I know alot of people have been in and out of the program for various appointments and am wondering if you have heard anything about the program opening to men or those of us on the waiting list? Andrea had told me in February that they were hoping to start doing men this summer, and then open to larger women.
Wish they had a website or something where we could check for news. I came home the other day and there was a letter from the WRHA and I was so excited, thought it was about bariatric surgery and turned out it was a survey for my husband following his hip replacement. Almost cried I was so disappointed....

Karen

I feel badly for you Karen and for anyone whose application has been put on hold. You have been waiting for so long. It is unfair that they are taking forever to open up the program. I hope someone here has good news for you.

Best wishes!

Tanya

 I am not normally a pot stirrer but what do you folks think about starting a letter or email writing campaign to the minister of health? I don't think it can hurt.  Does anyone know how many people are on the manitoba forum? 

I'm not against writing another letter but I have sent letters to the Minister of HEalth and have never received anything but a thank you for writing, no acknowledgement of my concerns etc.

It's just so frustrating waiting, I have been on the waiting list for over a year and I know others have been too. The program needs to %^^$ or get off the pot. Either they are going to extend the program or they aren't but I think people deserve to know sooner than later. If they aren't going to expanad then let me know and I will look at Mexico.

 I can believe you didn't get much response from the minister...I'm not a big fan of her. But what if we could get a couple hundred letters sent all at the same time, and we cc them all to the conservative health critic too! That may get noticed and force some accountability.  Just a thought!  

I have been sending letters to Min of Health for over two years now and I get the same old standard letter of thanks.  In fact the last time I wrote was in Apr just before I decided to go have it done in Mexico.  The standard thank you letter made me make the decision.  I am on the list here in MB and have had my name in since Jun 2010 and if the criteria opened up I would have been number 200 on the list.  Given the number of surgeries they have done in the last 2.5 years I would have had at least another 3 year wait.  Even though I got my BMI down to 47 my wait would still have been over another year.  Hence Mexico and Dr Ponce de Leon and I do not regret one minute of my decision.

I will claim my expenses on my Income Tax and consider the rest of the money as the best investment I could have ever made in myself.  I am 4 weeks and few days out and already I am not taking any blood pressure or anti depressant pills any more.  So I am officially off all meds now.

 and the letters don't even come from her but from a staff member. If I had cancer I wouldn't have to wait this long or needed cataracts surgery etc.  I was put on the list in January of 2010 so I have no idea how many people would be before me. Andrea did say that they suspect alot of people will not want the surgery when their turn comes up because they have changed their minds or have gone elsewhere like Mexico or another province.

Teasha, I am so happy for you that you are doing so well. If I was able to find the money I would be in Mexico in a heartbeat. Maybe someday.....

It is a sickening situation. I meet the current criteria and have been on the list only since January 2012. There is a part of me that wants to be fair and see the criteria opened up but I was told the wait for me would be anywhere from 3-5 years IF the criteria stays where it is. If it opens, that becomes even longer. So the part of me that ttries to be fair struggles with the "but...but...MORE than 5 year side". I hate this whole situation.
I wrote the Minister too, got the form letter congratulating me for "taking control of my health" right after I was diagnosed with type II diabetes. On the upside, the government now pays for my eye exams.

I got the same letter congratulating me on making healthy choices.

i understand how frustrating the wait is and how maddening it would be to have your wait time extended but I hope you can understand that those of use on the waiting list have already been waiting more than a year, moving on to 2 years.

I think it is a no win situation  all around and the people making decisions about this program need to take a serious look at how they can handle the amount of people waiting for surgery. It's getting harder and harder to be accepted out of province yet I can't be helped here. It feels like a roller coaster that you can't get off... need the surgery so I can be healthy but I'm too fat for the surgery.

Just would be nice to have an update on what's going on....

 I completely understand your point Karen, believe me. Like I said previously I feel terrible for feeling the way I do, I hate it in fact, as that is not the kind of person I see myself as being. I feel selfish and then guilty for feeling so selfish add that to the way I feel about myself due to my weight and the whole thing becomes even more of a mess. 
As far as I know, nothing has changed in regard to wait times at all. My understanding was the lack of operating room time was the biggest problem and the government's refusal to fund any surgery at private facilities such as Maples. So the times continue to bottleneck.
I have been thinking its time to call Andrea and see what's what.

Does anyone have Andrea's number. Now that I'm off for the summer I would have time to phone and see if things have changed. Too hard when I work weekdays....anything to get out of cleaning house...LOL