Another mix up

So frustrated. I just call the ottawa clinic again and this time was told I was referred for the medical program not surgical. My gp and I discussed surgery so I was very upset hearing this. The woman I spoke with was kind and helpful but I got off the phone very upset. She said I can still go the surgery route but it would take a lot longer. I tried to call my doctor today to ask him to refer me to the surgery program but of course I got the answering machine and cannot leave a message. Guess I try again in the morning. Trying not to get discouraged but it's so hard! 

I know the road seems long and hard but just look at this as a small bump in the road. Be persistent and do everything you can to get your surgical referral.  Things will move along and before you know it, everything will seem to have gone by so fast. Some of us on here have had a long journey and I so understand your frustration but just know that it will happen. Be on top of your doctor and have him refer you to the right program. Then be on top that referral to ensure they got it. Just my opinion. It will happen!

To the best of my knowledge, your GP refers you to the PROGRAM. It's not your GP's place to determine your eligilibility for surgery. That is why you will consult with the folks in Ottawa to determine what is best for you. They are the experts. That is what OWMC is for. They've done this enough to know the details and statistics. They're the ones who will help you make those choices.

Mind you, you still do have to meet the criteria for surgery (e.g., BMI, comorbidities) but if you meet those, and you want surgery, and you go through the various testing and are determined to be eligible for surgery, then you can have surgery.

If I'm incorrect, please chime in. The GP simply writes the referral to the Bariatric Program and then you are triaged to a centre and it's the centre who works with you to find out what your needs and goals are and whether you're a candidate for surgery. Your GP would not be required after the referral is done.

Hi Molly,

Are you to see Dr. Dent?  My GP was hesitant to refer me for surgery, but would refer me to the clinic.  When I met with Dr. Dent he did his analysis and suggested the paths I should take.  One was surgery, one was program and one was WW type stuff.  I opted for surgery and he set me on that path.  It took me a bit longer, but I got to the same destination.

Cathy

I went thru Ottawa as well and when my GP sent in referral was not specific route to take until I went in for my very first appointment and met with one of the doctors. I went thru the opti route first, but after didn't work out I met with doctor again and submitted the request for surgery and that took about one year after all the tests I had to complete. 

Thank you for all the support. I was able to get ahold of my gp's office today. The nurse thought it went through as surgerical and was confused too. She is going to have the doctors resend and we will go from there. If I have to go in for a medical program and then while in Ottawa can switch to the surgical I will do that. I just wanted to speed things up by avoiding the liquid diet. Also don't you have weekly visits on that program?

again thanks for the reminders to be patient!

You might already have all this resolved, but for the sake of other newbies who may read this thread, I'll add my experience.

My doctor convinced me first to go through the medical program because she wasn't comfortable with the surgery route (in her experience, all her previous patients that did it regained their weight so she didn't have much faith in it).  So she referred me to the medical program October 2014.  In the meantime, I had been doing my homework on WLS and eventually convinced her in December 2014 to refer to the surgery instead.  In her cluelessness, she thought she just had to refer me to OWMC the same way as she did when she did the medical referral (despite the fact that I told her about the registry)....  so eventually in January 2015 she added my name to the registry.

While this was going on (late Dec/early Jan), I was calling OWMC to confirm that they received my referral and here's a few interesting tidbits they told me:

1) I could not be referred to both streams at the same time.  Since I was already referred to the medical program they would discard my surgical referral when they received it (so now I'm waiting for them to actually receive my paperwork from the registry to ensure they remove my name from the medical list and NOT the surgical list).

2) I could go from the medical program to the surgical program BUT, currently the weight list for the medical program is much longer than the surgical one (10 months vs 6 months), and then Dr. Dent (presumably) would have to decide if I was a surgical candidate, and if so, he would refer me to the registry list - in which case I'd have to start my waitlist all over again from the start....  so going this route would be a minimum of 16 months waiting.  There's no way of circumventing the registry waitlist just because you already waited on the medical list. (and I believe the same holds true for going the other way, surgery to medical)

So the lessons I learned...  get the GP to do the referral in the first place (not rely on deciding when you get there), and decide which stream is right at the outset, unless wait time is not a factor.  Hope that may help others with questions about OWMC's different programs.