Mary-Anne F.
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I don't think I have this ticker business correct. Oh well!
Today is Monday, January 14, 2008, my first day as a member of OH. I posted some questions and received a plethora of replies, all offering suggestions and especially encouragement. The encouragement has proved invaluable to my spirit and there are not enough words to thank everyone. I plan to keep adding to this journal as events arise in my journey to a healthy me.
This is my story:
I am 55 years old, 56 tomorrow, 5' tall and weigh 260 pounds, having gained 100 pounds in the last year afer breaking my left knee and my right foot on the same day! My usual jog is now verboten. I am a Mediator by profession and rely on my ability to read people in terms of their verbal and physical cues. I love being a Mediator and the fact that I am able to help couples and their children discuss and settle issues as well as avoid the often expensive and time-consuming litigation system.
I live in downtown Toronto and two weeks ago I went to a doctor to discuss WLS, specifically laparoscopic gastric bypass Roux-en-y. I was not impressed with the way the patients were treated, there weren't even enough chairs, or appropriate chairs for obese people, in the waiting room; people were lined up, leaning against the wall in the outside hall waiting for their appointments! I think small anomalies speak volumes. The doctor was not too pleased with some of the questions I asked like his personal surgical mortality rate, the rate of the practice, his surgical leakage rate. Nevetheless, he answered the questions. The upshot was that I would be placed on a waiting list following his receipt of 5 positive reports from specialists that I was to see.
It is my understanding that the government was actually going to help this process by adding $3.7 million for the province's first medical Centre of Excellence in bariatric surgery. This was to ensure that the hospital could do about 275 bariatric surgeries every year, supposedly a 500% increase over last year's count of 48. So where is the money, where are the surgeons and where are the ORs?
After I got home and cried for an hour, frustration always makes me cry, I thought, NO, THIS WILL NOT DO. So, I searched the Web and found Barix, placed a phone call, copied the OHIP funding form from the the Ministry's website and will soon be seeing my doctor so she can complete her portion of the form and we can send it in. I understand that the wait-time for OHIP approval is quite efficient.
I chose Barix in Ypsilanti because it is near my several cousins who live in Windsor who are willing and able to help with transportation, and to offer me a place to lay my head in between surgery and a train ride back to Toronto. I chose laparoscopic gastric bypass because of several medical anomalies that require I have as non-invasive procedure as possible.
I am excited.
