so done with it all

Jorja, I'm sorry to hear you are not having much luck post op. I agree with Jane though that you really need to address this with TLBC. You had to go over your coordinator's head before so it's time to do the same again. If you were given promises then speak to whoever is charge and let them explain it all to you. Call call and call some more until you get to speak to someone who actually has some authority there.

Doddie, I think you are misinterpretating Jane's post because I saw nothing negative in there at all. She was suggesting that Jorja contact the people who have power not that she shouldn't post here for support but to do both. We have to be our own pitbulls in this and if we aren't happy, we have to go to the powers that be and get resolution.

Gotta love the internet and how a supportive piece of advice was deemed negative by some yet supportive by others.

Doddie,

I"m not a TLBC patient and I was always told that until they had fill docs/nurses set up around the country that I might have to go back to Toronto so I was prepared. My family GP was all on board to do my fills and when I had the surgery, he changed his mind and said he'd only do a defill in an emergency so I had to return for the first few fills then I found a local surgeon that will do fills on me but now the clinic has arrangements with 2 fill nurses within 2 hours of me so it's much better. I don't even bother going to the local surgeon anymore because he was only doing it as a favour to me and I always felt a bit guilty that he'd not even charge me for his time. Now I gladly pay the fill nurses and feel zero guilt. Follow up for fills is by far one of the most important things we need to have in place and more of the clinics in Canada seem to be making arrangements for their long distance patients. My clinic has fill docs/nurses in all provinces now so I know that no matter where I happen to move to or go on vacation, I can easily get an adjustment.

I was banded in Canada and had a fill doctor set up before having my surgery because I live quite a distance from the clinic and after surgery, he backed out. So I was left with no fill doc and had to make the trip back to Toronto 3 times before the clinic finally found 2 fill nurses within 2 hours of me.

The only medical emergency they will do with the band is band removal and nothing more. A flipped port, a disconnected port, a slip, none of them are considered emergencies and if you showed up at an ER with any problems at all, the only thing that they would offer to do was remove the band. Make sure you talk to your family doc and potential fill doc to see exactly what they will or won't do for you. You'd hate to end up thinking one thing and ending up with another. Good luck with your research.

Perhaps it's one surgery day not one surgery. For banding they can do anywhere from 4 to 6 per day so the wait might not be as long as you think.

Peter,

I think what they mean is the Duodenal Switch. I have been reading about a new surgeon doing the DS in NB and I believe this is the name I have read about. The above description would be similar to the DS minus the band of course. If he is doing the sleeve, chances are he's doing the full switch of the DS since the sleeve is the first part of the DS.

I was banded at SWLC over 3 years ago. Am very happy with my choice. If you want to interact with their patients to get a better feel before your consultation, you can join the message forum at SWLC ? Canada?s Leading Weight Loss Clinic There is a lot of information there that you can read even before you become a patient.

There are 6 or 7 in the GTA now. Just about every clinic has lowered their prices. If they promised you this, then push for it. Everything is negotiable for sure so get what you were promised.

Depending where you were banded, some clinics have fill docs and nurses in those areas but they strictly take care of specific clinics' patients only.

I use them all the time to make my own skinny lattes at home. I love the caramel one. I use them in my Protein Shakes too when I have them. Caramel mixed in either vanilla or chocolate are really wonderful. I've tried a few of the other flavours as well but my personal fav is still the caramel one. I've also made my own version of a frap very similar to the recipe above.

You could have hurt it from exercising. If it's red at all, you could have a port infection so you should contact your surgeon if that happens.

Okay thanks, have never seen any of those surgeons names but perhaps they are just starting out. I'm not sure if you belong to the yahoo group Canadian Lapbanders or not but you might find some on there that have used those surgeons.

You can join by clicking on this link. It's good for an added support as well as lbtalk.

canadianlapbanders : Canadianlapbanders

Is Credit Valley where Dr. Tin does the band? If so, I've only ever seen 2 at most that have had him on any of the online support group forums.

I was banded Tuesday and left Wednesday morning. They only called my hotel to see how I was and I went on my way. If you are unsure, just email the clinic and ask them in case things have changed.

The main goal is to shrink the liver, the secondary goal is to reach ketosis so you don't feel hunger. If you just do the regular old Atkins diet then you'll eat too much fat and not shrink the liver. If you were to do low fat, low carb type atkins then I'm sure it's going to give you similar results. My surgeon does the Optifast diet and most people hit ketosis by Day 3 but they are still consuming very little fat. I'd just do what your surgeon suggest. It's a very small amount of time to prepare yourself for surgery so might as well do what the "experts" we have chosen to perform our surgery suggest.

The only thing any Canadian Doctor(non-banding doctor) will do whether banded in Canada or not is remove the band. They will not reposition a slip and you even have to fight like hell to get a defill at the ER no matter how much pain you are in or how little you can drink. They will put you on an IV until you are no longer dehydrated and give you pain meds and tell you to go see your banding surgeon. There will be a private clinic in Alberta in a few months and the head surgeon will be one of the ones that is doing it under the provincial plan right now. He will be working for the private clinic though and no longer the govenment plan so not sure if he would see anyone but his own patients. I always have a plan of action to get back to my original banding surgeon ASAP in case I need anything that anyone local cannot or will not do for me. Just be prepared and that goes for everyone no matter where you live or where you have been banded. Our country has a long way to go to even know what a damn lap-band is let alone how to help us when in trouble with one.

Michee,

This is the proper link to Canadian Lapbanders Yahoo Group.

canadianlapbanders : Canadianlapbanders

It's for all bandsters or wanna be bandsters from anywhere in Canada regardless of who your surgeon is. There are even spouses of bandsters on there as well that are there to give them support.

Michee, care to share which PS you chose? I'm in the process of doing consultations right now and am looking for names of surgeons to go see.

Doddie,

I think it just really depends on the people. SWLC has a local support meeting as well but most of those people actively participate as well on the forum board. TLBC has a lot of long time banded people that probably really don't need the support anymore whereas SWLC has only been banding for over 3 years and the board has been available since almost the beginning so all their patients are told about it. Ours is super active with almost 1000 members already. I'm sure if TLBC sends out emails to those that have left their email addy with them and told them to check it out, they might get more traffic. It's fairly new still so give it time and it might get busier. It took ours a good year to get super busy.

I'll keep checking peaches. We have quite a few near North Bay now so that's why we pick there. Up to 12 or so now I think so it's always a good size turnout.

If it was a bit more north I'd consider it but I'm still 4 hours from Orillia. I usually organize one in North Bay twice a year so if anyone closer to North Bay area is interested, I'll be posting once we set a date. It will most likely be July since I'm having surgery in 2 weeks.

Heather,

I love love love SWLC patient forum. It's by far my favourite place for band support because we all have the same rules to follow. We all deal with the same people at the clinic so it's much easier to support and receive support from people that are all dealing with the same instructions and same staff. Since I'm one of the longest banded for SWLC, I like to be able to give them experience first hand from someone who has been there and I find it very easy to offer support when I know my own clinic and their guidelines inside out. When I am looking for support on issues that only longer bandsters, such as yourself, can offer up then I post on Canadian Lapbanders to get your feedback. I'm not sure if I'll always be as active on my own clinic forum but for now I feel it's a way of paying it forward to all the newbies just starting out with a million and one questions. I am close to starting on my plastic surgery adventure and will be more than happy to share that with the people that are getting close as well. Perhaps once I'm finally at the end of the big adventures of banding, I might back off and just drop in now and then to offer some advice. For now, I am one of the few longer banded patients that offer advice so until more have experience under their belts, I will stick around. We have almost 1000 members so it's quite active and probably more active than the yahoo group or this board so I tend to sign in there more often than anywhere else and am constantly posting there since it's so much more active. It's good to have options since we all get different things from different boards.

Optifast does have to be purchased through a weight loss doctor but you can order it off Ebay or do as Heather suggested and go into a GNC and ask them for a Meal Replacement. If you go to the novartis website you can get the nutrional info for each pouch so you know how many carbs, Protein, fat and calories you should be aiming for.

I've spoken to 3 surgeons regarding this already and pretty much was told the same thing by all 3. If you have rashes, infections, cysts, etc under the apron and have medical documented proof that you have been seeing your doctor regarding these issues then they can apply to OHIP with this information along with pictures and then OHIP decides whether to cover the panniculectomy portion or not. It can take up to 2 years to get approval and the surgeons I spoke to won't even bother going through the trouble of doing the OHIP forms for this anymore since they are approving only about 1% of the applications. The cost of a panniculectomy is about $1500 so if that's all you truly want then you might want to pay out of pocket for that instead of jumping through hoops. It's not as good a fix as a Tummy Tuck but it's much cheaper considering tummy tucks run from about $7500 up to over $10 000 and then if you want the full lower body lift which fixes the tummy, the sides and the back, it's over $15 000. Those that had their full tummy tucks covered after a huge weight loss years ago are extremely lucky since they stopped covering the full thing about 5 years ago. After paying $16 000 for the band, it would have been nice to have the tummy tuck covered but since it no longer is, it's off to pay I go.

There are luncheons almost monthly all over the GTA. Sometimes the east end, sometimes the west end. They have them in the Hamilton area as well. Laurie usually post the lunches on here as well as on the Canadian Lapbanders Yahoo Group. Just keep looking for the post and I'm sure you will be able to attend one at some point in time.

OHIP does not cover tummy tucks any longer. What they cover on a very rare occasion is a panniculectomy. A Tummy Tuck is the full deal where they remove the excess skin, tighten the abdominal muscles, relocate the belly button to where it should be. A panniculectomy is stricly the removal of the apron, so that's any skin that is sagging below the belly button. There is no tightening of muscles or relocating the belly button. They are two very different surgeries with 2 very different outcomes. Most plastic surgeons will not do a panniculectomy either. They will do a full tummy tuck and if you have OHIP approval for the panniculectomy then they will charge you the difference between the 2.