So pissed off!
I believe the appointment where the doc agreed to refer me to Richmond in addition to my referral to Victoria was Jan 25 (i.e., a year ago), but she didn't do so. My referral to Victoria went through in Dec, 2016 so, yes, it was almost exactly a year from referral to phone call.
I live on the Sunshine Coast, and the ferry service is challenging at best -- especially in the summer -- so the extra ferry makes it a very full day of travel. I'm looking at at least one night and possibly two nights away for each appointment in Victoria whereas I can get to and from Richmond for appointments in a day. And I have friends and family in the Vancouver area who could support me around the surgery (rides, a place to stay relatively near the hospital), which I do not have in Victoria.
I haven't cancelled Victoria. I'm going to wait and see just how long the wait is for Richmond. The other thing to factor in is the time from orientation to surgery, which I believe is (or can be) shorter in Richmond.
In the meantime, I'm very concerned about the number of people (up to 25%) *****gain the weight after surgery. It's my intention to use this time to really focus on building good habits, especially around eating regular meals and overcoming compulsive eating, so that when I go through surgery it will be successful.
But I'm really needing this surgery now, not in two or three years!
That's what I've been doing too. Have really good habits, have been slowly losing weight. Your time from orientation to surgery is more dependent on your cooperation with programs and readiness based on assessment. That really sucks about Richmond. I was in contact with them 2 weeks ago and they told me it would be another year before they contacted me.
The good news is that committing to this process -- and wanting to be well prepared for entering into it when that call finally comes -- has rekindled my efforts at weight loss. Currently experimenting with a 5:2 regime, which seems to be working. Maybe by the time I can have the surgery, I won't need it! And yes, I don't want ever to be back in this place. That's what is really motivating me at this point.
I suppose the lesson to be learned from my experience is not to wait patiently for that phone call without getting some sort of confirmation from somebody that your referral did go through. It's not just about trusting your doctor (I will never go back to that doctor who promised me the referral -- for that and for other reasons), but sometimes referrals get lost in the shuffle. There are three sources you can check: the office of the doctor *****ferred you, your GP's office, and the hospital itself. They all would have some record of the referral having been received, and with the latter, you can also get a very rough idea of the time remaining that you have to wait.
Kathy S. · 0 replies · 771 views
