Thunder Bay Peeps

No, not saying that. Just speculating on a previous comment that Mark is getting older! As we all are!

Just called and Dr Gupta is still a go you had me ready for a good melt down Mary but here's hoping nothing changes,  Linda is not sure of the date but yes he is still coming

On March 12, 2013 at 12:43 PM Pacific Time, 4-Jane wrote:

Just called and Dr Gupta is still a go you had me ready for a good melt down Mary but here's hoping nothing changes,  Linda is not sure of the date but yes he is still coming

my apologies, that is what I heard last month from someone that had his surgery in January...seee what the rumour mill is.

This is true.  I'm from Thunder Bay and had my surgery at Toronto Western on March 4th.  There were 16 surgeries being scheduled in Toronto with mine as well.  It was 18 months for me from referral to surgery.  I was worried about waiting for surgery in Thunder Bay as I heard that there will be only one bariatric bed at the Regional.  If that is true then with a average stay in hospital 3 days this would mean at max 2 surgeries a week.  If someone had trouble then maybe one a week. Then there is the issue of OR time here, which can also be a challenge.  I was very glad to have the opportunity to go to Toronto.

Hi Northern lights were those 16 all from Thunder Bay, and do you know how many remain on the waiting list here?

Yes they were all from Thunder Bay. I'm not sure how many people are on the list still waiting here. I do know that they sent files to 3 hospitals in Toronto, and that works out to about 15 different surgeons so if you have the chance to go I would go it will be much quicker. I found out my file was sent down Feb 1st and surgery was a month later. Good luck on your journey.

Thanks for the insight I was hoping for a June date but see that may not be happening, for now I best worry about my upper scope I have a date for that and then will be set to roll.  I'm glad to hear that 16 got to go because the wait times were way to long and it was tuff listening to people talk about ther four or five month wait down east yes those times may have been rare in the east too but really.....  Not too mention second shopping is a lot more fun now that locals are losing and donating there clothes lol... Again thanks for the insight

Perhaps with more people getting done now, you might be lucky and get a June date.  All that being said, when I started this process I was 9 1/2 months from orientation to surgery (I got in fairly early in the program).  I know that the waits are much longer than that now because there are so many people who need this surgery who now have access to the program.  Having been through it all, I can truly say that the worst part of this whole process is the waiting, and waiting, and waiting.  As well, the not knowing where you file stands is also difficult.  I thought my file had gone down to Hamilton only to find out that it went 2 months later than I thought - this kind of stuff is very deflating.  But it is part of the process, though a hard one to swallow.  Hang in there, try to be a patient as you can, and when you're at your wits end, make a phone call to see how things are moving along.  There's a fine line between getting information and being a pain in the butt, though, so proceed cautiously, remembering that for as frustrated as you are, the workload in the office is equal.  It'll happen eventually, and you'll be thankful for it all.