ObesityHelp

 Cindy, 
Yes once you are approved once, it just follows you from what I was told...I was approved about 5 years ago and have never had any aother contact with anyone....my first consult was maybe 1 hour...not long ,but I didn't have to wait for the Dr....He was right on time...and yes at that time he will tell you what he would reccomend...He is a shy guy, but super nice...write down any questions you may think of in advance....

Good luck and let us know how you go...Mybe we can all get togather some day and compare notes....

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. I remember being approved for the NS consult and THINK I got a letter ages later approving me for surgery but it was so long after my consult that it was completely off my radar by then.

I'll definitely inquire with the nurse.

Is the consult basically to decide what type of surgery to perform or if surgery will even be done? I remember that my NS consult was about 3 hours long and he went over what he recommended to me. I have my heart set on the VSG.

I'm learning lots on these forums. Everyone is so helpful and gracious.

 As I've mentioned in other posts, I started this process in 2004 (referral). I got approval to go to ns, where they were doing Islanders at the time (2005) for a consult. I'm now going to a consult in NB in June and will hopefully be getting sleeved within the next year. My question is, did you work with health PEI for funding your surgery or did the doctors office take care of that? I don't want to go through with many appointments and surgery than be sent a bill from the province because 'I' didn't get the approval beforehand. I hope that makes sense. I just want to know how active I have to be in the funding process.

I live in East Royalty too! I am leaving for Cuba next Tuesday and will not be home until April 7th. We can meet up after that and chat. The bars only come in peanut butter flavour, and if you like them you can have them, I certainly will not be using them and was just going to take them over to the clinic next time I had an appt. (which is April 12), so we should try to meet up before than. 

I should have kept track of all of my appointments but I think I went over in December to sign my papers and had surgery Feb. 14. So, if everything goes well for you, you should be in late April early May, that is great! 

Anyway, I am on here everyday if you have any questions, I really don't mind. 

I started on solids last week and have been doing fine. I can only eat a couple of bites of food, so am making the protein that I can get in count.  I lost 21 lbs pre surgery and about 25 lbs since surgery. I have been in a stall for a week and a half.... I have only dropped about a pound and a half. No need to freak, I change things up a bit every day and see what may work.

If you are on Atkins' you probably won't have too much of a problem with the liquid diet. I had a hard time for the first three or four days but than it got better. The shakes were not too bad that I ordered, much better if you have a blender and I added, coconut or vanilla flavour to them. I only ordered the vanilla. I also ordered the bars, because I thought I would like to have something to chew, they were absolutely horrible and ended up having to substitute diabetic boost to get me through the two weeks. I have some of the bars left if you would like them, they cost $21 a box and if you can tolerate them, that would be great, just let me know? I am sure they know what they are talking about, but I think there are other options available to us. I wondered whether having to order the shakes was almost a way of tracking our seriousness because they receive notice of whether you order them or not. But, who cares it worked and he said everything was great when he went in to do surgery.

As for the hospital stay... I was supposed to be there for 11am and surgery at 1. I did not have surgery until 2:30pm. I was only in surgery for a little over an hour, I guess. I was very hot after surgery and they gave me a fan in my room in ICU. I got to the room after recovery about 4:30pm. My mouth was so dry and they gave me a sponge to wet my lips with water. They gave me blood thinners and pain killer shots quick frequently. I was in and out of sleep all night. I got up about 10 pm and went to the bathroom. Was weak but did not mind getting up at all.

They came at 6 am to take blood, check for any abnormalities such as leakage, although I guess they know almost right away if there is a leak. The Dr. came in around 9 and said I was ok to go home if I felt that I could. I felt ok at that time and thought to myself 'well if he thinks I am good to go, I guess I am'. I should have stayed. The drive back to Charlottetown was very unpleasant and I was in pain when I got home. I kind of panicked because I was so far away from the hospital. The pain was primarily the air they talk about not my incisions etc.... I called Monique and she was great, she assured me that she thought it really was just the air and to walk and walk and sip and sip. I also, doubled the script from the Dr. for the first 24 hours. So, all in all, the first 24 hours home were not wonderful. I had never had surgery before and I think that was also part of my panic. Everyone is different, so I guess you can just play that one by ear.

Anyway, if you want to connect sometime and chat in person, that is fine with me as well, it would be nice to have a group on PEI, some people to chat with. It is good to have a support system. Your family can only understand so much!

I just joined this yesterday and will have to investigate it further to see if there is a way you can send private messages... I don't really want to make my phone number or e-mail public.

TTYL

 Hi Island Momma,

I just had gastric sleeve surgery with Dr. B in Moncton on Feb.14. I had been on the waiting list since 2004 and just got my call the last week of April 2011, so it took 10 months for me to go through the whole process. So, it sounds like you are making very quick work of your process. 

If you ever want to chat, just message me. 

Best of luck in your adventure!

I am still looking for others who are interested in having the vsg done in mexico on dec 2nd with dr kelly. I have made up my mind and that is when i am going and Dr Kelly will be my dr.

 I had my surgery with Dr. Ponce de Leon on August 1st.  It went great and I'm loving my sleeve!!
Good luck to you.  Let me know if you have any questions I can help you with.    

In NS they are saying the wait is up to 2 years..or more. Just so you know, the sugeon there does not do WLS on anyone with a BMI higher than 60. They do provide a weightloss program for those people to get there..but the wait is still the same.