Options For Surgeons

Hi Ladies!

I'm in Huntington Hills NW.  Would love to meet for coffee too.

My question is what doctor do you recommend?  I know there is one in Red Deer, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and of course, Edmonton but how did you go about choosing the best one for a referral? 

My doctor is on board with whatever I choose, I just have to let him know my decision.

I'm going down to Vegas for mine, but from what I've read and such it seems like Dr Ferries in Red Deer only accepts calls on 1 day a year for surgery bookings?
Dr Nohr in Medicine Hat seems to be about a 3 year wait.
I haven't heard about any surgeons in Lethbridge, but hope that helps!

 Both Dr. Farries in Red Deer and Dr. Nohr in Medicine Hat are getting more OR times. The wait isn't as long as it used to be. I think the best way to choose your doc is by deciding what surgery you want first. Dr. Nohr only does Roux-en-Y (open and Lap) Dr. Farries is doing the lap band, roux-en-y and the Sleeve. Edmonton you have to go to their weight wise clinic program first. I don't know of any one in Lethbridge doing any wt loss surgery. Dr. Mitchell in Calgary is back doing lap bands again. I am seeing Dr. Nohr personally. I had my doc send referals to a few of them and he's the only one I heard back from. I also like that I don't have to jump through hoops for him to do the surgery as well. No psych eval, no dieting pre-op, no losing weight before he'll help you. You do have to attend a class with the dietician. It was a really good program about what to expect and how to manage post-op. Good luck with your decision.

Hello Ladies,

I live in Calgary, in Beddington Heights. 

I will be having the Vertical Gastric Sleeve with Dr. Lawrence Farries in Red Deer.  Unsure when my surgery date is, I have gone through my initial appointment, my 2nd appt, my endoscope, and I have my pysch evaluation scheduled for March 2.  I am hoping to have my surgery in June (fingers crossed)

It is a rather complicated to get into his program.  He does only accept referrals one day a year, and only the first 200 referrals at that.  I went to see Dr. Peggy Burke, who is a weight loss doctor here in Calgary.  She does not perform WLS, but she is part of the Toronto weight loss clinic and will do lap band adjustments.  But you have to go to Toronto to get your surgery done and pay for it.  On the day that Dr. Farries is accepting patients, she has a dedicated person sitting on the phone calling over and over until they get in and then refers all the people that need to be referred through her.  I was lucky.  So my referral went in May 2010, and my first consult was November 30, 2010. 

If you have any questions about the system, you can email me if you like, my email is:
[email protected]

Nice to see other WLS people in Calgary.  Do any of you go to a support group here in Calgary?  I would like to attend one, but unsure if there are any available.

Sheila