues. Also there a many tests and appointments that you need to have before you are even considered. 

Use this time to educate yourself. Practice better eating habits. Time does go by. It will be here before you know it. Good Luck.

Hi and Welcome,

I think it all depends on which center you are going through, i am at Humber and was referred a year ago January, it took some time to get an orientation date but from that point i have sailed through, i never called for cancelations rather when i went to my appointment to meet my surgeon i asked the girls at the desk if i could be added to a cancelation list and stated that i would be available to come anytime, i also said that i would take the appointments for the RN, SW and RD on different dates if needed, before i even saw the Doctor the lady called me up and said she had a date only a month later for all three, RN, SW and RD and asked if i wanted that date, of course i said yes and am now waiting for my surgery less than three weeks away. I also had many comorbidities and my BMI was over 50, i was told that the more severe cases are moved along faster, i don't know if that is true or not but seems to be the case for me.

Like others said, now that you have made up your mind and want to do this, learn everything you can about how to be successful in the long run and how to use this tool to your full advantage, research you tube videos and understand the actual procedure. 

I wish you lots of blessings on your journey and congratulations on making this very important step in reclaiming your health and life!

I didn't have a goal weight in mind, so the people at Guelph suggested a weight for me to shoot for, based upon a weight that would be at the high end of a "normal" BMI. Guelph isn't one of the faster places, and it’s going to be at least 16 months from the initial referral, assuming no hiccups (just had the post-op nutrition class, and they figure the appointment with the surgeon will be at some point in February, with surgery around April).

Hi there and welcome to the forum - it is a really helpful place to gather and share information.  I understand it is totally frustrating to have to wait so long but I know of no way to make it go any faster.  Some have their surgery in as little as 3 months, others it takes years, and everything in between. all you can do is try to prepare so you are super ready when the time comes for surgery. One person was so frustrated with the wait that she booked surgery in a private hospital in Montreal, but she had to pay out of pocket and it is expensive. I believe it took only 3-4 months for her to get surgery.  You may want to post to see if anyone else has gone the self-pay route.  I am sticking with my centre because I don't have the money and want to have the surgery done at a centre of excellence so that I have the best pre and aftercare possible.  Best of luck to you in your journey - be sure to come back and share how things are going.    

Hi and welcome!

GOAL WEIGHT:

I was told that WLS (weight loss surgery) should result in a 65 to 80% loss of your EXCESS weight. For your height, your "healthy" weight is listed between 150 and 195 lbs (BMI 19 to 24). Therefore, you should be aiming for a loss of 107 to 132 lbs. This is only a guideline though.

SPEEDING UP THE PROCESS:

If you have sleep apnea some Centres want current results (within 2 years), so if you haven't been in a while go to your GP and ask her for a referral. Getting into a sleep test can take months, so if you can get it done while you're waiting you'll avoid having it hold up your process later on.

If you don't have sleep apnea the Centre may want to rule it out (especially if you snore or have any sleep issues... also, some Centres make sleep tests mandatory if the circumference of your neck exceeds a certain measurement). Read up on sleep apnea and find out if you have ANY symptoms, then plead your case to your doctor (again, better to get the ball rolling now).

Make sure to list all your co-morbidities on any questionnaires your Centre sends you (high bp, high cholesterol, borderline type 2 diabetes, and your mobility issues).

CHECKING ON YOUR REFERRAL:

Once your doctor's office reopens call or visit and ask to see the confirmation fax. 1) write down your Registry ID #, 2) confirm what Centre you've been assigned to (don't assume that it's the one closest to you... the Registry made an error with my application and if I hadn't checked the confirmation fax and followed up it wouldn't have been corrected), and 3) write down the phone number/address of the Centre (it should be on the fax but can also be found online).

Once you have your ID # call the Centre you've been assigned to and confirm with them that you're on their radar too. You can let them know that you're interested in cancellations if they come up. They might have a cancellation list or may tell you to call back once every few weeks to check. Every Centre is different, so some don't back-fill cancelled spots, but it's worth a try!!!

IN THE MEANTIME:

Start reading! Here are a few resources you might want to check out:

St Joe's Manual
http://www.stjoes.ca/media/PatientED/U-Z/PD%206000%20Bariatric%20Surgery%20-%20Gastric%20Bypass%20February%2029%202012.pdf.

Books
At my Orientation they recommended the following books, which I bought online through Chapters (the best prices I could find and free shipping):

1) "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think" by Brian Wansink.
2) "The Complete Weight-Loss Surgery Guide and Diet Program: Includes 150 Delicious and Nutritious Recipes" by Laz Klein and Sue Ekserci (over half the book is about the surgery and the rest is recipes).
3) "Gastric Bypass Surgery: The Psychological Journey" by Ranesa McNally.

Start implementing the gastric bypass lifestyle... stop drinking from straws, chew your food to a paste before swallowing, take your vitamins EVERY day, put down your fork/spoon between bites, etc. Having a food journal also helps (a lot), and it seems like all the Centres want to see evidence that you've been doing one. Also, if you smoke, STOP! You cannot have the surgery if you've had even 1 cigarette within 6 months of your surgery (at least at Humber). You can't drink alcohol or carbonated beverages once you have had the surgery either, so start slowly working those out of your life now.

MOBILITY PROBLEMS:

I feel your pain. I'm over 300 lbs and have the world's flattest feet that custom inserts barely help. My knees and back really feel it and I can't go far without getting out of breath. It's discouraging, uncomfortable and can be painful and embarrassing. Keeping my side walk and drive shovelled requires a lot of sit-down breaks so that I don't drop dead in a snow bank.

It's difficult, but try to keep moving... just adjust your expectations and take it slowly. If you can afford a stationary bike (be sure to get one that will hold up to 350 lbs and has a comfortable seat) put it in front of the tv. Bike during commercial breaks. It's only a few minutes at a time and you can go at a leisurely pace. Or simply get up and do some knee lifts. Any activity is better than nothing.

FINALLY:

Every Centre seems to have different processes, practices, and expectations. You may read a post with information that conflicts with what you've been told by your Centre. Take everything in but follow your Centre's guidelines.

Feel free to post questions. We're all here to help each other!!!

Good luck and please keep us updated.