Hi everyone, I am sorry to say that I have been keeping a secret from my OH friends because I didn't know how to tell you, and I didn't have all the facts.

When I had my VSG in July, Dr. Poplawski took a biopsy of my liver and the portion of the stomach that he removed.  He told me he did this to find out about my lymph nodes and perhaps this would help me in the future should my blood disorder act up.

Well, when I went back the end of August for a follow-up appointment, Dr. Poplawski was pleased with my progress and he also had the pathology report from the biopsies.  He then told me that I had small cancer tumors on my liver.  Needless to say my skin went clammy and I kind of went into shock.  My sister was in the room with me and she continued to talk to Dr. Pop until I finally came back to earth.  I couldn't believe my ears...I felt so happy the entire month previous because my VSG surgery went so well and I couldn't believe how good things were.  I felt so happy and I wanted to shout it out to the world.  Now this?  Why?  Dr. Pop said he was going to fax the pathology report to my doctor here in Ottawa and she could then take the appropriate action.

I have since had a CT Scan and low and behold they found another tumor on my small bowel.  Oh joy!!  My doctor then referred me to the Cancer Clinic here in Ottawa, and on Monday I went to see an oncologist to find out what the plan is for me.  My oncologist said that I have carciniod symdrome...and the tumors are slow growing and there is no urgency.  He is sending me for a bunch of tests to rule out other tumors elsewhere in my body.  I am being referred to a surgeon as the oncologist said they can probably operate on my small bowel and remove the tumor that is there.

So, as you can imagine, the last two months have been quite overwhelming.  I have done a lot of research on this and am keeping a positive outlook...that to me is the only way to beat this.

I didn't really know how to post anything about this on here...the words just wouldn't come...although I did tell my Angel, Tinalou.  My family and friends have all been so supportive I don't know what I would have done without them.  And again, my niece Kim was the first one to say she was going to come with me to the oncologist on Monday.  She is the same sweet gal who came with me to Michigan and took such good care of me at the time of my surgery.  My sister Brenda and best friend Helen have been there for me through all this as well.  I am a lucky gal.

My family doctor said to me:  "Linda, thank God you had this surgery and Dr. Poplawski found this, otherwise we would never have known this existed until it was perhaps too late".   That Dr. Pop is the best...he took that upon himself to examine me while he was inside and saw this problem and acted on it...I can't thank him enough.

I truly feel there is a reason for everything, and I don't think God put me through the year I had of waiting for weight loss surgery, to come here now and take it all away.  His plan was for the surgery to discover this problem and have the time to deal with it.  

Again, I am a lucky gal.

God bless you all, and thanks for listening.

Take care...Linda

Well I am happy to  finally be able to report that I have had my VSG surgery and things seem to be going really great...so far so good. 

My surgery was Tuesday afternoon, 29 Jul 08, and I was released late afternoon on Thursday, 31 Jul 08.  Dr. Poplawski came to see me in the pre-op room and then after surgery he visited me in my room.  He also popped in the next morning and my final morning as well.  Definitely a conscientious fella that Dr. Pop.  I couldn't be more pleased with him.

My pain was very minimal, I suffered from absolutely no gas at all.  I couldn't believe it.  I was waiting for the major gas pains to start and it never did.  One of the nurses thought perhaps it was because I had the VSG and things were handled in a different way inside.  I do have a draining tube which not all others have, but Dr. Pop said it is nothing and he will take it out tomorrow.  My niece drains it and changes the bandage 3 times a day...she's a saint.  I did have the morphine pump that you can use whenever you feel like it.  I think most times I just hit the button because I knew I could...not for pain...lol  (it doesn't take much to amuse me...lol)

I asked Dr. Pop if it would be possible to alter the usual arrangements where you go back to see him after two weeks (seeing as I live so far away), and he suggested I drop in on Sunday morning at 9:00 am, he will check me over and remove a drain tube from my stomach, and if everything looks good, then I will probably be able to leave tomorrow after my checkup.  My niece and I have decided that if he says it is ok to go, we will only drive half the way home and spend the night in a motel and then finish the last leg of the drive on Monday.  I am supposed to get out of the car every hour to walk around a bit and stretch my legs...this helps prevent blood clots.

I am gradually learning about this liquid phase and what to eat and when...there is a lot to remember but my niece keeps me on track.  She also bugs me to get out and walk...I don't know what I would do without her here.  She  has been an absolute God-send...she makes all my meals, waits on me hand and foot...who can ask for better than that.  She even gave me a pedicure the night before surgery, now that's what you call love eh?  Dr. Pop was impressed with my toes when he saw them pre-op...I told him that Kim had made them pretty just for him...he laughed.  I have some pictures of me at the hospital before/after/during my surgery stay and will post them on here when I get back home.

If you couldn't tell already, I am a very happy camper...my long journey is finally paying off and I will soon see the results.  I can't wait.

Well that's it for now...I will post again when I have more to say in few days.  Bye for now.

Linda (the VSGer)  

Hi all, I just got back from Barix about an hour ago and thought I would update my blog. 

Drove to Michigan on Sunday with my good friend Monique (we have been friends for 42 years), and we stayed at the Red Roof Inn in Belleville.  Monday morning (14 Jul) I had to be at Barix for 8:15 a.m. for my pre-op tests.  Everything went smoothly, they run a well oiled ship there, and the staff were all super nice.  I had a chance to meet some of the other people going for surgery later this month.  It was nice to sit and chat with them and hear their stories.  One woman was there to support her daughter who was having her consultation...but the interesting thing was that the mother had the surgery and had lost over 200 lbs, so now her daughter was there to see if she could have it, and to top that off, the mother had brought her sister and niece along for the ride, and they had both had the surgery and looked fantastic too.  Talk about a family affair.  Plus another young girl was there with her Mom....the young gal was having her pre-ops and is having her surgery 28 July (the day before me)...and her mother told me that her son had the surgery and has so far lost 230+ lbs...isn't that something?  I will definitely look up the young gal when I am there...she is having open surgery so she will still be there once I am done.  I told her we could walk the halls together...

My girlfriend and I did some touring around in Ann Arbor, and had a chance to go out to dinner at the Olive Garden.  I used to love going to that restaurant when they were in Ottawa.  They have been gone for a long time now.

That's about it for now...I will update again before I head out for my surgery.

I don't know why I haven't updated my profile...where has the time gone since last September???   A lot has happened that is certain, but things are finally looking up.

With Dr. Kam leaving the Barix Clinic, I had a second consultation in late November 2007 with Dr. Poplawski and he agreed to do the RNY on me and suggested that we wait until after Christmas, so that meant January 2008 sometime.  Well, as you can guess, that never happened.  After some thought and discussions with some of his colleagues, Dr. Poplawski called me in January 2008 to tell me that he didn't want to do the RNY on me, and he was going to try and get approval for me to have the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG).  The VSG was not on the roster at the Barix Clinic at that time, so Dr. Pop put a proposal in with the President of the hospital and the President agreed.  So that was the start of the process.  After that, Dr. Pop did up a recommendation letter to the OHIP Review Board, explaining my blood problem and how he felt that the VSG was a better option for me because it was less invasive and also due to the malabsorption aspect.  He faxed this recommendation letter to my own doctor here in Ottawa...we did up a new application for out of country surgery, and off all the documents went to OHIP.  Within about a month, OHIP came back with approval for my VSG.  Needless to say I was ecstatic...all the waiting was finally over and I could continue on my road to weight loss.

I have nothing but the utmost respect for Dr. Poplawski and all that he did to make this happen.  He went to bat for me big time, and it is heart warning to see how serious he takes his job and the dedication he has to help patients like me who are being turned away.  Now there is an alternative for higher risk patients at Barix...what a great thing.  The whole process took some time, but Dr. Poplawski did all the leg work and now I am scheduled for my VSG on 29 Jul 08 at the Barix Clinic.  

I am now counting the days until I head to Michigan.  It is a good 9 hour drive but I don't mind.  My niece Kim is coming with me when I have my surgery and she will be my nursemate...she has always been like that with me and I can't thank her enough for volunteering to be there.  

I will be heading to Michigan in mid July for my pre-op tests...my sister or a good friend will be accompanying me.  

So, that's pretty much it for now...stay tuned, more to come as July draws near and things start to happen.

Take care...Linda

Hi everyone, I had my consultation wiith Dr. David Kam at the Barix Clinic in Ypsilanti, Michigan on 10 August, 2007, and was told that I could not be approved for the bypass surgery. Needless to say, after driving 9+ hours to get there, it was quite a shock and such a disappointment. I have a chronic blood disorder that prevents me from having surgery. I would need to be in remission for 5 years before they would even consider it. Dr. Kam was wonderful, a straight shooter, but in a nice way. I could tell he felt bad that I had gone so far to find this out. He still took the time to explain to me the surgery and answered questions, I was very impressed by him. I really don't know why this was never discussed before...the patient services gal asked me all kinds of questions when we talked on the phone, but of course I never even thought to mention the chronic blood disorder...I never thought it would be a problem as it is not a problem in my day to day life. I am monitored every 6 months. Anyway, Dr. Kam said that if I wanted to get my blood specialist to write a letter to the Barix Clinic stating that there was no danger in me having the surgery, then Dr. Kam could present it before the Board of Directors and they would decide if I could proceed. So I returned home so discouraged. I had been so looking forward to a new life, that's all I could think about in the last months since deciding to definitely get surgery. Here I was back to the drawing board...where do I go from here? Talk about a let down. 

Well I went to see my personal physician the following week and told her the upsetting news.  Dr. Kam had also given me a list of other tests that would be required should I be approved.  My doctor scheduled all the tests for me right away.  I was really lucky...there must have been cancellations because within a week I had a sleep test done at the local hospital, I had a 2-day stress test done at the Heart Institute here in Ottawa, and my appointment with the Cardiovascular Centre was set up for 20 Sep.  Talk about a whirlwind week.  

This past week I had my appointment with my blood specialist and I was pleased to hear him say that he saw no problem in me having this surgery, and that he would be happy to prepare a letter of support.  He sent me for two blood tests to solidify his support and will be sending his report to my doctor.  I am now waiting to hear from my doctor that all my test results are in, including the most important letter of support, and these documents will be faxed to the Barix Clinic in Michigan.

So my adventure is not over.  Thankfully there is still a light at the end of the tunnel.  Keeping my fingers crossed that good news will be coming my way soon.  Stay tuned for more updates.