Yes - I didn't realize that I needed a bit more money for my checkout procedure than I had calculated.
First there was a nominal charge for the phone in my room (which I didn't even know I had) and then upon departure, they send you over to the pharmacy with a shopping list.

I ended up spending about $45 on various things I needed including th Heparin - to which, as it turned out, I was allergic.
Who knew?
Very rare, it appears.

Do all patients have to do this. Is this standard? I would hope that all hospitals follow the same practice if its a health risk.

I've only heard that Humber does it.

You'd think there would be some commonality between the various centres. However, other than the fact that they do the same surgery(s)  it appears not much else is the same. Preoperative requirements (scopes and testing) differs as does the diet after and the various supplement / drug post surgical regimes.

Logical - not very.. welcome to cutting edge state of the art Healthcare.

They don't do it at TWH. At least they haven't mentioned it it any of the literature. And no it does not hurt to inject it. The needles are so fine that it feels less than a misquito bite. Since it does thin the blood have to watch for bleeding, be careful not to cut self etc...

St. Joe's in Hamilton does as well.  When I met with the nurse she gave me the DIN number  to call my insurance company and see if it was covered and my insurance covers it she told me if it wasn't coverd to let the hospital know.  The medication given at St. Joe's is called Tinazaparin.

Hope this helps!!!

The injection prescribed by St. Joe's Hamilton is more or less the same blood thinner as prescribed by all the other hospitals. It is very common to be prescribed a blood thinner post operatively and few people have an allergic reaction to it. The needle itself is very small and very fine, what may hurt is not the actual needle but the medication being injected. Most people that I have injected (I'm a nurse) say that a slow injection hurts less.

I just went to an orientation at HRRH today and they do require the blood thinners for all WLS patients.  However, they also send some patients to St. Joes (Toronto site, not the one in Hamilton) depending on which surgeon you are assigned and they said St. Joe's does not require patients to use blood thinners.  The dietician doing the presentation said HRRH considers it a "best practice" but they can't impose their views on other hospitals.

Hope that helps...

Tracy

yes,, had my surgery at hrrh may 27th and they taught me how to self inject.. easier than i thought.. 8 days..

At Guelph, I had one blood thinner shot in the hospital post op and none after, they don't send you home on blood thinners...at least not me.