Doddie63

Jane some of your comments hold true for the link about Mexico. I was criticized by two individuals for posting negatives on going out of country. It has since come out that they represent a clinic in Mexico. My personal belief is that clinic salespeople should be paying advertising to have their clinics displayed and stay out of the personal postings.

Jac the same holds true with you. YOu never had Canadian surgery so what gives you the knowledge to compare the Mexican surgery with the Canadian. I suspect you get a pretty good bonus for referring patients to Mexico. In any event, I have as much right to speak about the dangers of travelling out of country as you do about telling people to go. Not for one minute do I tell people not to go out of country, what I do is give the flip side of the coin. They then can pick and choose what they want to do. Not like you that make out that it is all honey and roses. Well it isn't there are upsides and downsides both from Canada or Mexico. If you were being honest, you would admit that. Doddie

You are probably correct, but are you declaring ouf of country surgeries gas free or was it just you that had no gas. Can you state to me that patients that have surgery out of country are gas free. Certainly doesn't hold true to what I have read on the net. I am sorry, but my position is that gas pains are common no matter where the surgery was performed and until I see some studies refuting that, I am wondering if you are doing any favor to people researching where they will have that surgery. The good and the bad should be revealed so that people following us in this fairly new proceedure are better informed. I don't want people to go to "my clinic" but I do wish them well in a well informed decision. Doddie.

I was banded in Canada and had no gas pains whatsoever. In fact I had no problems whatsoever. Also, I was laying down during surgery. Would you please tell us how you know the Canadian doctors are sitting patients up and that we have more gas pains than out of country patients? I am not aware of such a statistic. doddie

Thanks, it will be great to talk to someone of my "generation". Yes I had surgery in Toronto. At the time there were no clinics in Alberta. Still none in Vancouver. Two doctors do surgery for the band privately, but they have to wait for OR time in our hospitals. Traffic jam is very true. Four hours to cross yesterday but it is worth it to get to the sun and surf. We used to travel a lot thru the USA but lately health reasons prevent us from traveling. Can't get health insurance. I like the note you have about exercise challenge. That is true for me, as "I am exercise challenged" LOL. To me exercise is the worst form of torture and it is a mental exercise just to get my butt moving. Thanks for the invite in. Doddie

Hi: 64 and counting. Any chance a Canadian from British Columbia join in. We are, after all, close to Washington State. Doddie

Hi: The reason I am submitting a letter from Dr. Yau.In it he states the surgery was medically necessary. I think the receipts are good enough, but I am not taking the chance. He was good enough to send me a letter as proof of surgery and why. It was very short but told everything I think the CRA needs. We shall find out. Doddie

Can't argue with your common sense, but I do know this. DVD fill instructions in many provinces are being reviewed by the Colleges as not proper instructional tools. Now many doctors are refusing to do fills. Speaking from experience. Doddie

NJ: STOP.....you are putting too much pressure on yourself with this deadline. Stress affects the band. You partner loves you as you are and will marry you as you are (if not your partner does not love you). Go back to square one. Small plate, measure, weigh no more than 3 oz protein and no more than a total of one cup of food. Drink your water and exercise out that frustration. MAKE SURE YOU EAT PROTEIN EVERY FOUR HOURS. Go back to your clinic for assessment and find out if more fill will assist. Fills do not loose the weight but can help you with portions. Doddie

Susiequ: You probably are right, but what if you aren't. ERs should be able to relieve the pain and diagnose the problem. Our surgeons all give their after hour telephone numbers for the ERs to call but instead they choose to send the patient away. As I understand the problem PBing daily could cause the most serious problem of erosion everything else can be solved by a defill but when a person is doubled over in pain and probably seriously dehydrated, there could be issues with the shut down of organs, etc. I am not a nurse but I do know if you have a gall bladder attack ERs treat the person but not the band. The pain is just as severe. Doddie

fstanley: I feel sorry for your mother if your attitude continues in this vein. First if she was ready to loose weight, she would be doing the research herself. Not just because you think she should. Secondly, it is vital that anyone contemplating major weight loss surgery (or any other for that matter) have all the facts not just the ribbons and bows put out by clinics. I personally do not work for a clinic, I am a retired Justice of the Peace and know what occurs if people do not have all the facts. I live 3000 miles from my clinic and I have posted my concerns about their after care. If you had done proper research, you would have seen them. Frankly, I don't know why I am bothered about responding to your ill informed opinion other than I am concerned for your mother.Doddie

From my point of view, I am very open to input from others and I am not a close friend to the others posting. I post negatives to give people the opportunity to see both sides. These negatives are my personal experiences. It is better to have the negatives up front before surgery than after. I didn't have that when I was making my decision. By withdrawing from posting you are making yourself feel better maybe, but you are not helping other potential banders make an informed decision. No need to get your back up because others support their clinics with zeal. The trick is to digest what their message is and make an informed decision based on research. Doddie

Thanks for the correction, but I didn't mean to imply the website was restricted to two clinics. As Nancy gives out the card with the literature after surgery I assumed she controlled the site. Anyway small matter as long as the individual knows the site exists. Doddie

The fact you were related to a staff member might be the reason you have had such good success with CIBO. It isn't what you know it is who you know. Just a thought. Doddie

Thanks. I found Nancy cold and arrogant in her dealings with me. I understand she has trained someone else now to do the fills. I hope this new nurse is a bit more sympathetic to the emotional side of getting a fill. Nancy sure wasn't. Just walking in a having a needle with saline takes seconds, but I know I wanted a bit more than that. I wanted to know how much and why. I had to be sure of what was happening as I was, at the time, with no local support. Nancy just brushed me off. She didn't even come out and check on me to see if the water was going down OK. She left it up to me to decide. Many banders think that ERs will automatically know what to do but they don't. If you go to an ER some will tell you to go home and contact your surgeon as they had no training. Others insist in taking all the saline out. Some are just plain rude and suggest the band was a private matter. As my support is the internet, these tales of ERs are posted and I have had one experience which was take an aspirin and call your surgeon in the morning. When a patient is coming from a long distance, more care should be taken in seeing to their needs including fears. Not the case for me. Doddie

So do I. Face to face meetings are a long more helpful.

Hi Seana: I appreciate your comment about not wanting to debate, but if you are going to recommend a particular clinic or doctor it would be helpful for people making a search for comparisons if you stated what the clinic had to offer for aftercare. Aftercare is so vital to any decision being made due to all the possibilities that can go wrong. What is their support system if any. Doddie.

Green. The ugly "C" word raises it head. Your upbeat attitude is half the battle to defeat it. My thoughts and prayers go out to you. Doddie

Welcome CIBO. More private clinics may lower the prices BUT having said that, what is their support system throughout Canada like? Doddie

Lizzie: Any business can not improve if the negatives sit out in the public but are not aired to them. It is said one complaint mailed in, represents 1,000 unspoken complaints. Go to the TLBC website and get their contact e mail address for Chris the CEO and state your position clearly. You may not benefit but others may. The TLBC is one of the finest clinics and the Dr. is (in my opinion) the best, but their PR is hurting them badly. The CEO has to do something about fill sites throughout Canada and not just cosmetic like a new website. Doddie

Yahoo! congratulations. Can't wait until you join us. I knew you would like Dr. W. Doddie

Lisa: The head nurse made the appointment with Dr. and the surgery was to follow. He gave me an interview and then referred me to Nancy to do a fill to see how she did. It took her a few tries but she did a 1 cc fill. Then dismissed me summarily as I didn't need surgery. She made the decision not Dr. Yau. Even though my surgeon in BC wanted it done. I went back the next day and asked for more fill and her arrogance was unbelievable. She told me that she would not do a fill because I had one yesterday. I told her that fill was just to decide if a fill could be put in the port not an actual fill. She told me bluntly she wouldn't do it and as I had eaten breakfast turned away. I replied she gave me 1 cc the day before and no one had told me to fast. No reply so I went home - $1,000 spent on nothing. I had to demand that a telephone call be made to my surgeon in BC and explain why the surgery was not done. Angry, yes, frustrated,yes but at least I have a nice surgeon who is seeing me every two months. Wished he had been in business before Feb. 07. Doddie

Lizzi: You just stated my problem as well. My family doctor said he would support me but backed out because of the legal issuse with the College. Boy do I relate to you. One of my angry but polite emails was sent to the CEO. His response to one of his staff members about me was ugly but LOL, he inadvertantly sent it to me. I found the Dr., the Head Nurse and the dietician very nice but I can't say the same for the fill nurse. She made a decision that I didn't need surgery and dismissed me summarily. Doddie

Good luck on that. I flew all the way out to Toronto because my port was on its side. The surgeon out here referred me back because it takes him 3 needles and approx. 25 minutes to put in a fill. So I booked an appointment to see the doctor and booked the surgery time. I arrived there only to be told the fill nurse would see if she could could put in a fill. She did after two tries. Her attitude was one of arrogance faulting my surgeon out here as not knowing how to do a fill and telling me I didn't need surgery. So I had spent $1,000.00 and I still have my port on its side and the Dr. out here still has to take 3 needles and 25 minutes to give me a fill.

Hi: How very sad but true Elizabeth. I felt like the TLBC's fill nurse had an attitude problem. I have no complaints with the Dr. nor the actual experience of the band surgery but I did have a lot to say about the aftercare. It has been only my persistance in filing complaints and demanding some help that I get some from Jill. She calls me once a month(could be more if I wanted it). She is one nice individual. Also it took some persistance on my part to get the clinic to refer me to a doctor our here. They tried to tell me that he would do all fills for their clinic but that was not the case. He was and is very selective. Would I recommend the TLBC, yes without hesitation but with a caveat that if you are outside the Province consider the aftercare carefully. Can you afford to fly back for a free fill or would it would it be better to go to a clinic that has fill nurses in your Province? If you are following the program, you should not require a lot of fills and defills, but let's face it, we are all human. Doddie