Hey everyone in the Ontario Forum!

So, I am new to this. I am preop and just starting all of the appointments. I live in Kingston and hopefully will get surgery there, we were told that some go to Kingston and some end up in Toronto...either way, I am happy to go! I had the intake seminar (group visit) at the end of January and now I am going for my NP appointment on March 6. Just wondering (as a guideline) how long the whole process takes with all of the appointments, sleep studies, scopes etc....just curious. I am beyond excited to be on this journey and have such a great tool under my belt to help me beat obesity once and for all.

Hello and welcome :)

It's tough to nail down an exact timeframe in Ontario... It will really depend on which centre you end up at, how many tests you have to do beforehand, and how your pre- approval appointments go. I would say a typical timeframe is 9-12 months, assuming there are no delays with testing and appointments.

People who have never had a sleep test and require one might take longer, also smokers, uncontrolled diabetics, and those that require longer with the psychiatrist/ social worker/ nutritionist/behaviourist.

Hi, welcome and congratulations!  You're on your way! 

No matter how long it takes, the time will fly by before you know it; trust me on this.  I had to wait over 2 years for surgery, closer to 2 and a half, mostly because i live in the north and my asthma specialist disappeared for a year and i had to wait for a visiting asthma specialist to give the OK for surgery.  The next delay was due to my vitamin D being almost zero; it took over 6 months (I think it was 8) to get those levels high enough to be OK'd for surgery.

Most people don't wait nearly as long as I had to, so don't worry. I've seen some people do the whole process in 9-12 months. 

You may see surgery by early summer.  Give you time to wrap your head around this whole journey.  Welcome to the forums, stay active here, it is a valuable tool. 

Hello and welcome! 

As others said, it's really hard to say how much longer until your surgery as it all depends on your current health issues and what they want to check before moving you along. I was at the Ottawa clinic and they say between 1 and 1.5 year from start to finish. My process was just under a year, although I had to wait 6 months from my GP's referral to my first group info session, but I already had my sleep study done and had been using my CPAP machine for over a year and had already quit smoking. I also didn't have diabetes or other medical issues previously. 

At first, I thought this process was too long but there is a lot of things to do to prep yourself for surgery, physically but mostly mentally, and now I'm happy it took so long because I had enough time to mentally geared myself for all the major changes the surgery brings and had time to implement small changes at a time like making I had all my water in, taking more time to eat and chewing food long enough, etc. A long-time school friend of mine called me the night on my surgery to check on me. He got sleeved a year ago. His surgery was sort of an emergency surgery as he had to loose weight very quickly so that his body would not reject the liver transplant he got a few months before. He only had 2 weeks to get ready and his first comment was that he went into this not having a full grasp of how life would be different afterwards and had many phases of being upset and angry in the following months as this surgery was pushed onto him. He would have liked to have the time to get all the info and read about it and get mentally prepared. I  instead of being his personal choice and having time to 

A long-time school friend of mine called me the night on my surgery to check on me. I knew he got sleeved a year ago but I didn't know that his surgery was sort of an emergency as he had to loose weight very quickly so that his body would not reject the liver transplant he got almost a year before. He only had 2 weeks to get ready and he went into this not having a full grasp of how things would be different afterwards and had many phases of being upset and angry in the following months as this surgery was sort of pushed onto him. He would have liked to have the time to get all the info, go to group sessions and read about it to get mentally and physically prepared. I think that in one way, we are lucky that this process takes a certain time because if we decide to go through with it, we fully understand how life-changing this surgery can be.

like everyone else has said, it all depends on you, what tests you need and what centre you are with.  I was told it would be a year to a year and a half.  I had my surgery 7 months after my orientation.  This is an exciting journey.  Congratulations on your decision.

Hello there and welcome!

I'm in Kingston, too. Sounds like I'm just a smidgen ahead of you in the process- I attended Orientation in Dec 2016, saw the Nurse in January, and saw Social Work and Dietician in Feb. I just had my Internal Medicine assessment, and now I'm waiting for a slot with Psychology.

The folks at the Hotel Dieu clinic are extremely nice and knowledgeable; communication is excellent and everything is well coordinated and organized. I've found the whole thing to be a very positive experience so far- you're in good hands at HD!

As far as timings, here's my experience so far...the Nurse Practitioner told me back in Jan that if everything went smoothly, I'd be looking at a springtime surgery date. However, in Feb the Social Worker told me the Psychologist is working through an enormous backlog, so I might have a long wait time before my Psychology assessment. He couldn't give me an estimate of how long.

I'm not sure if everyone has to see the Psychologist or not- if you don't, that would probably speed up your surgery date.

I had to see the Internist, and got the appointment pretty quickly, within 2 months from when I saw the Nurse. Social Work told me as far as he knew most people don't get the Internist appointment that fast- I don't know if I just got lucky or if the wait time has reduced in general.

I'm not sure what the wait is like for the Sleep Study. If you've had a Sleep Study done in the last 2 years, it's possible you won't have to get one done. The Nurse will discuss it with you, and any other specialist appointments or tests she feels are necessary. She'll definitely send you for blood work and an EKG, which you can get done at the hospital right after your appointment.

The other thing that takes time are follow-up appointments with Social Work and the Dietician, depending on your situation. Some people get "cleared" after their first appointment, some require follow up. Regarding the Dietician, I think it helps if you're knowledgeable about healthy eating and the mechanics of the surgery, and if you have already implemented healthy changes to your diet and lifestyle. The more healthy changes you make now, the better your chances are for getting "cleared" sooner rather than later.

Good luck! And don't be afraid to ask the Nurse any questions about any part of of the process, including timelines. She's really nice and won't rush you.

Argh, sorry about the teeny tiny font in my reply...not sure why that happened

Thank you so much for all of the replies!! I sincerely appreciate every bit of info/help you guys can give!! Glad to be a part of this website/forum. So much good information to be had! :)