Aurah

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Well, I've been and gone to Dr L's. Was a long 9 1/2 hr drive to Troy, Michigan. I slept a bit of the way and was able to watch a movie to break up some of the time. The Drury Inn was nice, but they put us all the way at the end of their longest wing. Mum has a hard time walking long distances due to her hip so I wish I had asked for something close to the elevator for her.
Was wonderful to have free breakfast, drinks and snacks though! If we stay there for my surgery, would def save a lot of money over the 2 weeks we will be there. Big problem though is that they dont have any firm beds. I cant imagine Mum & Pa sleeping on those soft beds for two weeks straight. 
Met Dr L on the 20th. He was 1 1/2 hrs behind as he had surgery that morning. I met some incredible women in the waiting room though! Debbie and Nancy from Sudbury were wonderful to talk to and had lots of helpful tips as they had just had surgery and were there to get their staples out. Also met a woman who was 5 years out. She had lost 150 pounds! She was back to see Dr L as she was having complications and they were talking about lengthening her common channel. I hope it all works out for her! 
My Mum and I went in to see Dr L and he explained the whole procedure and answered some of my questions. I had a few pages of questions. But when I started asking him some of them, he gave he quick curt answers and I kinds felt like I was bothering him with them. So I only asked him a few more and that was it. I felt kinda put out by the whole thing. I was expecting this friendly bend over backwards to make me comfy kinda person from all of what I have heard of him I guess. And I left feeling frustrated. At one point he asked me what my goal weight was and I said between 160 and 170. Instantly he pointed to my pre-visit paperwork and said, well here you stated you wanted to be between 150 and 160. .... Well why the hell did he ask me in the first place then if you had it in front of him? Then when I told him ..  oh yeah, I would love to be 150 pounds he laughed at that. Like huh? I told him I had a difficult time believing I could be that weight and hence why I said 160-170. Hell, I would be FREAKIN' happy to be under 180 pounds!
Technically I would love to be 135 pounds but I dont really believe I could get to that weight. Well the same goes for 150 pounds. I would LOVE to be at that weight but I have NO idea if it would be healthy. So YEAH I have no idea what my IDEAL weight should be as I never have been an ideal weight. So I waver between different weights I would like to be. Just to have it out there, Dr L's ideal weight for me is 135 to 140 pounds. I honestly think at that weight I would be anorexic. Guess only time will tell. 
I just didnt mentally click with Dr L and I really dont know if I would have proceeded with surgery with Dr L if it hadnt been the rave reviews from the women I met. They told me that apparently the nurses at the hospital hate Dr L. But the reason they hate him is because he is such a picky Dr and watches out for his patients. He even makes the nurses circle each Heparin injection location so he can see where they were given and that all of them were given. 

So...... Dr L gave me a list of pre-op tests he wants me to have done. Bone density test, EKG, Fasting blood work, chest xray and he wants me to get a Cpac machine even though I told him that I do not have sleep apnea. The sleep center told me that I should still get one as I am a heavy snorer. Dr L believes I must have mild sleep apnea and so requires me to get a machine and bring it to the hospital with me. Funny thing is I had a follow-up appointment given to me at the time of my sleep testing back in May. I thought I had missed it. I found the card today and saw that the appointment is for tomorrow morning lol. So that's all good :) I thought I would have to schedule an appointment again and that can take a few months to get an appointment. I also have a PCP appointment this Friday morning and I am going to get my PCP Dr to draw up all the requisitions for the testing Dr L wants me to have done. And get my PCP to give me prescriptions for the pain meds and nausea meds Dr L wants me to get for post-op. 
I found the vitamin store thats by Dr L's office. Had a wonderful lady help me get what I needed. I was asking one clerk about why we need to take A & D dry vitamins combined when we are also required to take Dry Vitamin D capsules. She had no idea but another lady peeped up and asked me right out if I was a bariatric patient. She knew from the list of what I was requesting. Apparently the extra D we take in the A & D capsules is required as we have a hard time absorbing vitamin D. So I bought 4 bottles of A&D, 4 of D, 2 of  chewable calcium, 1 of multivitamins and a tub of vanilla cake flavoured protein powder.  She also gave me 10% off my total purchase! Coolies!

We left after the appointment and drove to Hamilton to visit my brother and his family. We had a quick visit and then left on Sunday to go visit friends of the family. We stayed for lunch and then headed home. 
Was a long 4 days with so much driving. At least when we go down in September we will be there for a while, so we wont feel as though we were living in the Van.
I was glad to get home!

I can't wait to go for my consult! Dr L's office called me and tried to change my consult date to the 23rd, but with all the arrangements made with visiting family and all I couldnt change the date. Not a big deal apparently, it's just that Dr L has a surgery now scheduled for the morning of the 20th (due to the power outage the week previous, no surgeries were done). So we may have to wait for our appointment as he may be late due to unforseen circumstances. That's fine. I don't mind waiting. 
So my parents will be coming over on Wednesday night for a BBQ and then sleeping over so we can leave early in the morning. They live an hour away from me, so its a great idea they stay over. Saves them the extra hour travelling in the morning.  It's gonna be a long ride as its an 8 1/2 hr drive without stops. So it will more than likely be a 10 hour drive. I'm bringing hubbys laptop so I can watch movies and play games to wittle the time away.
4 days and counting!!

I sent Julie an email a few days ago asking her about the availability of surgeries in August. I didnt get a reply. Thought that was funny so I called Dr L's office today. Julie picked up and told me that they have been out of power for days now and the reason she is in the office is to call and cancel with other patients. I hope shes not calling to cancel surgeries. Not sure if the hospital is affected by the power out. I then asked her about when they are scheduling surgeries for and she said August is all booked up, and mine would be in September probably. The only way to get a date in August is if I can convince Dr L to do a double booking for a day and then he would have to do two surgeries in one day. Not sure I would want to do that as I am sure he is tired after doing one. Anyway, my consult will be here soon. I wonder if Mondays consults were cancelled. I did have the option of having my consult then. Maybe it was meant to be then that I go on the 20th! 

I have my fingers crossed that no ones surgery gets cancelled!

So now the wait for the consult is on lol. Always waiting for something eh!? I could have had today as the date for my consult, but it interfered with family time. I had a wonderful weekend with my SIL, hubby, parents and niece. But today I still wish I had booked today as my consult. Can't have my cake and eat it too I guess. What really sucks about a later consult date is a later surgery date. I hear August is almost booked full and I was so hoping to have it done then. I really dont want to have to wait until September. Besides if I am going to be off recovering, I would rather be enjoying some sun rather than fall. Belch, hate fall. There's that cake issue again.... darned cake. Normally August wouldnt be a problem, as surgeries are always within 2 months of the consult, but Dr L is booking off July to go to Poland for his vacation. September just seems sooooooo far off. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

I took Catnips advice and called Julie and requested that she fax me a copy of the approval letter so I can see it for myself. Sure enough! In black and white, there was my name! PHEW! So no more doubting now! Thank you Catnip!
So my Mum n Dad are gonna go down with me for the consult. I am so thankful to have parents like them! They are so supportive, I really am lucky! 
Dad's already planning our travel route! hehe, he's so cute! He also called me up to tell me he had bought me a zippered binder so I can get rid of the one I have now. LOL I just have an old binder that I keep all of my DS info in, and my papers keep falling out of it. 
I am also excited that my niece is coming to live with us for at least 1 year! She is coming down with my SIL this Friday. I'm looking forward to seeing them! 
Gosh, so much is happening so fast!
I want to say thank you to Kim as well! She contacted me last night asking if I wanted to adopt 2 rats. :) Absolutely!! I can't wait to see them! My niece is going to be really happy about them too.

I couldnt wait and called OHIP today to see about my application. I left a message for Holly and then decided to try calling Bev. Bev right away told me I had been approved and my letter went out last Friday!! (although I dont have it yet) I made her repeat it 2 times as I didnt believe her LOL.
I still didnt believe her so I called Dr L's office and sure enough they got the approval fax and set up my consult date for June 20th! WOOT! I could have had June 9th, but it was too short notice, and I have my hubbies b-day to celebrate and my SIL will be in town.
Later in the day Holly called me back. (I didnt tell her I had spoken to Bev. I was curious to see what she would say) This is what I dont get. She told me that more info had been requested and that last Friday they had received it and my application was still under review. I know for a FACT that no extra info was asked of my doctors, so why would she say this? And Bev already told me I was approved.

Anyway, Dr L got the approval so it's official! But I will certainly feel better once I have the approval letter in my mitts!

Guess I am looking at having to wait till next week to hear anything.   If I havent heard by Tuesday, I'm going to call Holly again.
So I got my WLS for Dummies book in the mail last night! Very cool book! Lots of info in it. I'm really glad I purchased it. I'm looking forward to learning lots more!

My niece (who is coming to live with us for schooling purposes) was supposed to come down tomorrow, but seems thats been put off a week. I guess my SIL is going to come down with her for the weekend. Will be nice to see my SIL... it's been awhile! Also my niece will be able to bring a heck of a lot more of her things with her via the car than the bus. I'm looking forward to seeing them both! 

Well, I don't have much to say today. Went for my abdomen ultasound. I am curious to hear the results of that test. I hope there are no kidney issues. 
I have an appointment with Dr Lim on June 3rd. This appointment is just to get permission from her to use her name so I can apply for a copy of my birth certificate. Also to get my letter of reference! I hope she has it ready then. Been waiting long enough for it.  I go for my annual checkup on the 12th. I am NOT looking forward to that. 
So, still waiting for some kind of word on my application. I know it's early yet, but one can hope. I am getting extremely worried as I see what others are having to go through for their approval. And many have a better case than I do. Well I think so anyways. One lady was told she probably wouldnt be approved and she has a BMI of 54 and Obstructive Sleep Apnea! It's crazy! I really don't get why OHIP can deny someone DS when they approve them for RNY. I really hate the idea that OHIP can tell someone they can't have the DS. I mean it's our bodies! Our lives! Our Choice! Yes, they hold the purse strings, and the final decision. But it doesn't make it right!
Is it too silly to hope for immediate approval? Even I want to laugh at myself. Kick myself too. Dang I wish I had heard about WLS earlier and applied last year when OHIP wasnt so cranky about applications. If I only knew then what I know now....
At least I am on a course this afternoon. It will hopefully keep my brain busy. But Arg, I know I am going to have to wait the over weekend... probably wont hear anything till next week sometime. Ah well, time for me to stop whining lol



 

Well I called OHIP today to make sure they had my application. Good thing! They didnt have me in the system yet and when Holly went to check where it was she came back and told me that they had only received part of my package and the actual application was missing.
So I called Dr. B's office and they re-faxed it over. They called me to confirm it had been re-faxed. Then I called Holly back and *phew* they got the whole thing this time. At first I wasnt going to follow up as I didnt want to bug anyone, then I thought, Hey!, this is my application and I have a right to know if it's being processed or not.
I'm just glad I called and found out now rather than one or two weeks of waiting to find out that it wasnt being reviewed at all.
No the real wait begins. Gotta take it one day at a time.....

I just called Dr B's office... I was told to call at 4pm but I couldnt wait LOL It's 1:50 pm and I had to call. Heather answered and she said my application is being faxed as we speak!  WOOT! Now the real nail biting wait begins!! Wish me luck!!