so done with it all

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.

I looked all through the CTV website and it seems after so many days they archive all the segments and then you have to pay to view them. Not worth 2 cents to see it after the fact. It was all a big smoke show pushing CIBO and her pushing her book. It was probably SWLC that had that on their website since they used to charge a consultation fee that went towards your surgery price if you booked with them but now all consultations are free. The pre-op diet is also seperate because not everyone does the same thing. Some people do no Optifast and others do between 2 and 4 weeks of the stuff. Some people opt to purchase it on Ebay instead of through the clinic. Be prepared to pay lots of consultation fees once you start looking into PS. I haven't come across one yet that offers free consultations but I figure it's worth the money to find out I don't want to go to this one or that one. Their time is money and I know that nobody gives anything away for free but I just hope that I find the one I really like in the first 10 that I visit since that will be about $1000 right there that could go towards my PS work.

Mary, You might be shocked how many people get snowed by celebrity endorsement of things. I did my research as well and I came across Yau and Cobourn. Met with both, equally impressed with both and just had an overall better connection with Cobourn but would never ever diss Yau since I thought he was great as well. My decision came down to personal connection with the surgeon and since I knew this was a lifelong relationship with him, I picked the one I had better chemistry with..we think alike and our personalities mesh well so everything has gone smoothly since Day 1. I plan on researching PS the exact same way and I am not going to just pick the PS that someone else uses without doing my own research. I think I'll be even pickier with my PS choice than I was with my banding surgeon choice. The PS work is going to show a lot more than my band does so I want to make sure I don't pick a quack. I'll see if I can find the link again but CTV only leaves them on for so long.

I spoke with my surgeon when that article came out late last fall and he told me that OHIP reimbursed the patients $750, which is the OHIP fee they would have paid the surgeon and anything on top of that amount, they had to sue the doctor for, which none did. I never want it covered either for my own, very selfish reasons. Some WLS are covered and I like the fact that some are and some aren't and I have the choice to get it when I want it. Had I wanted any of the covered ones, I would have self-paid out of country as well so I didn't have to jump through OHIP hoops and wait years. I'm not a good circus clown and don't do hoops well. I'm happy that some WLS are covered for those that can't afford it but am also happy that I was able to get my WLS of choice when I wanted it. If OHIP were to allow the band to be covered and still allow private clinics like they have in Quebec then that would be okay as well but for now, I like things just the way they are.