Kinda bummed!

Just got back from orientation at TWH and my next appointments aren't until October! I feel like I will be in limbo until then. What have you guys done between appointments to feel like you're doing *something*? Did you start a diet/healthy eating plan? New exercise regimen? I don't want to sit twiddling my thumbs for the next three months, but at the same time no other weight loss attempts have really worked for me... Man, I knew this would take a long time but I really feel stuck in limbo now!

Katie, you'd be surprised how quickly those 3 months will pass

I really hope so! Patience has never been one of my stronger qualities!

Call for cancellations.....like every day! I shaved months off of my wait by calling religiously for cancellations. Good luck!

Exercise and healthy eating are great, also start a food diary, then when you do meet the dietician you have a head start.

You can call to see if they have cancellations.

Also take this time to research everything you can and start making some changes. 

Take this time to do your research and to learn as much as you can.  Start to make some changes now like adding a walk in. The time will go by fast.

That is tough. I am likely going through TWH myself (I finally got my referral from my doctor yesterday. She deliberated over it for almost three weeks!) because of my postal code and I am nervous about timing. I had had a fantasy that if the referral got in the day I saw her that maybe I could squeeze into your Orientation session today (I had seen people posting about it).

I agree that you should just pester them about cancellations. I am curious though: do they just tell you the dates of your appointments and you just comply? Or were those the first dates they had open that would work for you? That has been my one question in my research and reading on the forum (how appointments are set up). I have no idea of your flexibility, but if one were completely flexible, would that speed up waiting, etc.

Anyway, I really hope that things speed up for you! How was Orientation, anyway? Did you learn anything? How many people were there?

Sorry, this response is more questions than helpful for you. I am also trying to get myself motivated to start changing NOW instead of waiting for the Centre to start the magic happening, so to speak. Maybe we and other just-starting-out OH'ers can motivate each other?

Oh I had fantasies about the timing as well - especially after seeing some posts from other people going through HRRH (they seem to whip through!) but prepare yourself for a wait, at least initially! It took a week for the Registry to process my referral, and then two weeks for TWH to process it and get the letter out. I knew my date well before I received the letter, but today was the earliest I could get in for orientation. But I didn't call too often as I didn't want to be too much of a pain this early in the game ;) Hopefully you will get your orientation date soon! You can email the registry to confirm what hospital you were referred to, and then just keep calling the hospital until you get a date. A couple of times I talked to a lady who wouldn't give me any info, said to wait for the letter, but then I talked to someone else (usually right at one o'clock) who was very helpful and nice :) They had my birth date wrong in the file so that definitely caused a bit of a delay in trying to get info because they kept telling me they hadn't gotten my referral yet.

So at the orientation, at the end, the presenter (who is one of the dieticians for the program) handed each person their own specific paper with the date of their next appointment - I'm assuming those were the first dates available and you just comply. I have to be at TWH on Oct 1 at 8am for my social worker assessment and then at 2:30 I meet with the nurse practitioner, so I'm assuming the first date that both of those people are available is the first date you get. That way you don't have to make so many trips to the hospital. In my case I'm lucky enough to only live an hour outside the city and have a super flexible work schedule so I'll definitely call to see if I can get in sooner as I don't mind making multiple trips. 

Orientation was good! It's a good overview of the program and the risks, complications, things you need to prepare yourself for. The letter says it will last 2-3 hours but mine was only an hour. I think they allow a lot of time for questions but there were only maybe 10 people there so not too many questions. It was informative, but I think about 70% of the info I already knew from reading posts here (and going back really far in the posts to read!) They said they were still waiting for half a dozen people when we got started but no one else showed up - can't believe that many people would be no shows when you have to wait so long for a date! But maybe they just all changed their mind. 

Anyway, hopefully that answers some questions! It's so hard to start the change now when I know that before this all my self motivated attempts lasted about a week and half the time I ended up gaining weight, lol. But I'm going to try walking for ten minutes in the morning, working up from that, and limiting my junk. At least that's a start so when I meet with the nutritionist I can show that I am trying to change my eating and exercise already! All of us newer OH'ers should definitely help motivate one another! :) That might help the waiting process!

Katie, I totally want to reply to this awesome response with equal care, but no A/C has been meaning no sleep and I am dead on my feet tonight. Just so you know! Thanks!!!