For Northern Ontario peeps

So, my first appointment in Sudbury is at the end of April. I've waited a year to get this far. Talked to Sudbury and they told me it might be another year before I get my surgery depending on what the health professionals want and the results they get with tests. However no one is giving me any idea of what I will be tested for or health requirements I need. For example, I found out through this forum that they watch your vitamin D level and sudbury only acknowledged it after I asked. I got myself tested ahead of time so I could improve my levels if needed. Is there anything I can get checked before I go down there to speed the process? Will they ask me to track food intake for awhile? They keep telling me not to collect food records but will I get their and the dietician say they want to see a month of eating habits before making recommendations?

They will run a bunch of blood work including the Vitamin D, iron panel, Vitamin A, all other things like CBC, etc. They may ask for a sleep study if you aren't already diagnosed with sleep apnea if they feel that you may have it. As for testing and food intake, even if you bring results and sheets, they will ask you to do it all over again anyway. The only thing you can really get on top of is have a sleep study if you have never had one and take at least a multivitamin daily. You can bring food charts but hard to say if they will even look at it. Who is your appointment with? If it's just the nurse then food logs mean nothing to her. They used to do a few appointments the same day so you'd see the nurse, dietitian, physiotherapist, social worker and psychologist. I believe the psychologist left so it might just be the other 4.

Hi, congrats on doing this! Is your first appointment (with the nurse, dietician, social worker, etc) or are you going down for your orientation?

The blood tests are for all of the vitamins, iron, thyroid, I think, and not sure which others, but make sure they test for H Pylori because they forgot to do that with me and I had to go back again to get it done. My D levels were almost nonexistent and it took 8 months for them to come up enough for me to be cleared for surgery.

If you've had a sleep study recently (for me it was within 3 years) they won't make you go again, at least, they didn't for me.

If you've ever suffered from depression, anxiety, etc., you'll need a clearance from a psychiatrist, and there wasn't one available in Sudbury when I went, so I had to find my old therapist and get it from him, even though I'd been finished with therapy and fine for 6 years when I started the process for WLS. I was lucky and got him on his last days before retirement.

If you have any medical issues like asthma, you'll need a letter from an asthma specialist to OK you for surgery. I imagine the same would be needed for other health problems.

You'll be asked to quit smoking if you're a smoker, and quit caffeine too, at least 6 months before surgery. You'll also need to quit pop/diet pop. They asked me to buy a sectioned toddler plate and were annoyed when I said I'd wait until after surgery to use it because I didn't think I could manage such small amounts of food pre-op (if I could, I wouldn't have needed surgery, lol). I was also told to start an exercise program at least 2 months before surgery, preferably more, but they are fine with daily walks; they don't require you to go to the gym or anything (or at least they didn't with me). I was riding my bike every day and they were happy with that.

They'll ask you to write a goal sheet at one meeting, and then check to see if you're meeting your goals at another meeting, so make sure to write goals you can achieve.

Don't worry; they'll guide you through the whole process.